For a rookie who didn’t know he was starting until late Tuesday afternoon and then got caught in a storm delay moments before first pitch, Sean Newcomb didn’t look flustered. In fact, he looked just the opposite.
After a 75-minute rain delay Wednesday night, Newcomb threw six innings of one-run ball against San Francisco. While the Braves recorded a 5-3 walk-off win in the 11th inning, a Hunter Pence game-tying, ninth inning homer robbed Newcomb of his first major-league win. He had lost his previous two outings despite making quality starts.
“I’ve been very happy,” Newcomb said. “I mean, I had a few walks last game, but they came late and in a tight situation. I feel like I’ve been able to have pretty good control of the zone even when I was in (Triple-A) Gwinnett. A lot of 3-2, 2-2, a lot. A lot of foul balls that I missed by just a little bit. That seems to be the case with a lot of my walks. But I’ve been able to get the fastball in there early and that’s been helping for the rest of the at-bats.”
Newcomb owns a 1.96 ERA over 18.1 innings. That’s five earned runs over three starts, with only one via home run. The strikeouts haven’t been prevalent — 13 vs. seven walks — but his velocity’s hovered around an expected 93-mph mark. His efficiency has improved substantially from the scouting reports; he had averaged one walk per every 1 2/3 innings in Gwinnett.
“You’ve got to like what you see out of that kid,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I mean, he’s competing. He’s getting after it. I see him getting down that hill. It’s great to see. I wish we could have got him that first win.
“He really settled in good. His breaking ball started being a factor for him. His fastball’s quick, they don’t pick him up because they don’t swing at that thing very good. He’s got some deception and power. That’s a real positive third start for him. I was hoping we’d be signing (lineup) cards for him and stuff like that (for his first win).”
Newcomb is the third Braves pitcher to start his career with three consecutive quality starts, joining Zane Smith (1984) and Mike Minor (2010).
The Braves finally provided offense behind Newcomb. Matt Adams gave him his first lead with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Tyler Flowers added insurance with a solo shot in the seventh, but the Braves bullpen wasn’t able to hold on.
Newcomb shown an ability to respond beyond the typical rookie. After walking four Friday against the Marlins in his last start, he only walked one Wednesday. After giving up a RBI-triple to the Giants’ Brandon Belt and walking Aaron Hill in the second inning, Newcomb retired 13 straight.
“In that second inning, I didn’t really do anything that set me back,” Newcomb said. “I threw a fastball in to Belt. He just kind of ambushed it a little bit. It was at his sweet spot. But I just settled in, throwing all my pitches pretty quality. Working my fastball pretty well.”
He threw 43 pitches over the first two innings but just 37 in the next four.
Newcomb was lifted after six innings having thrown only 80 pitches, Snitker making a “gut call” with Buster Posey leading off the next inning.
“I left him in the other day with the bases loaded,” he said. “It depends. Every situation’s different, every game’s different. Just something inside me was telling me that was enough, that was really good. And I just had a bad feeling about hitters he was getting ready to face for the third time. Next time, it may be completely different, depending on the score, situation.”
“I understood,” Newcomb said. “I mean, there were some righties coming up. I had already seen them two or three times. So get some righties out of the pen to finish those innings made some sense.”
Wednesday scheduled starter, Bartolo Colon was a late scratch Tuesday, putting Newcomb in the spotlight a day earlier than anticipated (though on regular four-day rest).
Flowers, who’s caught all three of Newcomb’s starts, said it has been difficult to determine Newcomb had some control issues in the minors. While “he’s not the next Greg Maddux or anything,” Flowers has been impressed.
“He was good,” Flowers said. “We were able to mix in some changeups and sliders, get him more comfortable with it. He actually brought up trying to do it a little bit more, so that’s a good thing as well. His command was pretty good. His curveball was so-so early, but he was able to kind of get it going and could clip it in there for some quality strikes early and chase late. But it was a good mixture of in and out.
“He was doing a good job going in, getting it in, especially against some guys who can do some damage against lefties. He made quality pitches on those guys.”
