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 Slider
https://gfycat.com/caringicycurlew
Five and fly from Garcia yesterday, but he got the job done and held the Yankees to two runs while earning the win in Game 2 for the sweep. Speaking of sweep, how about this slider? Or maybe it’s a curveball? We’ll call it a slider because Savant says so, and judging by this swing from Giancarlo Stanton, I’m not sure he knew either.
Michael King’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/marriedfavorableamericanbadger
With the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, King allowed a leadoff single to Alex Bregman followed by a double to Aledmys Díaz. But he nearly got out of the jam. He struck out Yuli Gurriel on this ankle-biting sinker for the first out before allowing the game-winning to score on a softly hit single from J.J. Matijevic.
Domingo Acevedo’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/wholeformaleastrussiancoursinghounds
In Game 2 of yesterday’s Oakland and Detroit doubleheader, Javier Báez got more than he could handle in his third at-bat; three straight changeups from Acevedo all located in the exact same spot and he whiffed on all three, this was the last.
Jon Gray’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/acclaimedsaltyeft
Gray pitched well and earned the win shutting out the visiting Marlins through six innings of work; his slider carried him as it returned a 37% CSW across 49 pitches. Similar to Javier Báez above, Jorge Soler was worked by the Gray slider; three-straight swings and misses on the pitch for the punchout.
Jordan Montgomery’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/thoseunlinedcod
Montgomery came out of the All-Star break looking sharp and held the Astros to two earned runs while needing just 86 pitches to pitch into the seventh in Game 1 of the Yankees/Astros doubleheader. He flipped this beautifully located curveball to retire Kyle Tucker on strikes in his first at-bat.
Craig Kimbrel’s Knuckle Curve
https://gfycat.com/animatedneardrafthorse
Darin Ruf belted a grand slam that briefly gave the Giants the lead, but their pen couldn’t hold. Seeking to replicate his heroics in his third at-bat, he was instead turned away by this knuckle curve from the Dodger closer for the first out of the ninth.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)