Hader closes out win with immaculate inning
Adam McCalvy
@AdamMcCalvyMILWAUKEE -- Veteran Brewers reliever Alex Wilson has pitched 11 professional seasons for three organizations. Has he ever seen a pitcher like Josh Hader?
¡°No,¡± Wilson said. ¡°No one¡¯s ever seen a guy like Josh Hader.¡±
The reigning National League Most Valuable Player Award winner was similarly wowed on Saturday night, and Christian Yelich watched Hader all of last season.
Saturday¡¯s outing was next-level. Hader struck out all three batters he faced on the minimum nine pitches to save a 4-2 win over the Cardinals. It was a so-called immaculate inning, the first of 2019 in Major League Baseball.
Tyler O¡¯Neill fouled off Hader¡¯s first pitch, a fastball. Eight more fastballs followed, and the Cardinals didn¡¯t put lumber on any of them. There was one called strike and seven swinging strikes. Hader¡¯s last pitch was his firmest, a 98.1 mph heater to Yairo Munoz to end the game.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like that,¡± Yelich said. ¡°I mean, I¡¯ve seen an immaculate inning before -- from the wrong side. But I¡¯ve never seen one where it was all swings and misses on fastballs. There was one foul ball on the first pitch and then it was domination.¡±
¡°It¡¯s as good an inning as you can have,¡± Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. ¡°You can¡¯t have a better inning than that. He¡¯s had a great start to the season.¡±
Counsell went on to use the word ¡°incredible,¡± and it seemed apt. Here¡¯s a breakdown of Hader¡¯s two outings so far this season:
? Nine up, nine down.
? Seven strikeouts.
? Thirty pitches, all fastballs.
? Twenty-two swings, two balls in play, two foul balls, 18 swinging strikes.
"This guy, he¡¯s coming right at people,¡± Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. ¡°I¡¯m comfortable that the more we see him, the more we¡¯ll figure him out. Clearly, he¡¯s a talent."
Immaculate innings have become more common in recent seasons, as velocities soar and so do whiff rates. There were four in 2018 after eight in 2017. Hader¡¯s was the first in a save situation since the Dodgers¡¯ Kenley Jansen on May 18, 2017. It was the first by a Brewers pitcher since Mike Fiers on May 7, 2015. And it was the first by a Brewers pitcher for a save since Doug Jones on Sept. 23, 1997.
¡°I didn¡¯t even know I had it until a couple minutes ago, when [catcher Yasmani Grandal] told me,¡± Hader said. ¡°Pretty crazy stuff. ¡ Obviously, attacking the zone like that is pretty hard to do.¡±
Wilson said the closest comparison is a former teammate, Andrew Miller, who now pitches for the Cardinals. But Miller gets most of his swing and miss with a nasty slider.
Hader, so far, has been all fastballs.
¡°It¡¯s kind of scary, isn¡¯t it?¡± Wilson said. ¡°You¡¯re going to see me throw all breaking balls, and him throw all fastballs. That¡¯s just how it¡¯s going to work, I think.¡±
Hader does have a nasty slider, which he threw just shy of 20 percent of the time last season. And like so many pitchers, he worked on a changeup in Spring Training.
¡°The way we look at it is, ¡®Why change something or why try fix something that¡¯s not broken?¡¯¡± Hader said. ¡°We were just trying to attack the zone and continue to read the swings and what we see. That was one of the big things, continuing to attack with our strengths.¡±