Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition GIFs. We want to bring you the highest caliber of nastiness possible, so if you see a nasty pitch, please tell us about it. You can tweet @PitcherList to let us know, and we’ll give you a shout-out here in the article if your tip makes the cut.
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Luis Garcia’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/villainousdecimalhorsemouse
Luis Garcia started the game off strong, recording a 1-2-3 top of the first. He struck out a pair in the inning and got Jorge Soler to chase this nasty cutter off the plate. Garcia won the battle in the first, but Soler would get his revenge two innings later after knocking a three-run homer completely out of Minute Maid Park.
Max Fried’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/massiveweeklygander
Max Fried countered Garcia on the hill in game six as Atlanta looked to close out the series. He escaped an ankle injury and early jam in the first, thanks in part to this strikeout of Carlos Correa.
Cristian Javier’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/apttimelyisabellinewheatear
The second Astro reliever out of the pen was young Cristian Javier. He lasted just over an inning as the Astros used an all-hands-on deck approach with their pitching staff. Javier cruised through his first inning before allowing a Dansby Swanson homer in the fifth. Javier closed out the fourth with this nice slider to Joc Pederson.
Tyler Matzek’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/hatefulbowedamericanratsnake
One of the top pitchers this postseason, Tyler Matzek, provided Atlanta with two scoreless innings of relief Tuesday night. He picked up four strikeouts in the outing, all on sliders, and ended the seventh with a fantastic one to Alex Bregman.
Max Fried’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/passionatefabulousgharial
Because he had such a dominant outing, we’ll double up on Max Fried and give him the final nasty pitch of 2021. Fried was outstanding Tuesday, throwing six shutout innings with as many strikeouts. We saw his slider earlier, and we’ll showcase a filthy changeup to Kyle Tucker here. Fried would go on to be the winning pitcher in Atlanta’s first World Series championship since 1995.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)