If the Stros have a lead, I see McCooler pitching a long relief. I also think Pressley will end Minny. This would help his confidence.
Sequencing matters. Hitters trying to pick up on his patterns the 2nd time around and if they guess right, his stuff gets a little easier to hit. Last game against the Rangers, they intentionally start switching things up, pitching backwards, and they all start striking out during the middle innings and 2nd/3rd time through the order. That was also the second time they were seeing him in 2 weeks so its possible (like with a lot of pitchers) that you start seeing the ball a little better and picking up on tendencies more. The Twins won't have that familiarity today... but they're also a much better lineup than anything Urquiddy has faced this season.
Twins are starting Alex Kirilloff who is making his major league debut today. Apparently Buxton had a setback.
I definitely think the movement is causing him problems for his slider. His slider is moving an extra 7-8 inches. If he tries to paint the glove side corner or get a chase off the corner....it sails 7-8 inches away from the plate for an easy take. If he tries to hit arm side corner...it goes right down kirby. He has no control on his curve. His changeup looks fine. It may have been hit a little harder this year than last year, but that looks like a fluke to me.
This as well. He's basically had two pitches he trusts and may have been leaning on them too much. Rangers game he did seem to go to all of his pitches more as the game went on if my recollection is correct. Edit: Looking at Ranger game, he was not missing his spot horizontally with his breaking pitches often like he was earlier in the year. Hitting Gallo being a notable exception. Though, his sliders were about 4-5 inches higher than Maldonado wanted consistently. Not sure if it was planned that Urquidy do the opposite of what MM said, but MM's body language suggested he wanted Urquidy to be burying the slider. Rangers were not able to hit sliders that got a good part of the zone.
All the minny backers from yesterday are definitely going to chase today’s game. Please get it done stros!
If I was a minny backer I probably would. Especially being a short 3 game series. But obviously f minny lol I do like the over 8 runs today though.
6 guys will bat lefthanded against Urquidy. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=c565e504-5e78-48a9-9e94-81da33d33c23 https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=f3fa439a-ed67-4ce3-bff8-beb1ef095b94 https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=f17cd527-dcb7-4408-98fe-f44bf6f60343 https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=796780c3-39fd-4193-9922-f1432c136ace
Have to start it at noon if Urquidy is going to have time to get 8 at bats. Greinke is gonna pissed that he had a DH when Urquidy doesn't need one.
I was thinking the Astros would be the "home" team today. I guess MLB isn't going that route in these 3 game series
