Giants Enter the Game: High Investment, "Accidental Debut"

CHICAGO There was something Josh Tomlin said to reporters at the World Series workout day Thursday that resonated beyond his scheduled start Friday, through the games to come in the Fall Cla sic.

Clevelands Game 3 starter was asked about the dramatic increase in the spin rate on his curveball as he made adjustments to Zach Banner Jerseys his approach during a slump in the second half of the season. Tomlin went 0-5 with an 11.48 ERA in August, briefly left the rotation, then returned to make four starts in the last month of the season, during which he went 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA. Tomlin has won both his playoff starts, against the powerful Red Sox and Blue Jays, respectively, allowing three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings.

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One big difference for Tomlin is that he has used his super-spinning curveball more frequently since returning to Clevelands rotation. The answer he gave when asked about it solved the chicken-and-egg riddle about the pitch.

You hear the phrase get-me-over curveballs and you hear the phrase of 0-2 curveballs, Tomlin said. For me, it was just going through that phase of not trying to throw it for a strike. It was just trying to rip it down in the zone as much as I can. And I think the more you throw it in the course of the games, you kind of fill that slot a little bit better, and you kind of feel more comfortable with it, so it just naturally kind of gets better. Rod Woodson Jerseys That old phrase, If you dont use it, you lose it, I think that kind of goes a long ways sometimes.

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Now, think back to Clevelands starter in Game 2, Trevor Bauer, who lasted 3 2/3innings and struggled mightily with his command in allowing two runs on six hits with two walks.

I just wasnt sharp, for whatever reason, Bauer said.

He had been asked whether his lack of sharpne s was po sibly caused by a lack of recent game action. One of the few times in his media scrum that Bauer broke out of a sullen monotone was to preface his answer with, Po sibly. You never know. It seemed a courteous throwaway acknowledgement, but maybe it wasnt.

If you dont use it, you lose it?

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Bauer started Game 1 of the division series for Cleveland against Boston, and he gave up three runs in 4 2/3innings. Tony Dungy Jerseys It was hardly a great start; it began with three of the first five batters getting hits andgiving the Red Sox a first-inning run. Only three of the remaining 14 batters Bauer faced got hits; it just so happened that two of those were solo homers.

One thing about that start worth noting was that Bauer had his good curveball working. He threw it 27 times among his 78 pitches, according to Statcast data, and only nine were balls. There were five called strikes, five fouls, three put in play for outs and five swinging strikes, including three that had to be blocked by the catcher. In the entire month of June, Bauers best month of the season, he had six curveballs out of 129 that were swinging strikes blocked in the dirt. It was a pitch, in October, that the Red Sox could not handle.

Then Bauer cut his pinkie in that drone maintenance Chris Wormley Jerseys accident, and had his infamous bloodletting in Toronto in the ALCS. Pitching with the cut on his finger that opened up and leaked everywhere, Bauer threw only 21 pitches before he had to leave. Seven of the pitches were curveballs. Only one of those was a strike a floater on the inside part of the plate to Edwin Encarnacion that hardly suggested command of the pitch.

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Sowhile Bauer attempted some curveballs against the Blue Jays, it had really been a day short of three weeks since he got significant use out of a pitch that requires feel. Bauer threw 20 curveballs against the Cubs, 10 for strikes though only six were actually in the zone. That means the pitch may have been more lively than it appeared, and belied a bit the claim from Kris Bryant that Chicago did a particularly good job laying off Bauers nibbling attempts. Bryant himself lined out in the third inning on a curveball out of the zone.

The question Cleveland has to ask itself is whether signs of life, complicated perhaps by weather conditions that led the majority of the 10 pitchers (both teams combined) in Game 2 to struggle, warrant Bauer starting Game 5 on Sunday, on three days Eric Ebron Jerseys rest. The other option would be to use Ryan Merritt, the starter from Game 5 of the ALCS, and with Danny Salazar added to the Cleveland bullpen mix, its an attractive one.

The guy didnt look like he took two months off, Bryant said of Salazar. His stuff was pretty it was jumping out of his hand. Im sure he had a lot of adrenaline going, but, I mean, for him to come back, its kind of like (Kyle) Schwarber. To come back in the World Series and compete, and be able to do what they do, is impre sive.

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Said Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez: I thought he was awesome. The guy just got back from an injury and, for his first World Series appearance, he was pumped up on the mound. I thought he did great.

A lot of the decision for Cleveland has to depend on what Tomlin does with his curveball in Game 3, because there has to be consideration of whether using him in a potential Game 6 on three days rest is a good idea, or if that game might be better suited for Bauer on five days rest, and Tomlin on normal rest as a failsafe for short Terrell Edmunds Jerseys -rest Corey Kluber in Game 7.

There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of wheels spinning. Some nearly as fast as Tomlins curveball.