Just days after thanking his White Sox fans on Twitter, Jake Peavy wrote in excitement to his new fans in Boston,
“Tonight is just 1 win, but it's 1 I'll never forget!”
Currently sitting at 9-4 with a 4.14 ERA, Peavy was traded last week into the rotation of the first place Red Sox.
In his first start, he pitched a great seven innings allowing only 4 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks and struck out 7.
After being taken out with nobody out in the 8th, Peavy was welcomed and thanked from Fenway Park's sold out crowd with a long,
standing ovation. “It was truly something special,”
he said in his post game press conference.
Peavy’s pitch control combined with Arizona’s poor hitting on pitches in two specific locations allowed him to put on a
great performance for his new fans in Fenway Park.
Low and in to lefties:
Peavy did not give up one hit to any of the 12 left-handed batters he faced and 7 of 10 outs came from pitches
inside or down and in. The four left-handed batters in Arizona’s lineup included Garardo Parra, Eric Chavez, Jason Kubel
and Cliff Pennington.
These batters have a combined 9 hits on the year against pitches thrown down and in when facing a right-handed pitcher.
Much of Peavy’s success in recording outs from pitches down and in was due to the ability to hit all areas of the zone.
He rarely threw a pitch in the same location two times in a row getting batters deep in counts and forcing them to swing
at pitches in locations they struggle from.
One example is from Diamondback batter, Eric Chavez, who only has four hits on the year off inside pitches.
In the top of the 4th, Peavy started Chavez off with a fastball high and away, followed by a changeup low and away,
before finally forcing him to swing into an out at a cutter low and in. This ability to mix up location and pitch type was used
by Peavy on all left-handed batters resulting in players having to swing at pitches in their weak spots with one and two strikes.
Down and away to righties:
To right-handed batters, 8 of 9 outs were from pitches down and away resulting in 2 hits on 33 pitches
in this location. The five right-handed batters in Arizona’s lineup were made up of Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt,
Martin Prado, Cody Ross and Wil Nieves.
On the year, these batters have totaled for 24 hits on pitches low and away, relatively high compared to other pitch locations.
Peavy was able to dominate this location by consistently mixing up his fastball and cutter. With a deceptive cutter
forcing batters to swing and miss 26% of the time (MLB Avg: 17%), Peavy put himself in a position of control making it
difficult for batters to differentiate these two pitches.
Peavy had a great first start with his new team and Red Sox fans should be excited for more to come.
He has a 4.37 K/BB ratio allowing only 0.21 BB/IP. With great control of his fastball and the ability to keep his
first pitch down 45% of the time (MLB Avg: 25%), Peavy gets ahead of batters and puts them in tough hitters counts.
He has thrown 278 of 444 (63%) first pitches for strikes and only 10 of these pitches have resulted in a base hit.
Coming from one of the worst hitting teams in the AL to one of the best hitting teams, Peavy should fulfill all expectations
Bostonians have for him.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 8/05/13
By Danny Malter
AriBall.com
