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.
Pablo López’s Changeup
Pablo López had just about as easy of a day at the office as you could draw up, stranding four baserunners across six and a third. Such was not the same for his counterpart, Logan Gilbert, who surrendered eight earned runs, five in the first inning. López’s tenth and final punchout of the afternoon came on this change perfectly located on the outside corner to Jorge Polanco.
Logan Gilbert’s Curveball
Gilbert’s line wasn’t pretty. More at 11. Still, he ended the day with 18 whiffs. Moments before hitting a single that commenced a first-inning hit parade, Trevor Larnach whiffed on this nasty hook from the 27-year-old right-hander.
Josh Staumont’s Slider
Staumont entered in the ninth and walked the first batter he faced. That’s not what you want with an 11-1 win. But he recovered with three punchouts. His second punchout came on this slider that took a left-hand turn at Luke Raley’s back ankle. Staumont’s slider has yielded a 45.7% whiff rate this year.
Hunter Greene’s Slider
Hunter Greene’s fastball velocity was down from 98 to 95.4 but he racked up 18 whiffs on only 84 pitches. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had no answer for this slider and ended the first as Greene’s second strikeout.
Ron Marinaccio’s Sweeper
Ron Marinaccio made Jose Altuve look downright bad with this filthy slider for the second out of the ninth. The Yankees lost 4-3 but Marinaccio did his job and gave them a chance with a scoreless ninth. He’s been a bright spot for the Yankee pen thus far with a 1.54 ERA and 0.69 WHIP through eight appearances. The Yankees rewarded his efforts by sending him to Triple-A after the game. Such is life.
Tobias Myers‘ Cutter
Tobias Myers, a former sixth-round pick by the Orioles in 2016, didn’t get a chance to earn his first win as four walks ran up his pitch count. Still, he held the Cardinals to one run over four innings while striking out six. His cutter showed some late bite, locking up Lars Nootbaar here in their first meeting.
Josh Hader’s Fastball
With the Yankees down to their final out and the game-tying run on second, Anthony Volpe had a pretty decent eight-pitch at-bat but Josh Hader reached back for a Linda Ronstadt fastball to seal the Astros’ 4-3 win.
Erick Fedde’s Splitter
Thanks to Erick Fedde the White Sox have done it. Finally, they’ve reached ten wins. Fedde started Kyle Manzardo’s second at-bat with a splitter that dove straight off the table, leaving the rookie swinging at air. Fedde, who entered the season with a career 5.42 ERA and 1.52 WHIP through 454.1 IP before his renaissance overseas, has been a bright spot thus far for the White Sox. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets flipped at the deadline.