Roark finds modified delivery to his liking (Nats lose 2-1)

JUPITER, Fla. - Having seen teammate Stephen Strasburg succeed by pitching only from the stretch, Tanner Roark decided this offseason to start tinkering with a similar approach.

Roark has continued working on his modified windup - mostly from the stretch, with a little side-to-side action to get some momentum - this spring and the results were immediately positive. The right-hander threw four scoreless innings against the Cardinals on Monday, allowing just one hit, walking none and striking out three.

It's not the first time he's used the newfangled delivery, but he seemed to be very comfortable.

When asked who suggested the alteration, Roark said, "Me and myself."

But in trying to simplify his mechanical approach, and limit the possibility of getting out of whack in his delivery, Roark may have stumbled on to something.

"I wanted to try it and see what it felt like," he said after throwing 30 of his 47 pitches for strikes. "Feel like it feels simple - what I want out of mechanics. You have a tendency to think too much sometimes. Sometimes if you get stuck in a rut or you're struggling a little bit and you keep over thinking and it adds, adds, adds. So simplifying mechanics means simplifying easy fixes."

Roark's modified no-windup delivery isn't as extreme as the one Strasburg employed starting last spring.

"I'm still in a windup," he said. "I just want to get a little momentum. Instead of forward, side to side. ... Modified windup, basically like a stretch."

The Cardinals struggled to get much hard contact off Roark as be became the first Nationals starter to go four innings this spring. There were only a couple of hard-hit balls scattered among weak popups and fly balls. Only two of Roark's outs were recorded on ground balls.

"I'm still definitely getting used to it," Roark said. "Cause before, I was opened a little bit more, like straight up. Now I'm just straight up, stepping a little bit that way, coming and getting the load back on the rubber."

But after watching Strasburg flourish without winding up conventionally, and seeing pitchers like David Price and Noah Syndergaard work hard to simplify their deliveries, Roark figured he'd give it a try.

"Everything felt good, all pitches felt like they were coming out well," he said. "Mechanics felt right where they needed to be."

Roark thinks there will be an added benefit to his new tactic, assuming he sticks with it (and he hinted he might).

"Simple is easy. ... If something's off, mechanical-wise, it should be an easy fix," he said.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the fifth. José Martínez swiped home on the front end of a double steal and Adolis Garcia hit an RBI single. Both runs were charged to Joaquin Benoit.

Update: The Nationals drop this contest to the Cardinals 2-1 in a quick 2-hour, 19-minute game.