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Deep Dive: How Heyward and Happ jumped on Castillo

4 years agoLance Brozdowski

In some ways, the Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Sunday, Luis Castillo, is predictable.

Castillo has always possessed an ability to baffle hitters, sporting a career K/9 just shy of 10 thanks to his devastating mix of a four-seam, two-seam, slider and changeup. But in two-strike counts, he has a strong tendency to turn to his changeup, especially facing left-handed hitting. The righty uses the pitch 39% of the time in all counts versus left-handers and 57% of the time in two-strike counts. Although most pitchers revert to their offspeed or breaking pitches in pitcher’s counts, Castillo’s four-seam fastball on Sunday generated whiffs on over 50% of the swings Cubs hitters took, suggesting that perhaps, his best offering of the day wasn’t his devastating changeup.

In the 4th inning, Jason Heyward took two fastballs out of the zone before swinging through two more.

“When [Heyward] actually goes for the fastballs, he was late,” Marquee Sports Network analyst Carlos Peña said on Cubs Postgame Live! “Finally he gets an offspeed pitch, it’s right into the timing that he’s ready for.”

Castillo threw Heyward a 2-2 changeup just below the heart of the zone and Heyward hit it 387 feet to right field.

A similar scenario unraveled an inning later when Ian Happ stepped in the box. Happ saw three fastballs and was late on two of them, burying himself in an 0-2 count.

“He was late on [the fastball], he knows it,” Pena said.

But Castillo once again went away from his fastball, throwing a slider that caught too much of the plate. Just like Heyward, the pitch timed up with Happ’s swung and he hit it out to right-center field.

“[Castillo] with his pitch selection hooked [Happ and Heyward] up by throwing that offspeed pitch back into the middle of the zone,” Marquee Sports Network analyst Sean Marshall said on Cubs Postgame Live!

It’s no surprise that the 4th-inning home run Kyle Schwarber hit off Luis Castillo also came on a non-fastball. Castillo had allowed only 1 home run all season and gave up 2 in one inning and 3 to the Cubs Sunday. The home run fest continued as the Cubs outfield combined for 6 on the day, a season-high for the team and a major league record for a group of outfielders.

Heyward, Happ and Schwarber hope to continue their road success against the Pirates as they start a three-game series in Pittsburgh Tuesday.

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