Tate talks velocity and a bullpen that hasn't surprised him

Dillon Tate isn’t a pitcher who steals peeks at the stadium’s radar gun readings before returning his attention to the catcher delivering the signs. He isn’t grading his performances based on the miles-per-hour on his sinking fastball.

The fuss over his drop in velocity during the Orioles’ home opener against the Brewers brings no emotion. Not anger or amusement.

Tate recites the number of runs he surrendered that night: zero. He’d kick the ball to home plate with his left foot if it produced outs.

An inherited runner and one of his own were stranded. Two batters were retired and the bullpen delivered five scoreless innings behind starter Bruce Zimmermann.

The sinker was 90-91 mph rather than 95 or more. Asked about it the following day, manager Brandon Hyde said a mechanical glitch was noticed and discussed, and easily could be fixed.

Tate was back up to 94 mph two nights later, but hardly anyone seemed to care after John Means left the game with forearm tightness.

Perhaps forgotten is how Tate had his own health issue earlier, though far less serious than Means’ sprained elbow that forced the staff ace onto the 60-day injured list. Tate didn’t pitch in an exhibition game after March 26 because of strep throat, which kept him away from the team and put his spot on the opening day roster at risk.

“First and foremost, my arm is fine and it was fine previously,” Tate said. “It’s just I missed a little time being sick. I couldn’t touch the mound for seven days, so when I came back, you’ve just got to go out there and compete, and whatever you’ve got is what you’ve got. So, I just went out there and threw with what I have.”

Tate had more than the Yankees could handle Sunday afternoon. His former team, willing to part with him in the Zack Britton trade in 2018, unable to put a runner on base after sending up two dangerous pinch-hitters.   

Called upon in the seventh inning of a scoreless game, Tate struck out Anthony Rizzo on an 84 mph changeup, used the same pitch to retire Joey Gallo on a liner to shortstop Jorge Mateo, and induced a ground ball from Aaron Hicks on a sinker clocked at 93.6 mph.

Hyde used Tate in five of the first nine games, and the right-hander allowed only one run and three hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. He averaged 3.9 walks per nine innings in 16 games as a rookie in 2019 and 3.1 in 62 games last season.

“Love the way he’s using his changeup,” Hyde said. “So, he’s got a sinker, changeup, he’s got more confidence in his slider. You saw a couple sliders to the left-handers, as well. But I just see confidence with him, and he’s gained a lot of valuable experience over his first couple years in the big leagues, and now he’s kind of come into his own a little bit.

“He’s trusting his sinker, he’s throwing strikes, he’s not walking people. He’s giving himself a chance by not putting traffic on the bases. I think the stuff’s always been there, but now there’s more confidence and a little bit more command.”

The mechanics are a little better, too.

“It was just timing more than anything,” Tate said. “When the timing is messed up, the sequence isn’t proper. It’s going to come out differently in some sort of way. Thankfully, I was able to clean that stuff up in a timely matter, and right back to it.”

The Orioles began a West Coast trip last night in Oakland with their bullpen ranking sixth in the majors in ERA at 2.66 in 44 innings. Opponents were batting .212.

Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser were traded to the Marlins a few days before the Orioles broke camp, but the deal hasn’t caused large cracks to form in the bullpen.

Joey Krehbiel, selected off waivers from the Rays in September, had spun five scoreless innings with three hits. Bryan Baker, selected off waivers from the Blue Jays in November after one major league appearance, allowed one run and two hits with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Félix Bautista, a semi-surprise addition to the 40-man roster who debuted at age 26, allowed one run with six strikeouts in four innings. Left-hander Cionel Pérez, selected off waivers from the Reds in November, tossed three scoreless innings with two hits, no walks and four strikeouts – keeping alive a shutout streak that included six exhibition innings.

Jorge López earned the win Sunday by retiring all six batters he faced, striking out Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth and getting three ground balls in the ninth – cheated of another strikeout by an incorrectly ruled check swing on a 2-2 count. López has allowed two runs and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings, .

“Nothing’s really surprising to me,” Tate said. “I know everybody on our squad in our ‘pen did what they need to do in the offseason to get ready to have a good season, so it’s not surprising.

“Having (Scott and Sulser) was great. A ton of experience from them both, Tanner and Sully. I’m going to miss those guys. But we’ve got other guys that are going to come up and do their best to fill those gaps that we have. It is what it is. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”