Tampa Bay Rays closer Pete Fairbanks entered Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with a 4-3 lead, looking for a save.
When all was said and done, however, he left the inning having relinquished the lead: the game was now 5-4 in favor of the Angels as the teams headed to the bottom of the ninth.
It’s not common to watch Fairbanks struggle: he had a 2.58 ERA in 2023 and a 1.13 mark the year before.
This year, however, he is still trying to find the best version of himself.
His ERA after the outing, in which he allowed three hits and two earned runs in an inning of work, is now 9.00.
If you want to learn how badly Fairbanks struggled on Wednesday, hear it from the pitcher himself.
He was both harsh and hilarious, if that’s possible.
“Pete Fairbanks on his outing tonight: ‘I thought it generally sucked. I didn’t think it was a specific suck, I thought it was like an all-encompassing type of suck,’” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted, with a clip of the interview.
Pete Fairbanks on his outing tonight:
“I thought it generally sucked. I didn’t think it was a specific suck, I thought it was like an all-encompassing type of suck.”
An all-encompassing type of suck: that’s definitely an all-time line.
It pretty much sums up what the game felt like for Fairbanks, who also walked two hitters in addition to the three hits conceded.
He also failed to strike out anyone, which is extremely uncommon for a hurler with 239 career strikeouts in just 166.2 frames.
Perhaps he isn’t 100 percent physically, or maybe he is just trying to get into a groove with arm or his mechanics.
In any case, you should expect him to correct the course if he is fully healthy.
He is too good not to.