Sean Newcomb was charged with five runs, five walks and two homers without making it out of the third inning Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, and his only three bad starts since his season debut have been at Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium.
The Braves left-hander, who’s otherwise pitched at an All-Star level in his first full season in the majors, doesn’t think pitching in front of big crowds at those storied venues was a connecting factor in his rough starts.
Intead, Newcomb (8-3) credits the caliber of opposing lineups combined with some untimely performances in which he just wasn’t at peak form, like Tuesday when he matched his season-high for walks including four walks in the third inning alone.
“They’re a good team; you want to do well against them,” said Newcomb, who fired only 35 strikes in 70 pitches on a steamy night when his shirt and cap were drenched in sweat before the end of a two-run first inning. “But good lineups beating you, it happens obviously. Something that, when you look at that start and they did well against you, them being a good lineup’s gonna be a reason why. (It was) not having my best stuff, though, more than the lineup.”
Newcomb had five walks, Yankees starter Domingo German had three walks in 4-1/3 innings, and Braves reliever Luke Jackson had two wild pitches. So there might’ve been something to the grip issue, though Newcomb didn’t really use it as an excuse when asked.
“Yeah, it was a hot day, it was definitely humid, sweating a good amount,” he said. “Everybody (had the same conditions) though. It was something that was tough to deal with, another thing to kind of work with out there.”
Newcomb was one strike away from making it out of the first inning unscathed, before Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-out, two-strike single and Aaron Hicks hit a two-run homer to the short right-field porch at Yankee Stadium.
“Yeah, I mean balls get kind of sucked up out there (in right field), so that’s just frustrating,” he said. “Nevermind the base hit before, that was pretty frustrating as well. But just exactly that – a little frustrating, just kind of got me a little bit.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Newcomb’s performance: “Just seemed like it was one of them days. Didn’t seem like he was hurting or anything like that, just having a hard time controlling everything. That’s it. Just one of them days.”
As for the heat and humidity playing a factor with gripping the ball, Snitker said, “That didn’t help, I know that. But everybody has to do that. I just think he kind of was off with everything, pretty much. It was a grind for him.”
Newcomb has lost two of three decisions in his past five starts, and in each of those two losses – June 10 at Dodger Stadium and Tuesday at Yankee Stadium – he gave up five runs and two homers, the only times he’s allowed multiple homers this season. The only other time he gave up five earned runs this season was his April 2 season debut against the Nationals.
The 2-2/3 innings he pitched Tuesday was one out fewer than the previous briefest start of his career, that in a May 26 homecoming of sorts at Fenway Park, the stadium where the Massachusetts native attended games as a kid. He had dozens of family and friends in attendance at that game, and Newcomb gave up six hits, three runs and four walks in three innings for no decision in a Braves loss.
He had gone 5-0 with a 1.68 ERA in eight starts before the Boston game to stoke conversations about a potential All-Star berth. He’s 3-2 with a 3.98 ERA in eight starts beginning with Boston, including five quality starts and three stinkers at Fenway, Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium.
“I haven’t really felt like any kind of being uncomfortable or anything like that,” he said of those big-stage appearances. “Just good teams got me a couple of different ways. But I think that’s definitely good going forward, going into those stadiums, knowing what to expect with the atmosphere. That mixed with facing a good team.”
Besides his season debut against the Nationals (4-1/3 innings, five hits, five earned runs, four walks), Newcomb's only other poor starts this season were at Boston (three innings, six hits, three runs, four walks), at Los Angeles (5-1/3 innings, seven hits, five runs, two homers) and Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
He went 0-3 with a 10.34 ERA in those four starts, allowing 18 earned runs, 15 walks and five homers in 15-2/3 innings. In his other 13 starts, he’s 8-0 with a 1.69 ERA, allowing 15 earned runs, 30 walks and four homers in 79-2/3 innings.
“I’ll be honest, I think he handles all that,” Snitker said of pitching in front of big crowds in high-profile games. “I don’t ever see him getting caught up in stuff a lot. I attribute it to other things, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in him and how he handles; I like how he handles things. But any young pitcher, when they do that, any time they can experience this atmosphere – Wrigley Field, Boston, all that – it’s going to do nothing but make them better.”
