It was a rough start to the season for Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders relief pitcher Zach Messinger. In five appearances in April covering 12.1 innings, the 26-year-old right-hander allowed 13 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits with nine walks and 11 strikeouts. His earned-run average was 7.07.<\/p>\n
Since then, Messinger has turned things around. In his last six appearances dating back to April 28th, he has not allowed a run and just one hit in 13 innings with five walks and 11 strikeouts. He has lowered his ERA to 3.67.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAs the year goes on, there\u2019s ups and there\u2019s downs. I just hit a lower point early on,\u201d Messinger said. \u201cI\u2019ve put in a lot of work with our analysts and our pitching coaches on things we can tighten up. I think we\u2019ve done a really good job of that. It\u2019s also me staying within myself, understanding it\u2019s only April, it\u2019s only May. Nothing really too crazy to push the issue on. Just the ebbs and flows of the season. But it\u2019s been good to put a few good ones together.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the rough stretch, there wasn\u2019t anything physically wrong with Messinger. Nothing wrong mechanically, his velocity was good. Some of it was bad luck. Most of it, Messinger feels, was a difference in game-planning and focus points.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically in my career, that\u2019s something I\u2019ve leaned pretty heavy on,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m a pretty cerebral guy and I enjoy the game-planning aspect of going through a lineup and how you\u2019re going to attack them. I got a little bit away from myself from doing that. So getting back to who I was and trusting my stuff. I\u2019ve worked really hard to get where I\u2019m at, worked really hard to get my stuff where it\u2019s at. It was a little bit of seeing is believing. Now it\u2019s starting to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The turning point came April 23rd in a home game at PNC Field against Rochester. Messinger came on in the top of the ninth inning with the RailRiders leading, 4-2, and allowed three runs on five hits and two walks, enabling the Red Wings to take a 5-4 lead. The RailRiders tied it in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. Messinger pitched three-up, three-down innings in the 10th and 11th with two strikeouts and the RailRiders won it in the bottom of the 11th on a RBI single by Jasson Dom\u00ednguez<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPutting together two really good innings and ending up winning that game,\u201d said Messinger, who is 3-0 with one save this season. \u201cThat\u2019s just good mentally, confidence-wise, too, to be able to have that one in the back pocket. So leaning on that and kind of doing a deep dive into some usage stuff \u2013 fastballs less, sliders more \u2013 looking back on what\u2019s given me success over the course of my career as a starter or a reliever.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n