"No jacket required."
If you're a headline writer, Garrett Richards' provided you with that layup after all the hub-bub following the postgame press conference last week. It was cold in his last start. Richards was bad. He didn't pack jackets. You remember, don't you?
It all seems like a lifetime ago. Four days of adjustments and a memorable seven innings at Citi Field will do that.
In the manner of two hours Tuesday night, Richards totally changed the conversation -- both regarding himself, and, to a certain extent, the Red Sox.
The pitcher that befuddled the Mets on the way to the Red Sox' 2-1 win not only offered the image of something completely different than he had previously delivered, but suggested Alex Cora's club might actually have a difference-maker on their hands.
"Besides everything, everything," said Cora when asked what was working for Richards, who finished with 10 strikeouts and not a single walk over his seven frames. "Mechanics. It was under control on the mound. Good fastball. Good curveball. Good slider. This is the guy we envisioned. Stuff-wise, he’s one of the best in the league. If he can repeat his delivery, stay under control we know he can do this every five days. He can be really good, give us a quality start and give us a chance to win. We will build up from this one, get him ready for the next one and keep working on the things he need to work on to keep getting better."
So, how did this pitcher who had allowed for one of the uglier first impressions to Red Sox fans in recent memory, suddenly turn the narrative inside-out?
Well ...
Start with his delivery. Pitching more out of a version of the stretch, Richards simplified things, eliminating the all-over-the-place release points and erratic cross-body offerings.
Tonight's simplified mechanics
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) April 27, 2021
On it: @Cody_CollinsMLB, @BillKoch25, et al pic.twitter.com/8GDiso3Mku
"Me and Bushy (pitching coach Dave Bush) over the last few days have really been working on simplifying my delivery to help me put myself in a better position to throw the baseball," Richards said. "Before I was working a little bit side to side, which was throwing off my release point and causing me to kind of add extra effort in some places of my delivery that were kind of throwing me off. We just kind of came up with something that would be simple for me to be able to repeat and importantly that gives me a chance to gather over the rubber instead of just kind of rolling through it like I was. So, just making an emphasis of getting that gather over the rubber at the top. That’s really helping."
Then go to his new favorite pitch, the curveball.
Coming into this season, so much had been made of Richards' slider, and for good reason. In 2020, the righty threw it 38 percent of the time with hitters managing just a .147 batting average against it. The curve? That was used hardly at all, coming in at seven percent.
This time around he offered the big 12-6 breaking ball (one that he threw with great effectiveness throughout spring training) just as many times (22) as his slider. The spin-rate king had found yet another way to use his God-given powers.
"Definitely. Without a doubt," said Richards when asked if this was the most confident he has ever been with his curveball. "Last year I started figuring out the delivery that was helping me throw it for strikes more consistently. Now, I put it right up there with my slider as far as confidence. I don’t have a problem throwing a 2-0 curveball. I don’t have a problem throwing a curveball to start a guy off or put a guy away with. It just helps complement all the other stuff that I have – fastball, cutter, slider, all of them move in to lefties and away from righties. I think that curveball, with the speed differential and different look, really sets up a lot of different things – the elevated fastball. Just, the look of it and the speed differential sets up a lot of different stuff."
This was why the Red Sox gambled on Richards to the tune of his $10 million deal. A tweak here. A tweak there. You've got something.
Well, as it turns out, they might have been on to something. It certainly finally seemed that way the moment Richards walked off the mound to end the seventh inning.
"I mean that’s the reason why we’re out there. We’re out there to put up zeroes and go deep into games and keep guys off bases," he said. "It was nice to be able to do that tonight, to be able to hand the ball off to Andriese and have him pitch the eighth, and Barnes slamming the door in the ninth. That’s how you envision every game going but to have it happen tonight, that was a big boost for the boys and we won a game, which was sick. We’re going to continue to play good baseball."
