McAdam: Garrett Richards fixes his mechanics and bounces back with his best start yet

Over the last week, Garrett Richards convened with pitching coach Dave Bush as the two worked together to fix the mechanical issues that so obviously plagued him in his last start.

In that outing against Toronto, Richards not only couldn't get out of the fifth inning -- he seemingly couldn't throw the ball over the plate, or at least not with any regularity, as his six walks demonstrated.

The Richards that emerged from Bush's laboratory Tuesday night at Citi Field barely resembled the one that was last spotted at Fenway. For one thing, his delivery was far more streamlined. For another, he unveiled a curveball that he had only thrown occasionally in his first four starts and transformed it into his weapon of choice, throwing it 20 times to great effect.

And finally, and most dramatically, there was his control, which suddenly reappeared, as if Richards had simply carelessly misplaced it, like his keys. He walked no one, struck out 10 and gave the Red Sox seven superb innings of seven-hit, one-run ball in the Red Sox' taut 2-1 interleague win over the New York Mets.

"That's the guy we envisioned,'' said Alex Cora.

What Cora seemed to be suggesting was more like: "That's why we paid this guy $10 million this past winter.''

In two of his first four starts, Richards didn't seem to be worth a plug nickel, much less an eight-figure salary commitment with a club option for the same in 2022. In the third game of the year, he was rocked for six runs on seven hits before he could record an out in the third inning. What followed were two modest upgrades, but when Richards seemed like a nervous Little Leaguer against the Toronto Blue Jays last Wednesday.

He didn't just miss the strike zone; there were times when he was in danger of missing the area code, throwing errant fastballs way up firm and high, and bouncing sliders and cutters in and around the general vicinity of the plate.



In addition, Richards, in his brief time here, has shown that he's capable of further alienating the fan base with some of his postgame comments. After the first one, three games into the season, he seemed to suggest that he had been victimized by some bad luck and overshifts. Then, last week, he further stepped in it when he complained about the cold April New England weather.

So Richards and Bush went to work, streamlining the righthander's delivery, getting him to stay on target better and eliminating a lot of extraneous movement, all with one idea in mind: "To help me put myself in a better position to throw the baseball.''

Richards mechanics were a mess. He's always thrown across his body -- not advisable, and probably responsible for his need for Tommy John surgery a few years back -- but he had become so ungainly his approach on the mound that he gummed up his release point and added unnecessary movement, further complicating his delivery and leading to his rampant wildness.

"We came up with something that was simple for me to be able to repeat,'' said Richards, "and, more importantly, gave me a chance to gather over the rubber.''

Whatever Bush and Richards came up with for a remedy, it worked nearly to perfection Tuesday night. He made one poor pitch -- down-and-in, right into Jeff McNeil's bat path. McNeil almost effortlessly flicked his wrist and sent the ball soaring into the second deck in right for a 1-0 lead in the second.

The rest of the damage done to him was minor, and each time, Richards neatly extricated himself.

Properly aligned again, like a car that had just been tuned up, Richards rediscovered both his confidence and his curveball. In his first four outings, Richards had featured his slider far more often, but with his mechanics out of whack, the pitch invariably drifted wide of the strike zone.

Focused on his curve -- which features more horizontal action rather than the sweeping break of the slider -- Richards was far more effective.

"(The key) is just kind of what it's always been -- just me being in the (strike) zone,'' said Richards. "I'm not necessarily a guy who spots the ball, but if I'm in the zone, my stuff's kind of moving all over the place. It was just about getting me back to just throwing strikes and making competitive pitches in the zone.''

When he had to grunt through a mess in the sixth inning and found himself at 82 pitches, he suspected his night was over. But Cora determined that Richards had earned the right to go back out for the seventh and the pitcher rewarded his manager's confidence with an efficient 12-pitch inning.

Those final three outs proved to not only end his start on a high note, but also registered deeply with Richards, who expressed his gratitude and hinted that a bond had been formed.

"He's an ex-player, which goes a long way,'' said Richards of Cora. "I value his opinion, and in the short amount of time that I've gotten to watch him kind of orchestrate this team and how the flow of the game goes, I couldn't be happier. He's a guy that I figure, if we're getting in a fox hole, we want him in our fox hole. That goes a long way from a player's standpoint. So, I've got nothing but respect for Alex Cora.''

And as long as Richards can pitch the way he did Tuesday night in Queen, the feeling will be mutual.