The Seattle Mariners righty will try to earn the M's a .500 road trip on Sunday afternoon at the Washington Nationals.
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Maybe it's over dramatic, but Sunday's game against the Washington Nationals feels big for the Seattle Mariners.
The Mariners are 37-35 and lead the American League West by two games over the Texas Rangers, so this game isn't going to be the difference between first place and second place, but it is the difference between a .500 road trip and a sub-.500 trip.
The Mariners are currently 4-5 on their 10-game East Coast swing, and getting to .500 would be considered a win after all the travel - and all the injuries.
JP Crawford and Matt Brash were both lost to the injured list on this trip and Randy Arozarena left Friday's game with a bum hamstring that is expected to sideline him for a few days.
The guy tasked with helping the M's earn that .500 road trip? None other than Emerson Hancock, who is in consideration for the All-Star team this summer. The Georgia product is 5-2 with a 2.74 ERA over 13 starts. He's been the Mariners most reliable starting pitcher for the duration of this campaign.
MarinersRoundtable caught up with Hancock on Saturday afternoon.
On being a pitcher and not just a hard-thrower
Yeah, I think you want to be balanced. I think at the end of the day, like, you want to be a pitcher, you want to make pitches, you want to be adjustable out there in a way. Like, you kind of want to be able to flow with how the game's going and have different options. So it's nice to have the velocity, but it's also nice to kind of think through certain situations out there and kind of know how you want to attack hitters.
On his pitch mix and creating what he's become
I think just being adaptable and understanding that you'll never stop having to evolve and adjust. And I just think, like, that's kind of where the game's at. And the more that you can kind of experiment with things and try new stuff, I mean, you have all the technology possible to be able to create almost any pitch or any shape that you want.
And I just think if you're always trying to mess around with those things, and you can kind of give hitters a lot of different options and many different looks throughout the year.
Seattle Mariners pitcher Emerson Hancock (26) throws during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn ImagesOn how much he's experimented with his pitch mix in season
I think every pitch has a purpose, and there is a reason why you're using it. And again, it's all about options. It's all about different looks, and you just want to be able to put that in the back of their mind. Like, 'yeah, he could throw this one,' and you could give him a different look the second or the third time through. And I just think it helps the more pitches you can throw in the strike zone, give guys different looks. It can help you out there.
On the All-Star chatter
Yeah, I mean, I really don't think about it. Like, I'm thinking about, you know, our team and trying to win as many games as possible. And I feel like I'm just at my best when it's one start at a time, one day at a time. You go out here and try to give the team a chance to win.
The Mariners and Nationals will play at 10:35 a.m. PT. Seattle will be off on Monday before the start of a new homestand on Tuesday against the Orioles.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Remember to join our MARINERS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Mariners fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
