The Mariners have finally acquired that veteran pitcher that they’ve been searching for all offseason. In honor of the newest M’s pitcher, Yovani Gallardo, here is a look a few of his greatest performances in his career.
The Mariners had been connected with many different teams to try and obtain a new starting pitcher to strengthen their rotation. Today GM Jerry Dipoto finally found the guy he thinks will best suit his team in the coming season.
Gallardo, a ten-year vet with a career 3.79 ERA, spent most of his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers before being shipped to the Texas Rangers and then the Baltimore Orioles where he spent one season at each destination.
At each stop, he made sure to throw some pretty spectacular baseball, although his Brewers days were clearly his best. Here are the top three outings that Gallardo ever had.
Hopefully, the Mariners will be getting a heaping of greatness out of the Mexican right-hander as well.
These top three outings were chosen based on overall performance (i.e innings pitched, strikeouts totaled, fewest hits allowed etc.)
Sep 23, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Yovani Gallardo (49) throws a pitch in the second inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
April 29th, 2009
There were plenty of questions surrounding Gallardo’s future after he tore his ACL early in the 2008 season.
However, by the start of the next season, Gallardo was back on his two healed legs, and at times, pitched like the fourteenth ranked prospect that he was before 2007.
In his first full month back after the recovery, Gallardo was back throwing on the mound and was tossing what is still one of the best games of his career.
It was a pitching duel for the ages between Gallardo and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ian Snell, with the Mexican-born right-hander having the last laugh.
Through the first four innings, Gallardo was unstoppable; he didn’t allow a hit or a walk. In the other dugout, Snell was coasting along almost as comfortably, having issued just two free passes and a base knock.
In the fifth, Gallardo finally allowed his first hit -a double to center- and the no-hit bid was no more. That blemish didn’t slow him up from pitching a brilliant three more frames.
But before he would come out of the game having given up one walk, another double, and have to deal with a runner that reached base due to a throwing error, he had to take care of the zero in the box score that was keeping the two teams deadlocked.
So, in the seventh inning, when Gallardo stepped into the batter’s box with no one on, one out and facing an unfriendly 0-2 count, he took the burden of scoring on himself, blasting a solo shot to left field.
It was his third home run of his career up to that point; he now has a total of twelve home runs hit, which only trails Madison Bumgarner for the most homers hit by an active pitcher.
He may not be the player he was eight years ago, but if he can hit a home run (or a few) during interleague play for the Mariners, it would be a welcomed bonus to what the Mariners are already getting from the thirty-year-old.
Aug 21, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Yovani Gallardo (49) throws a pitch in the fourth inning against the Houston Astros at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
June 24th, 2010
In 2009, Gallardo pitched his first complete game, but it wasn’t a shutout.
In 2010, he tossed a double dose of complete game shutouts, the latter of which was arguably his best-pitched game to date.
After throwing nine innings of eight hit, seven strikeout ball in late-May of that year, you could sense that Gallardo was beginning to find his stride.
In only one of his four starts between May 28th and June 24th did Gallardo surrender more than one run in an outing.
No matter how good he was before that late-June day, nothing would top that performance in 2010.
Gallardo started the day out looking unhittable; he was no hitting the Minnesota Twins through five innings while adding five punch outs.
He would surrender his first of his five hits -one in the sixth, two in the seventh, one in the eighth and one in the ninth- before his night was done, but would ensure that none of the runners would cross home plate.
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Over those final four innings, Gallardo would strike out two men per frame aside from the eighth when he fanned one batter, bringing his final tally to twelve.
Gallardo would tie his then career-high with those twelve K’s that day but would go on to break his record the next year with thirteen, and then again the year after that with his now career-high of fourteen punchouts.
Again, Gallardo would also help with his bat, going 2-4 with a double, although he wouldn’t drive anyone home.
The Mariners should hope that Gallardo picks up his strikeout habits from his early days.
Since the end of the 2013 season, Gallardo has only had three double-digit strikeout games compared to seventeen in the four years prior to this current slump.
Aug 16, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo (49) pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
April 5th, 2011
Gallardo was hoping to have a good 2011, and the way he began the year couldn’t have sent a louder message to the MLB that he was ready to be a top arm.
The right-hander may have given up a hit to the second batter he faced that night, but it would be the only knock he would surrender until the eighth.
Aside from the two walks he scattered -one in the fourth and one in the fifth- and the aforementioned hits, Gallardo was perfect.
This time around he used the groundball to induce outs, forcing two in each of the first five innings; he would record six more in his final four frames.
It was the start to a year that Mariners fans hope Gallardo will have in Seattle.
That 2011 year, Gallardo would finish seventh in the CY Young voting because he would complete the season with an ERA of 3.52 (his third-lowest of his time in the league), throw his most innings pitched with two hundred and seven, and strike out his most batters with two hundred and seven.
And While Gallardo hasn’t had a complete game since 2012 and has only held the opposition to two hits or fewer in four games in that span, Mariners fans have seen enough quality out of Gallardo to believe that this change of scenery could bring the old Gallardo back.
