Tom Gorzelanny shows no ill effects of ailment, silences Seattle
If there were any questions as to how Tom Gorzelanny would respond after leaving his last start with an injury, Milwaukee's veteran left-hander answered them Saturday night.
Bumped back three days with a left elbow contusion suffered Aug. 2 against Washington, Gorzelanny tossed seven scoreless innings, allowed just three hits and struck out seven in Milwaukee's 10-0 rout of Seattle.
With the beginning of the game delayed by over 20 minutes due to a ceremony inducting Ken Griffey Jr. into the Mariners Hall of Fame, Gorzelanny easily could have been thrown off his rhythm.
Instead, Gorzelanny pushed through the distraction and was sharp in his first outing since taking a Jayson Werth line-drive off the left elbow.
"He threw well," Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "I thought he was a little bit off with his off-speed in the first couple innings, but after that he really settled down and started throwing strikes. He mixed well, kept them off balance and made big pitches when he had to. He did good for us."
A reliever for much of the past two seasons, Gorzelanny went at least seven innings without allowing an earned run for the first time Saturday since July 1, 2011. Early on, Gorzelanny was locked in a pitchers' duel with Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma, but the Brewers eventually got to the All-Star right-hander for a crooked number in the seventh inning.
Started by a pair of infield singles by Carlos Gomez and Caleb Gindl, the Brewers jumped on the board on a ground ball hit by Khris Davis. Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager made a diving stop and threw to the plate, but Gomez went in hard and dislodged the baseball from Humberto Quintero's glove.
"He saw the guy go for the ball behind him, he caught it out of the corner of his eye," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He wasn't sure if he was going to have any other play but to go home. He went in there blindly. He knows Quintero a little bit and he knows sometimes he tries to block the plate."
After an RBI double by Juan Francisco and an RBI single from Yuniesky Betancourt, rookie second baseman Scooter Gennett connected for a three-run home run to put the Brewers up 6-0. The ball appeared as if it would have gone over the wall, but Mariners right fielder Michael Morse deflected the ball with his glove.
"I saw his arm go over the wall," Gennett said. "I don't know if it would have went out or not, but I really appreciate his help. He almost made a really nice play. That's a big dude with a really small wall. He almost robbed me there."
After being completely fooled by Iwakuma for six innings, the Brewers chased him from the game by batting around in the seventh inning. It was the second straight night Milwaukee has batted around in an inning and the first time it has scored 10 or more runs in back-to-back games since April.
"There must be some deception there, the ball must have good life and move, because we really didn't swing the bat well at all (early)," Roenicke said. "There weren't any balls hit hard. Then all of a sudden we get a guy on and Gindl does a nice job on a hit and run and all of a sudden we start hitting the ball hard.
"It makes it fun to sit back and watch it. There were a lot of good at-bats today ... When the offense is doing that all the way through, hopefully you have a chance to score in more innings. I know we busted out in that one, but then we added on, which is really good."
Just like he had to do prior to the game, Gorzelanny had to sit through the long top of the seventh inning. While he got through the bottom of the seventh inning without allowing a run, Gorzelanny wasn't as sharp and Roenicke decided to pull the plug at 95 pitches.
"I thought he was really good," Roenicke said. "Got a little concerned when we had the long inning and he sat there for all that time. When you go six innings and then all of a sudden you have a long inning, it makes it difficult. He came out against the first couple of batters good, and then he kind of lost command some."
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