Walks, one big swing mar solid start for Maeda

DETROIT -- The figurine sat on a shelf in Kenta Maeda’s locker on Opening Day in Chicago. It’s an action figure of Kamen Rider, a Japanese superhero and TV series that began in the 1970s and blossomed into films and anime. The series actually starred a Japanese actor named Kentaro Maeda (no relation) a few years ago.

Maeda bought the figurine when he was slumping last season, he explained last week through translator Dai Sekizaki. His fortunes picked up after that, so he has kept it with him, home and road.

Two starts into his Tiger tenure, he could use some good luck, because it has been a rough go for him in the Motor City. On a Saturday afternoon when Maeda battled his command for 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball, Brent Rooker’s two-run homer was enough to sink him in a 4-0 loss to the A’s.

It was an odd outing for Maeda, whose command of the strike zone is usually a strength. But it was a fitting conundrum as the Tigers try to figure out what to expect from Maeda, who signed a two-year, $24 million contract last fall.

Through two outings, Maeda has allowed four home runs over nine innings, including Rooker’s 409-foot drive to the left-field seats Saturday. Three of the four homers, including Saturday’s shot, have come in full counts. In Saturday’s case, Maeda tried to get Rooker to swing over a slider and ended up hanging it instead.

“The slider in general is still a work in progress,” Maeda said. “I think there needs to be more improvements.”

Yet that drive, with a 107.3 mph exit velocity, was one of just three balls Maeda allowed in play at 100 mph or harder. The others were groundouts, two of seven ground-ball outs Maeda induced Saturday.

The only balls to the outfield besides Rooker’s homer were three flyouts to center. Yet some of his damage was self-inflicted; his four walks marked just the second time he has walked more than two batters in 22 starts since the start of last season. Despite throwing a good number of first-pitch strikes, he reached three-ball counts on seven of his first 15 batters, and nine of 22 for the game. Most of those deep counts ended in walks or strikeouts. The mechanical issues he battled in Chicago carried over, he said, before he made adjustments.

“The longer the at-bat went, he ran into a little bit of trouble,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously they hit the ball out of the ballpark for the early lead, but then I thought he settled in pretty well. The fastball got a little bit better. The strike throwing was still a little more inconsistent than it's going to be. April's not been his best month.”

The Tigers signed Maeda knowing there could be a bit of a waiting game for his better performance to emerge. His career numbers in March and April aren’t pretty: 11-14, 5.01 ERA, 165 1/3 innings, 183 hits -- including 30 home runs -- 50 walks, 156 strikeouts. His career ERA drops to 3.75 for May, 3.14 in June and 3.69 in July. His next-worst month for ERA is August at 4.28. He’s admittedly not a fan of pitching in cold, which makes these first few starts in Detroit a potential challenge. The Tigers signed him not for his early season success, but for how he finished last year, including an uptick in fastball velocity that hasn’t carried over just yet.

“I started feeling better about my fastball from the third or fourth inning,” he said. “Hopefully I can build off of that in the next outing.”

Until the weather warms and his stuff settles in, Maeda is going to have to grind. He did just that on Saturday, and it might have been enough with a little more run support, and maybe some aforementioned luck.

Though the Tigers won’t use it as an excuse, Saturday felt like the day that their frantic travel schedule caught up with them. After Thursday’s doubleheader against the Mets, a late-night flight back to Detroit and an afternoon home opener, the Tigers looked like a team in need of an energy boost. Instead, A’s starter Paul Blackburn lulled them to sleep with a mix of offspeed pitches and breaking balls for six scoreless innings on three hits with four strikeouts.