Alfredo Simon gets Torii Hunter out with a pair of eephus pitches
The goal of every pitcher is to get inside a hitter’s head and have him questioning himself and what is coming next.
Detroit starter Alfredo Simon executed that with mastery in the third inning Tuesday night when facing Minnesota’s Torii Hunter with two outs. Simon threw an eephus pitch to Hunter who began chuckling at Simon’s slow offering that was called a ball to start the at-bat.
An eephus pitch is one thrown purposely slow sort of like a knuckleball but without the deceptive action that comes with the knuckleball.
The pitch was clocked at 61 mph and Hunter even looked at Simon and asked, ‘Really?’
Two pitches later, Simon came back with a second eephus pitch that Hunter seemed to be waiting on. But the veteran outfielder just missed clobbering it and instead popped it foul down the third baseline where it was caught for the third out by catcher Brian McCann. Detroit went on to win 2-1 in 10 innings when Ian Kinsler drove in Anthony Gose with a single up the middle.
It was a tough no decision for Simon. After watching Simon throw 106 pitches over 72/3 innings allowing only one run, his teammates were impressed with his ability to call on the pitch and use it effectively.
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[Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
