LA Angels: Trevor Cahill Bounces Back and Two Other Take Aways from 2-1 Loss in Seattle

Trevor Cahill Bounces Back in Seattle

Maybe I was a little too hard on Trevor Cahill. Unlike his Opening Day start in Oakland, Cahill was a dominant pitcher on Tuesday night. He didn’t look anything like he did in his last start, and put together what could be considered the best start by an Angels pitcher so far this season. He finished the night with one earned run, five strikeouts, and three hits in six innings pitched.

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The problem in Oakland was that he was allowing a lot of fly balls, which would turn into home runs. In his second start, most of the batted balls were on the ground, and contact was relatively soft. His entire repertoire of pitches was in full effect, and he used his full arsenal brilliantly throughout the game.

Cahill put an emphasis on his cutter in his second start, which proved to be absolutely vital to his success. After throwing just six cutters in his Opening Day start, Cahill used the pitch 18 times Tuesday night, per Jeff Fletcher. If Cahill can continue to use his cutter as effectively and plentiful as he did on Tuesday, it will bode well for him as the season goes on.

Another key to his start was that Cahill consistently found the strike zone in Seattle. While 70% of his pitches in Oakland were strikes as well, Cahill seemed to be fooling hitters much more this time around, which led to his five strikeouts.