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GLENDALE, Ariz .– Trevor Bauer immersed himself in an emerging rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres with one eye closed.
The Dodgers’ valuable acquisition during the offseason came through his first inning against the Padres on Saturday afternoon throwing mostly with the right eye closed, a training method he said he used frequently to get sore. ‘easy.
“I figured if they can’t score me with one eye open, it’s going to be hard to score me with both eyes open,” said Bauer after pitching three scoreless innings since setting up for the Dodgers. “I’m just having a little fun.”
Bauer did not elaborate on why he sometimes chooses to keep an eye closed, although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts mentioned it had something to do with recalibrating his command.
“I think maybe there was a curve ball that I think he did with both eyes closed,” Roberts said, holding back his laughter. “I don’t know, but there is a method to his madness.”
Bauer, 30, said he routinely kept at least one eye closed during bullpen sessions, while playing long throws and facing batters during the offseason, adding that he liked to “make me sore. ‘comfortable and throwing different stuff my way and trying to find a solution for it. “
Bauer gave a single to Jurickson Profar to start his outing, capping a nine at batting, then threw a walk to Tommy Pham before striking out the next three batters, the last two on strikeouts. Over the next two innings – with both eyes open, apparently – he struck out six of the seven batters he faced.
The Padres were coming from a Friday night game and haven’t played most of their starters, meaning Bauer didn’t get another crack at third baseman Manny Machado, who is famous at batting .588 /. 667 / .1.412 against him in 17 career plate appearances. Bauer previously made a YouTube video analyzing Machado’s success against him, and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joked about wanting to find something against Machado soon after signing Bauer to a contract. three years and $ 102 million last month.
Bauer joked that Machado was “already dodging me” by not making the trip.
When the games start to count, Bauer said he would have plenty of chances against him.
“Wait,” Bauer said behind a wry smile. “It’s going to be a fun year.”
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