Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
The result is not as important as the process to Tyler Beede right now.
On a 34-46 team, which managed all of three hits against an Arizona starter making his big-league debut, that is probably for the best.
Beede was better, if not excellent, getting ahead of Diamondbacks hitters even if he couldn’t always close them out successfully in a dreary, 5-1 loss Thursday at Oracle Park.
The numbers read pretty plainly: 5 1/3 innings, two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts. He was pulled a bit early, after 84 pitches, with Bruce Bochy eager to get to a Reyes Moronta who hadn’t pitched since Sunday.
But those weren’t the numbers the rookie has been most concerned with.
Here’s one he’s looking at: 15-of-22 first-pitch strikes. 15-of-22 times he put hitters in a hole.
“My big emphasis tonight was to attack the zone,” said Beede, who bounced back nicely from a four-inning, four-run performance against the Dodgers. “… Tonight was just a better attack percentage, which is essentially getting 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 and [up] in the zone. Tonight was the best I’d done that all year. Encouraging.”
The secret for Beede is to let his stuff rise, throwing a 94-mph fastball up in the zone instead of pounding below. It was a departure from previous starts, where he instinctively concentrated on the lower half of the strike zone, the conventional wisdom for keeping balls in the park.
“Focus was to elevate. My batting average against against fastballs up in the zone is below .200,” the 26-year-old said. “When I’m down in the zone, it’s close to .500. For me, it’s the best I’ve attacked hitters, percentage wise, since I’ve been up here.”
The stark difference in effectiveness in the zone was brought to him by analytically minded Giants coaches after a recent bullpen session, he said. A pitcher who has all the stuff is beginning to complement it with a better attack plan.
He isn’t the type of pitcher who seeks out the numbers. But when he saw them, he was hooked.
“Just gives me more conviction to know I can ride the ball up in the zone,” said Beede, who lowered his ERA to 6.45 in his second encouraging start in three tries.
“I think in previous outings I was focused on driving the ball down in the zone. And that just doesn’t play for me.”
He cautioned that yes, he wants to win and pitch well. But Beede is thinking long term, and imperfectly executing a solid plan is a step toward perfectly executing a solid plan. He wasn’t beaten up after a game in which, realistically, he had little chance of winning when backed by an offense that lacked punch.
“This is part of his growth as a major league pitcher,” Bochy said. “… You do get encouraged by the young players, how they’re playing.”