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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Chaz Roe’s Slider – This may have been Roe’s only induced whiff on six pitches, but the Rays reliever brought some of his trademark bend to get the hack from Teoscar Hernandez. Perhaps the Jays outfielder was a little antsy after this slider earlier in the at-bat left him jumping backward.
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Jesus Reyes’ Sinker – Reyes roasted Miami’s Magneuris Sierra with his diving 95 mph sinker on back-to-back pitches, then finished the job a few offerings later with a tailing fastball at the top of the zone.
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Blake Snell’s Curveball – The Rays ace had a ridiculous 24 swinging strikes (42% CSW), including 12 on his hook. This one gave Lourdes Gurriel trouble with his inner ears as he stumbled across the plate.
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Framber Valdez’s Sinker – Valdez racked up nine K’s in six frames after starter Charlie Morton was pulled with a velocity dip and shoulder trouble. This sinker to Andrelton Simmons induced one of 14 whiffs as the 24-year-old held things down in the 6-2 win.
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Trevor Cahill’s Curveball – Things didn’t go well for Cahill against the Twins (5 ER, 3.1 IP), as he no doubt punished a few last-ditch streaming gambles in the process. Still, he dropped a beautiful inside hook to fool Jake Cave and flash the stuff that can at times make him so tantalizing.
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Trevor Richards‘ Changeup – Richards’ change was on another planet, as he got 15 swinging strikes on 39 thrown (38.5 %). This one to Cincinnati’s Scooter Gennett was as good as any of them, though the shortstop avoided becoming one of Richards’ nine strikeout victims later in the at-bat, grounding out.
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Sergio Romo’s Slider – To borrow a turn of phrase from FanGraph’s The Sleeper and the Bust, this is running the risk of turning into Rays Corner. That tends to happen when you load your bullpen with guy after guy with filthy stuff. Here, Romo’s slide piece gives us a physics lesson as Toronto’s Kevin Pillar is left to do a little jig over home plate.
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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