Stat Line: 7.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 8 SO, 1 BB
Bartolo Colon proved to be the only positive takeaway from last night’s game against the Chicago Cubs. In this article I will touch on Colon’s sharp two-seam fastball and strong game plan that led to his success against the Cubs lineup.
Two-seam Success
Colon’s two-seam fastball accounted for 62% of his outs during his performance last night. The difference from last night’s game compared to the last time I saw Colon pitch against the Blue Jays was his ability to keep his elbow above his shoulder during his delivery. This enabled Colon to keep his hand on top of the baseball which allowed him to drive his two-seam fastball down in the strike zone with sharp 11 to 5 movement. The 11 to 5 movement forced the Cubs bat paths to come through the strike zone at a steep or poor angle which resulted in either a ground out, pop up or swing and miss.
Game Plan
After I watched Colon pitch the first inning, I wondered if he would ever throw a pitch besides his two-seam fastball. As it turned out, Colon’s game plan was to rely on his fastball during the first two times through the Cubs batting order but sprinkle in well-timed off-speed pitches through the third time against the Cubs lineup. This was seen during the sixth inning when Colon induced Dexter Fowler to pop up on a first pitch change up and enticed Anthony Rizzo to strikeout swinging on a perfectly located low and inside slider. Both hitters so a combined three off-speed pitches out of 16 total pitches between their first two at-bats, with Rizzo being thrown five straight fastballs in the sixth inning at bat before the strikeout slider.
Stat of the night
Last night, Colon threw a fastball on 85.9% of his pitches.
Follow Chris Zaccherio on Twitter @ziography for more Mets pitching insight that goes beyond statistics.
