Through the playoffs, we’ll be featuring 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 after each round to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the Second Half Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Masahiro Tanaka’s Splitter – Tanaka finally got his revenge against the Astros and Dallas Keuchel, crusing through seven frames of shutout baseball. His biggest pitch of the night came in the fifth innings, fanning Josh Reddick with two runners on via a nasty Splitter that dove off the plate. It’s hard not to love Tanaka’s emotion jumping off the mound after getting the big whiff.
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Brad Peacock’s Fastballs – I still don’t believe Peacock gets enough love as he features some of the most wicked stuff you’ll see in the postseason. For example, check out these two Fastballs from yesterday’s game, each riding over a foot as they bent back over the plate for called strikes.
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Brad Peacock’s Slider – Then there’s also Peacock’s Slider, which curls in the opposite direction and makes it impossible for left-handers to resist when starting over the inside corner. Aaron Hicks was doomed from the moment this left Peacock’s hand.
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Jake Arrieta’s Fastball – Arrieta did his job to give the Cubs another day, allowing just 1 ER in 6.2 frames. His repertoire looked electric from the start, getting 2017 NL ROY Cody Bellinger to strike himself out on a ridiculous Fastball that darted out of the zone at the last moment.
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Jake Arrieta’s Curveball – There’s more to Arrieta’s arsenal than a lively Fastball as his Curveball boasted plenty of depth and life as well. Check out how far this hook swept into Chase Utley from the outside part of the plate, earning a well-deserved swing-and-miss. (Thanks to @DJFreddie10 for the tip!)
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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Tanaka’s the right answer, no matter what the poll says.