Last night, the Jays dropped a heart breaker 3-2 in 11 innings to the Cleveland Indians. The final blow came via a solo HR from Mark Reynolds.
Upon first glance, Mark Reynolds game winning HR last night seems to be a matter of luck. He extended his zone and smoked a high fastball over 450 feet. But the real question is, why was he given a fastball in this two strike situation?
This is the second time this season Santos has faced Reynolds. The first time around on opening night Santos struck Mark out in three pitches.
Opening Night:
The decisive strikeout pitch was a foul tip on an outside slider. Note the other slider is fouled off.
Last Night:
Once again, notice a swinging strike on the slider, as well as a foul ball. At this point in the 2013 season, Reynolds has fouled off two sliders, and swung & missed on two sliders vs Santos.
And now for the decisive 1-2 pitch… a fastball. And check out where JP wants the pitch–way over the plate, almost middle location.
Click to play
The pitch got up and Reynolds hammered it 457 feet.
Here’s Reynolds 2012 splits vs RHP:
| Pitch Type | wOBA | ISO | HR Rate | K Rate |
| Fastball | 0.434 | 0.322 | 9.1 | 16.9 |
| Slider | 0.222 | 0.113 | 2.1 | 29 |
All in all, terrible pitch selection. Of course if Reynolds strikes out or takes the pitch for a ball no one–including myself–would complain. Yet all of the above data clearly points to throwing a slider in this situation. Where does the blame lie? While JP had no business calling for the fastball AND setting up in middle location, Santos ultimately has to shake Arencibia off and go to his bread and butter.
Sources: ESPN True Media, MLB.com
