BlueJays hitters have to figure out the barrage of breaking balls from Cleveland pitchers, writes ArdenZwelling.
And Friday, when the Blue Jays were down a run in the fifth and again struggling at the plate, with a second-inning single standing as their only hit of the game. There was one out, a runner on first. Galvis took a first-pitch curveball before jumping all over a fastball and crushing it 398-feet into the right field seats.
Like Thursday, when Trevor Bauer walked the bases loaded in the fourth inning of a tied game. Bauer threw three consecutive curveballs to Socrates Brito for a strikeout, two cutters and two curveballs to Randal Grichuk for another strikeout, and six curveballs around a lone fastball to Rowdy Tellez for a fly out that ended the inning. If you’re counting at home, that’s a curveball 11 times over a 14-pitch sequence.
It’s a hard thing to deal with, especially when the entire team is slumping offensively and desperate to turn it around. You want to be the guy to break through. But, as a hitter, you never want to get off the fastball, meaning you never want to stop looking for it and not be ready to hit it. Even if a pitcher is hesitant to give you one in the zone.
Of course, there is an element of luck at play here, too. Through four innings Friday, the Blue Jays had put four balls in play at more than 100-m.p.h. that went for outs. One of them, off Billy McKinney’s bat in the first, travelled 393-feet at 107-m.p.h. with an expected batting average of .960. It was run down in the deepest part of centre field. Another, on a 3-1 pitch to Teoscar Hernandez in the fourth, went 374-feet at 104-m.p.h. with an expected batting average of .710.
Coming into the night, Thornton’s curveball was averaging the fourth-highest spin rate in the majors at 3,053 revolutions per minute. He bounced a few Friday, as you will when you spin your breaking ball that ferociously. But when Thornton locates the pitch, it’s a legitimate big-league weapon.
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