Dan Wilson and the Mariners announced at a pregame conference on Saturday that Logan Gilbert will take the mound for Game 6 of the ALCS. The Blue Jays will also run back their Game 2 starter, starting rookie Troy Yesavage.
Gilbert didn’t have a strong outing against the Blue Jays in Game 2, getting bailed out by a Mariners offensive explosion. He pitched only three innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with a walk. The Blue Jays are a tough matchup for Gilbert: a strikeout pitcher
vs. a team that strikes out the least in baseball. He only recorded five whiffs in his last outing, and just two on his four-seam fastball. The biggest problem for Gilbert in that outing was command, especially on the slider, which wound up hung and hittable on the juicy part of the plate, but the fastball command was also an issue, failing to scrape the edges and elicit whiffs. Struggling with those two pitches kept Gilbert from getting to his splitter, his best option for a putaway pitch against the aggressive Jays.
However, Gilbert—famously a routine-oriented pitcher—was also pitching that outing on two days’ rest after the fifteen-inning marathon on Friday night in Seattle when he made his first career appearance out of the bullpen, throwing 34 pitches across two innings. Gilbert said postgame he tried to think about the outing like throwing his regular bullpen, but obviously a bullpen side session bears about as much resemblance to pitching in a win-or-go-home Game 5 as a housecat does to a mountain lion. In Saturday’s press conference, Gilbert admitted that being thrown off his routine was a challenge not just for himself, but for the rotation as a whole.
“A lot of us, it’s the first time doing different things,” he said. “Woo the other day, Bryce on short rest. So that’s the playoffs and that’s kind of the fun of it, too. But we’re kind of creatures of habit too, so it’s nice being back in the normal routine and — even pitching here last time and now coming back here, just a little familiarity.”
For as much as it was a challenge to wrong-foot the routine-oriented Gilbert, Wilson has faith his starter will bounce back thanks to his strong mental fortitude.
“Logan is a guy that just really has learned that mental approach to pitching, and he’s a guy that just wants the ball, wants to challenge you, and he’s ready for tomorrow, for sure,” said Wilson.
It’s appropriate the Logan Gilbert will be the one to take the mound for the Mariners in a potential clinch game. Gilbert was the first of the young rotation arms to arrive, and he’ll take the mound with Cal Raleigh, his long-term roommate in the minor leagues, as his batterymate. The scope of the moment isn’t lost on the reflective, thoughtful young pitcher.
“To be the one to have the ball, you grow up dreaming of moments like this,” said Gilbert. “And you don’t know how many you’ll get over the course of your career. Some guys never get this. So it’s a really big deal.”
As for Bryan Woo, it sounds like the plan will be for him to continue to be in the bullpen for the final two games, based on Wilson’s comments. Wilson said it was important to get Woo comfortable in the bullpen and give him a chance to throw in the game, allowing him to become acclimated to the bullpen’s rhythms. Woo worked out of the ‘pen in college but has only appeared in a non-starter role once in his professional career, when he pitched an inning in the All-Star Game this year. He threw two innings in Friday’s game, allowing one run but needing just 28 pitches over those two innings to record his six outs. Woo’s ability to throw quality strikes in the zone against an aggressive-swinging Toronto team would be a boon to the Mariners out of the ‘pen, but his availability is dependent on how well he bounces back from his first outing in almost a full month.
“All reports have been good. I think he feels good today,” said Wilson. “Obviously, a little bit of soreness where you would expect it. But again, this is an exciting time of year, and I would expect him to be ready to go going forward here out of the bullpen at some point.”
