Every morning, we review the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition 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 Nastiest Pitches of the Season GIF Tournament. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @PitcherList, and we’ll GIF it up and give you a shoutout here in the article.
Gerrit Cole’s Two-Seamer
https://gfycat.com/ChiefSizzlingAmericanredsquirrel
After dropping game one in Houston, the Astros came out in games two and three with a pair of aces in their hand in the form of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. Both starters pitched phenomenally and brought Houston from one game behind in the series to one game ahead. Now the Yankees are facing an uphill battle after Cole threw seven marvelous innings of shutout ball yesterday. Usually, we feature Cole’s four-seamer as his nastiest pitch, but here it’s his wicked 99 mph two-seamer that sneaks over the inner-edge of the plate to freeze Aaron Hicks for a called strike.
Luis Severino’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/SentimentalCarefreeIberianchiffchaff
Luis Severino ran into some trouble early against the Astros, but quickly settled in. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but when you’re going up against the aforementioned Gerrit Cole, a two run lead can be an insurmountable one. Nonetheless, Sevy gave it his best from there on out, throwing 4.1 innings and striking out six. Here, he puts George Springer into the spin cycle on a fantastic slider.
Luis Cessa’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/ComfortableFearlessIzuthrush
Luis Cessa was brought in on Tuesday afternoon to limit the damage in the Yanks’ 4-1 loss, and he did just that. He tossed two clean innings and struck out the side in the eighth, putting Carlos Correa, Josh Reddick and Martin Maldonado down. Correa and Maldonado went down on the slider, but it was Cessa’s filthy changeup that got Reddick reaching out of the zone on this strike three.
Patrick Corbin’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/OffbeatWeeCollardlizard
The Nationals put up a seven spot in the first inning as they looked to bring out the brooms out against St. Louis. All that was left to do was for the pitching staff to throw 8 decent innings and close it out, and they did just that. Patrick Corbin may have surrendered four runs over his five innings pitched, but he struck out an insane 12 Cardinals en route to a Nationals sweep. He used his slider on eight of those Ks, including this one, a back-foot beauty that forced Harrison Bader to whiff in futility.
GIF of the Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below, and the winner will be featured in the Nastiest Pitches of the Season GIF Tournament.
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