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 Second 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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Carlos Carrasco’s Curveball – Prodigious whiffs? Check. Frozen batters? Yup. Kneeling opponents? Uh-huh. Carrasco beat down the Blue Jays with 26 induced swinging strikes and 14 K’s over eight innings. Here, Billy McKinney tried the smooth cover-up with the slide step after this nasty hook.
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Aaron Nola’s Curveball – Nola Day, Nola Day, Always bout that Nola Day…eight K’s and one walk over seven innings—and another night with an effective curve (18-of-37 CSW) from the Phillies ace. The bottom dropped out of this one, leaving the Mets’ Jose Reyes wondering what happened to the ball.
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Chris Archer’s Slider – Sure, Lewis Brinson has been a bit of a punchline this year, but anytime you can make an opponent chuck his bat in frustrating mid-Moonwalk, you’re probably doing something right.
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Jordan Hicks‘ Sinker – Jeimer Candelario got ahold of a 102 mph Hicks fastball to end things against the Cardinals, but the St. Louis rookie had the right idea against James McCann the inning prior as he kept his filthy heat low and skimming the black.
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Dominic Leone’s Cutter – Leone left Niko Goodrum fishing on this diving cutter to pick up the seventh-inning strikeout, helping to preserve the 3-3 Candelario would eventually bust.
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Daniel Zamora’s Slider – The Mets reliever oozed talent and nonchalance on this eighth-inning slide piece to old friend Odubel Herrera. Zamora threw a nearly identical pitch to K the Phillies outfielder swinging in the at-bat.
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Fernando Rodney’s Two-Seamer – Here’s hoping the A’s hold on to a wild-card spot, because this relief corps will be that rough beast that lurks in the bullpen—and it’s an entertaining one between Blake Treinen, Lou Trivino, et. al. Here, Rodney toyed with the Rangers’ Ronald Guzman with some hot fire on this seventh-inning fastball.
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Blake Treinen’s Fastball – Speaking of the Oakland pen, Treinen did his thing again in the ninth inning against Texas. No, it didn’t form its low-in-the-zone Platonic ideal, but this fastball to Shin-Soo Choo nonetheless had plenty of arm-side run and came in a 99 mph for the whiff.
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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