ARLINGTON, Texas — A new emphasis on his cut fastball has Mariners reliever Danny Farquhar looking like his old self.
“I’m going to give some credit to TC (pitching coordinator Terry Clark) down in the minor leagues,” Farquhar said. “He told me I needed to start throwing it — just throw it. Trust it. That’s kind of what I did a little bit.
“I think it’s up a tick or two maybe.”
That’s no small thing.
“It gives the hitter less time to react,” he said. “I think (the increased velocity) has it breaking a little bit later, maybe. They don’t see it early. I think it makes a difference.”
Farquhar pitched a one-two-three eighth inning Tuesday night in protecting a one-run lead against Texas. That came two days after he worked a one-two-three inning in closing out a marathon victory in Boston.
“That was the Farquhar of old,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “Where has he been? It was nice to see it again. I saw command. The first three months, all I saw was ball one, ball two and 3-1.”
Farquhar amounts to a microcosm of the Mariners’ bullpen over the last two seasons. A year ago, he contributed a 2.66 ERA over 66 appearances to a lockdown unit.
This year, in three previous big-league tours, he had a 6.23 ERA in 25 games. The overall bullpen ERA has slipped from last year’s club-record 2.59 to its current 4.30.
Farquhar said he found his form in his most recent tour at Triple-A Tacoma; he had eight scoreless outings in 10 appearances while compiling a 2.13 ERA overall. That prompted his recall last Saturday from the Rainiers.
“I went down to Triple-A and got some confidence back,” he said. “I’m just rolling with it.”
Cruz at 30 and counting
Nelson Cruz extended his career-best streak of reaching base safely to 30 games when he singled through the left side in the sixth inning.
Cruz’s streak is the longest of the season by an American League player and the longest current streak in the majors. Three National League players had longer streaks earlier in the season:
• St. Louis outfielder Matt Holliday had a 45-game run from April 5 to June 1.
• Toronto shortstop Troy Tulowitzki went 41 games while playing for Colorado from May 26 to July 20.
• Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto had a 32-game streak from May 20 to June 25.
Cruz’s streak includes only two games when he failed to get hits. He is batting .363 in his surge with 23 runs, 15 doubles, 15 homers and 22 RBI.
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