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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Mike Clevinger’s Slider – Clevinger carved up the Orioles by inducing 20 whiffs—nine on his slider and 10 on his fastball—racking up seven K’s without giving up a run in six innings. Trey Mancini was the victim on this early 0-2 slide piece.
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Luis Castillo’s Changeup – The 25-year-old’s off-speed pitch matched Clevinger’s slider with nine whiffs, and it was apparent he had it working against the day’s first batter, Brandon Belt. Castillo struck out nine Giants on 98 pitches. For more, check out Nick’s supercut of each K.
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Justin Verlander’s Curveball – Verlander wasn’t quite at his best as he gave up four runs to the A’s in 5.1 frames, but he still got the drop on Jed Lowrie for this sixth-inning whiff. The Astros offense also bailed him out by jumping on Sean Manaea for nine hits and six runs in four innings.
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Zack Greinke’s Curveball – Greinke got a little feisty when he bumped up his slow curve by about 1 mph from 69 to 70, but he still hoodwinked Eric Hosmer for the whiff-‘n-kneel. The D-backs starter picked up seven K’s in six innings.
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Kirby Yates‘ Splitter – Yates’ fastball failed him as he gave up the game-deciding home run to A.J. Pollock on it, but his signature out pitch was still clicking as he induced three whiffs (and seven fouls on 11 thrown). There was some shadow play at work, but Arizona’s Eduardo Escobar went down swinging nonetheless.
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Chaz Roe’s Slider – You have to hand it to Eduardo Nunez for trying to anticipate where this one was headed. But despite all the respect and preparation he gave it, the Red Sox third baseman looked like he lost control of his physical faculties for a split-second and appeared lucky to keep his feet. Good job, good effort. Oh, and Roe chucked a couple of other black-magic breakers as well.
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Jose Urena’s Two-Seamer – Urena’s not exactly the most popular guy at the moment—what with the whole plunking of Ronald Acuna Jr. thing, but he made the most of his suspension-appeal period by smothering the Nats with a complete game two-hitter. Here, he nipped the outside of the plate against Anthony Rendon at 99 mph. Bonus: He still hit 98 mph with his trademark bite on his final pitch of the 12-1 win.
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Jameson Taillon’s Slider – The 26-year-old swooped in with death’s scythe to chop down Chicago’s Javy Baez on this first-inning breaker. Taillon induced 18 swinging strikes and racked up eight K’s in the process.
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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