SAN FRANCISCO- Jeff Samardzija had what might have been his best start of Spring Friday night at AT&T Park in what was his final tune up before the Giants break camp on Saturday. ‘Shark’ kept the A’s off balance and off the board mixing sliders and sinkers en route to 5 shutout innings.
Samardzija was consistent all night allowing just one hit and one walk in his 5 shutout innings while striking out 6. Most impressively, he threw first pitch strikes to 14 of the 17 batters he faced and only saw one 2-0 count.
“Obviously you’re always working on some things and trying to improve. I’m just really trying to repeat my delivery which is really giving me consistency with my pitches,” Samardzija said. “In the last two starts you really wanna turn it on and get things going. So its good to end on a positive note heading into the season.”
The Giants are hoping Samardzija can start 2017 the way he finished the final 2 months of 2016 where he posted a 3.14 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings. The keys to his success this season will lie in his ability to continue to attack both sides of the plate with his 2-seam fastball and keep hitters on their toes with the slider.
“I thought that slider was really good tonight. We got some punch-outs on it and we were missing in the right spots which is great.”
Samardzija will look to build on his recent success when he makes his first regular season start next week.
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