‘Paul’s best’ on display in Blackburn’s gem

MILWAUKEE — In the context of Paul Blackburn‘s late-blooming Major League profession, his dominant efficiency on Saturday qualifies as a classic outing.

When Blackburn carved out an outstanding first half of the 2022 season, a standout stat from that journey to incomes his first profession All-Star choice later that summer season was the 1.28 ERA he posted on the highway, which ranked lowest amongst Major League pitchers. His begin in Saturday’s 2-1 win in 10 innings over the Brewers at American Family Field — Oakland’s fourth consecutive victory, which sealed a second straight highway collection win as nicely — felt like a flashback to that magical journey.

Blackburn shut down Milwaukee’s offense over six scoreless innings, permitting simply 4 singles and one stroll. Just as with the majority of Blackburn’s ‘22 run, there was nothing overly flashy on show. Sure, he struck out 5 batters.

But as was the case final season in his emergence as Oakland’s ace, his success stemmed from his pinpoint command, throwing 64 of his 95 pitches for strikes and constantly getting forward within the rely early, with first-pitch strikes to 16 of his 22 batters confronted.

When the Brewers did make contact, it was typically weak, with a mean exit velocity of 88.4 mph on 16 balls hit in play in opposition to him.

“Today was Paul’s best,” supervisor Mark Kotsay stated. “You just see a crispness to his stuff and confidence out there. We all know he’s a competitor. We saw that last year in the first half, and we really saw it today.”

During his transformation into a longtime Major League starter, Blackburn gained a powerful grasp of his six-pitch combine with a capability to throw any of them in any rely. That confirmed by on Saturday, as he distributed all six about as evenly as any pitcher might.

According to Statcast, Blackburn’s sinker was his most-thrown pitch at solely 29 instances. He additionally threw 17 cutters, 14 curveballs, 13 sliders, 11 changeups, and 11 four-seam fastballs. He completed off his strikeouts with three completely different pitches: the cutter, slider and sinker.

“That’s something we’ve been focusing on more this year,” Blackburn stated. “Especially with the mix I have, being able to show guys five or six different pitches, that’s a lot for a hitter to come in and game plan for. On a day like today when [all six pitches] are pretty much all on, it makes it even harder on them.”

An 8.41 ERA in 4 begins following the 2022 All-Star break earlier than his season was minimize brief as a consequence of a finger concern put a damper on what ought to have been considered as a breakout 12 months and coming-out social gathering for Blackburn. This introduced some motivation coming into ‘23 to prove last year’s first half was no fluke.

Through his first two outings of this season, Blackburn flashed a few of his ‘22 kind, however was unable to place collectively a high quality efficiency. He offered a reminder of what he brings to the desk on Saturday, starting his begin with a strikeout of two-time All-Star and former MVP Christian Yelich on a cutter.

“He just knows how to pitch,” Yelich stated of Blackburn. “Two starts doesn’t really tell you the story. He’s been an All-Star before. He did a good job of pitching. He didn’t make too many mistakes over the middle today.”

Working with catcher Shea Langeliers for the third straight time, Blackburn produced with out query his greatest outing of the 12 months. In truth, it marked the primary time Blackburn threw at the very least six scoreless innings since July 2, 2022, when he labored 6 1/3 scoreless frames in opposition to the Mariners in Seattle.

Called up as Oakland’s No. 1 prospect final August simply after Blackburn was sidelined for the rest of the season, Langeliers didn’t get a chance to catch the right-hander. But based mostly on what he’s seen to this point of their first three video games collectively, it’s clear to the 25-year-old backstop simply what sort of pitcher he’s coping with.

“He’s got great command,” Langeliers stated. “The more I get to work with him, the more comfortable we’ll get together. I’ll start thinking like him and he’ll be able to think like me so we get on the same page quicker. … The more we work together, he’s going to be our All-Star again.”