There’s a fascination with velocity when it comes to pitching, as nearly inquiry here includes some variation of “how fast does he throw?”
On Sunday, Matt Swynenberg reminded us that sometimes keeping batters off-balance is just as important.
The 23-year-old needed just 94 pitches to retire 27 of 30 batters in tossing a three-hit, one-run complete game as the P-Nats took the rubber game of the series by a 2-1 margin.
Swynenberg got 12 batters out on the ground and 12 out in the air, but seven of those came to the opposite field or on a popup. Essentially, the only three balls that were truly well-struck produced the run and the three hits. From the second inning to the ninth, Swynenberg retired 19 straight batters before walking the #9 batter Josh Richmond to lead off the 9th.
He picked the right time to pitch so well, as the Pelican’s Roman Mendez was nearly as good. Like Swynenberg, he got weak contact with a half-dozen or so popups. Unlike Swynenberg, he got it done more with the strikeout — nine total, with Justin Bloxom as his favorite victim (0-for-3, 3Ks). He would finish with both Potomac runs allowed on four hits and three walks.
Myrtle Beach drew first blood in the top of the 2nd, as Yefry Castillo singled in Brett Nicholas with one, who had doubled to lead off the inning, but Castillo hesitated on Kevin Keyes’ throw to the plate, and backup backstop Beau Seabury made him pay for the mistake, drifting from the plate forward and firing to Francisco Soriano who relayed to Sean Nicol to nail him for the inning’s second out.
Potomac would tie the game on two ugly singles to shallow right field in the bottom of the 3rd, with Sean Nicol scoring on Blake Kelso’s two-out flare.
The gamewinner came without a base hit, as Soriano led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch, third on a sacrifice bunt by Kelso, and scored on a deep flyball from Zach Walters.
The ten-game homestand continues with a four-game set against Winston-Salem, with Kyle Winters (1-2, 5.24) rematching against the Dash’s Ryan Buch (1-1, 4.76).