Grace believes slight adjustment in delivery has led to recent groove

Left-hander Matt Grace has been the go-to middle-relief choice by manager Davey Martinez. Grace had some outings that didn't go as well as he would have liked to begin the season, but now is on a streak of no runs allowed in six of his last seven appearances, including three in a row. The only thing about the appearances he would change is the four walks allowed.

Grace said he made a couple of tweaks to his delivery that seemed to have helped. He has whittled his ERA down from 20.25 to 5.40.

"I feel like I'm throwing the ball better as of late," Grace said Saturday. "There were a couple (things). I was kind of getting into some bad issues, like mechanically, which typically I don't really focus on, honestly. But there were some things I wasn't doing that I am used to doing. So, I made a few corrections."

Grace turned to his pitching coach and to closer Sean Doolittle for advice on what to do with the timing of his glove to release.

"It was more that I kind of felt like I was rotating early coming off the glove," Grace said. "Not staying on target, pretty simple stuff. But when you go look at stuff, it's kind of evident I was doing it. I talked to (pitching coach Derek) Lilliquist. I've talked to Doo. He's kind of helped me on a consistent basis. So, yeah, going to stick with that."

Last year I spoke to starter Tanner Roark about advice teammate Brandon Kintzler had given him on adjustments to his delivery. Grace said the pitchers spend so much time together that they usually have a really good idea of what each pitcher needs to do if they get into a funk on the mound with stuff they have seen them be successful at before. Grace said his teammates have been tremendously helpful in diagnosing small issues he wants adjusted. He believes they can sometimes see it before he does because they watch him throw each day.

"A lot, a lot, because we are throwing to each other every day and down there every day," Grace said. "Everyone has a pretty good feel for what makes everyone successful, so it's good to bounce that stuff of other guys."