Alzolay on worst start of season: ‘couldn’t find my rhythm’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The home runs put the lopsided numbers on Adbert Alzolays’ final line, but the Cubs rookie's issues started before then.
In the Cubs’ 7-1 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday, Alzolay gave up six runs (four earned) in one inning. It was Alzolay’s second game back from spending two weeks on the injured list with a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. He hasn’t made it through the fourth inning in either outing since.
“Everything was good,” Alzolay said Sunday of his health. “I just couldn’t find my rhythm in the game. I felt that my body was super slow to home plate. I was throwing everything from back here on my head, so I just couldn't find that rhythm today in the game.”
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On Sunday, Alzolay pitched just three innings, but his pitch count climbed to 67.
“He was battling himself out there,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Tried to let him figure it out a little bit, but just wasn’t’ able to find it today.”
After adding a slider to his repertoire last season, Alzolay briefly lost the feel for the new pitch toward the end of last season and again in Spring Training. But he said his struggles Sunday were different.
“I wasn't searching for the pitch,” he said. “It’s just, if you try for chase, it's not going to work when you don't have fastball command. So, everything today, all my pitches were all over the place. … When you want to throw the pitch for chase, they're not going to swing because they know that you can’t command it at that moment.”
That was clear in Alzolay’s disastrous second inning. He hit Beaty with the first pitch of the inning. But then, Alzolay worked ahead in the count against Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux. He ended up walking both. With the bases loaded, Zach McKinstry hit a hung slider over the fence.
That grand slam accounted for all four of the earned runs Alzolay allowed Sunday. After shortstop Javy Báez’s two-out throwing error, Alzolay gave up a two-run homer to Cody Bellinger.
“You’ve just got to move on because there is nothing else that you can do about it,” Alzolay said. “… I'll be ready for the next one.”
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