Every morning we review the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @PitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Chris Sale’s Slider – The Red Sox ace garnered seven whiffs on his signature pitch en route to six K’s and one walk over six innings. Houston’s J.D. Davis swung over the top of this one as it disappeared behind his back leg.
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Fernando Rodney’s Two-Seamer – The Twins closer kept chugging along, picking up his 12th save Friday. As part of that, Cleveland catcher Yan Gomes couldn’t catch up to this tailing 95 mph fastball from the 41-year-old. Rodney has given up just one run since April 28.
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Gerrit Cole’s Fastball – Cole picked up 13 whiffs—five on his four-seamer—and garnered seven K’s over seven innings. Here, he was pumping 100 mph in the seventh to put down Boston’s Sandy Leon. Apparently, chucking 100 pitches means nothing to the muscles and sinew in Cole’s right arm.
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Joe Biagini’s Curveball – The Blue Jays reliever dropped his rainbow on Detroit’s Ronny Rodriguez to grab one of his two strikeouts in three innings out of the bullpen.
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Nick Pivetta’s Slider – Pivetta buried this one at Pablo Sandoval’s back foot as the Giants first baseman flung out an embarrassing uppercut swing and nearly fell over.
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Jameson Taillon’s Curveball – The Pirates starter absolutely froze Marcell Ozuna on this second-inning offering, and the Cardinals outfielder looked a little shook afterward as he shot a stare out toward Taillon as if the pitcher were some sort of magician. The 26-year-old tossed eight innings to go with six strikeouts and one walk.
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Mike Foltynewicz’s Slider – Folty turned to his slider to get Bryce Harper swinging for his 11th strikeout and finish his complete game two-hitter. But this earlier iteration was even more impressive as its sweeping action ate up the Washington outfielder in the fourth.
GIF of the Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below, and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half Contest.
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