Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games. If you see something you think should be included here be sure to tweet @PitcherList to let us know. Or, if you’re a PL+ Member and part of our Discord, shout it out in the Nastiest Pitches channel.
Mason Miller’s Fastball
There is only one way to start a Nastiest Pitches article when Mason Miller toes the rubber. Oakland’s closer recorded five strikeouts over two innings of work to elevate his K/9 to 18.65 on the year. The A’s ended up losing this game in the tenth inning as Michael Kelly came in and surrendered a run to Victor Caratini.
JP Sears‘ Slider
Before Mason Miller entered the game, Oakland’s starter JP Sears held the Astros to just one run over five innings. He recorded two strikeouts, both of which came against Yordan Alvarez, including this nasty slider. The Astros don’t strike out much at all as a whole, but Alvarez leads this team with a 17.4% mark.
Michael Wacha’s Changeup
Wacha left Sam Haggerty fooled on this changeup that looked like it was going to cut inside for a split second but ended up falling right over the plate. Wacha went on to get the win in this game, racking up seven punchouts and surrendering just one run over six frames.
Nick Pivetta’s Curveball
Pivetta left Yandy Díaz backpedaling with this curveball that just barely caught the right side edge of the plate. This was one of eight strikeouts for Pivetta, who is up to a 9.58 K/9 on the season. Pivetta is mainly a fastball and slider pitcher, but he mixes in his curveball 13.4% of the time.
Carlos Rodón’s Slider
Rodon’s start to this game was concerning as he gave up a solo shot to Twins’ leadoff hitter Ryan Jeffers. But the lefty settled in and didn’t give up any more runs for the next five innings while striking out six Twins in total. Speaking of Jeffers, Rodon was able to get his revenge on him by punching him out two more times after his homer, including this nasty slider below the strike zone.
Chris Sale’s Slider
Sale keeps getting better and better with each start. Last night the 35-year-old struck out nine Cubs over seven innings while allowing zero runs. He has allowed just two runs over his last four starts. Seiya Suzuki takes an ugly hack at this slider from Sale. At least he held on to his helmet.
Reid Detmers‘ Slider
Detmers has hit some bumps in the road after starting the year as one of the best pitchers in baseball, but the lefty was still able to record seven strikeouts over five innings against St. Louis last night. Masyn Winn strikes out at 19.4% of the time, which is one of the better marks for this Cardinals squad.
Logan Gilbert’s Splitter
Gilbert features the lone Splitter in today’s Nastiest Pitches article, and this one almost takes off Nelson Velázquez’s helmet. Velasquez leads the Royals by striking out a whopping 33.1% of the time this year. Gilbert was able to bounce back after a brutal outing in his last start where he gave up eight runs to Minnesota.
Hunter Greene’s Slider
I don’t think you can paint the corner any better than Greene does right here. Joc Pederson didn’t even argue. He knew that pitch was nasty. Greene is ranked 21st in K% this year with a 26.6% mark. He recorded five in this game, which was tied for his lowest mark in a game this year.
Dylan Cease’s Curveball
Cease drew a favorable matchup against the Rockies offense last night, but ended up being outpitched by Cal Quantrill on the other side of this game. Cease was still able to rack up eight punch outs, including this perfectly executed curveball to Jordan Beck, but the first-year Padre surrendered three runs over just five innings of work. He took the loss and stands at 5-3 on the year.