Cobb joins exclusive club in rare shutout vs. Cardinals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO — A bumper pool table showed up in the Giants clubhouse recently and it has quickly become the centerpiece of the room.
It’s a popular addition, and before the Giants took batting practice on Monday, several veterans pulled up chairs and watched as teammates went one-on-one. As Mike Yastrzemski eyed a shot, he was asked who the best player in the clubhouse was.
“Cobb,” he said.
That probably shouldn’t surprise anyone right now.
Cobb has had a strange start to the season, but on Monday all the signs of dominance came together. The right-hander threw his first shutout since 2012, leading the Giants to a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals that was their third straight.
Cobb got 17 outs on the ground and sailed through the first seven innings on just 76 pitches. Mitch Haniger’s sacrifice fly and JD Davis’ three-run homer gave him more than enough support, and he sprinted through the tape. Cobb threw 109 pitches in his first shutout since August 23, 2012.
“That was a looooong time ago,” he said, laughing.
The 10 years and 244 days between shutouts were the third-longest between a pitcher’s first shutout and his second one, and while this hasn’t quite been the start the Giants hoped for, it still is a better situation than Cobb experienced the last time he threw nine zeroes up there. Eleven years ago, Cobb gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Angels and wondered if he would get sent down. He responded by blanking the A’s five days later, and he has been a big leaguer ever since.
Cobb is 35 now, but he has made velocity gains late in his career, and he still has the wicked late movement on his sinker and splitter. He threw 50 splitters and 44 sinkers Monday, repeatedly getting the Cardinals to pound the ball into the ground. The outing lowered Cobb’s ERA to 1.91 and made him just the third big leaguer to throw a shutout this season. It’s a small club that also includes Gerrit Cole and Sandy Alcantara.
“I feel strongly that he’s easily the most underrated pitcher in the game,” catcher Joey Bart said of Cobb. “You don’t really hear a whole lot of people talk about him, but the guy’s really tough, he’s got real stuff. I joke with him all the time that he’s getting better and he’s getting older.”
Bart wasn’t around for the final strikeout, having pulled up on the bases after a double that helped spark the four-run rally. He has a tight groin and might need to miss time, which would be a horribly-timed injury for a young catcher who seems to finally be finding his stride.
Cobb’s first move after the game was to check on Bart, but he had a few teammates to shout out after the first shutout by a Giants starter in two years. The infield defense was fantastic, particularly at third base, where Davis is playing like an All-Star on both sides of the ball.
Cobb got a boost from his defenders and another when he looked up after the Giants scored and saw that nobody was warming up. This is not a coaching staff that likes to let guys get too far past 100 pitches, and manager Gabe Kapler admitted there were some nerves in the ninth, but they let Cobb chase his shutout.
“It’s exhausting to be working that deep into the game, especially with the pitch count,” Cobb said. “So when you get that boost of confidence and adrenaline from knowing that you’re going to have to finish two more innings and you have the trust of the team, you’re able to dig a little bit deeper and try to go prove them right.”
The bench made just one call to the bullpen on this night, and that was just to tell closer Camilo Doval to start stretching just in case Cobb put runners on in the ninth. He breezed through his final inning, giving the Giants length for the second time in three days.
There have been a lot of issues during a disappointing April, but near the top of the list is a rotation that was averaging about five innings per start until Logan Webb went seven innings on Saturday. Cobb has been vocal about the need for the staff to do more.
“For everything to work, it starts with us, the starters working deep,” Cobb said.
The shutout set the Giants up well for Tuesday, which they had hoped would be a bullpen game. Because the Cardinals have a lineup that leans heavily to the right, Kapler had hinted he would skip Sean Manaea’s start and lean on long reliever Jakob Junis. The strong starts by Webb and Cobb set the Giants up to do that, and they announced late Monday that John Brebbia will start what will be a bullpen game for the staff, with Junis expected to carry the heaviest load.
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After that, the Giants will try to keep it rolling behind Anthony DeSclafani, who is off to a strong start, and Webb. As Cobb soaked in one of the best games of his career, he looked over at the bumper pool table, where Webb was locked in on a game.
“I know Webby won’t be happy if I’m the only one with a CG this year,” he said, smiling. “He’ll be trying to one-up me next outing, for sure.”
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