Tyler Alexander strikes out the first 9 batters he faces, a breakdown
What Happened
The Detroit Tigers are taking on the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of a doubleheader and relief pitcher Tyler Alexander is making history. Alexander, a relative unknown, has just set a new record for most consecutive strikeouts by a relief pitcher, tying the overall American League record held by any pitcher. In the bottom of the first inning, Alexander faces the first three Reds batters - Nick Castellanos, Joey Votto and Jesse Winker - and strikes them all out swinging. Announcer breaks down Alexander's pitch mix, noting that he has largely abandoned his four-seam fastball in favor of increased usage of his secondary pitches like the changeup, sinker and curveball. This movement-heavy approach keeps the Reds hitters off balance. Alexander continues his dominance in the second inning, striking out the side again. Shogo Akiyama, Mike Moustakas and Kyle Farmer all go down swinging against Alexander's well-located, off-speed offerings. Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart is impressed, shaking his head after being frozen by a perfectly placed fastball for strike three. By the end of the second inning, Tyler Alexander has struck out the first 9 batters he has faced, tying the American League record held by other pitchers. praises Alexander's "reverse pitching" approach, using his breaking balls early and locating his fastball effectively with two strikes. The Reds hitters seem perplexed, unable to solve Alexander's deception. Alexander finally hits a batter in the third inning, ending his historic streak at 9 strikeouts. But he records one more punchout before the inning is over, finishing with 10 strikeouts on the day. notes that Alexander's performance would have been a boon for fantasy baseball managers who took a chance on him, urging viewers to consider adding him to their DraftKings lineups in the future. Overall, Tyler Alexander has put together a masterful outing, showcasing his ability to neutralize a dangerous Reds lineup with an array of off-speed pitches and pinpoint control. His historic strikeout streak has left the Reds hitters baffled and the baseball world taking notice of this unheralded Tigers reliever.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momenttigers were playing red's first game of
a double header and reliever tyler
alexander made baseball history he set a
new record for most consecutive
strikeouts by reliever and tied the
record
by any al pitcher starter or reliever
here we go this one's brought to you by
draftkings
first up we got mustaches he's been
swinging pretty good
he falls behind him 2-0 not the greatest
start then he comes in
gets strike one moose takes the soft
stuff moose swings over the soft stuff
moose swings over the soft stuff again
he spins himself
right out of there you probably never
really heard of tyler alexander he's on
the tigers last year he started a bunch
of games for him he didn't pitch that
well
the tigers were the worst team ever last
year strike three
bam see you later suarez two for two
two punches he's dealing winkers up now
starts him off soft strike one
goes hard-ish kinda not really and then
soft again strike three winker you're
out of there one two three
three strikeouts i went into his pitch
mix because i wanted to see
what was going on did this dude make any
changes
in 2019 he threw his four seamer 31
of the time yeah that dropped all the
way
to 5.7 percent of the time he completely
scratched
his four seamer which means that the
changeup ticked up
the sinker ticked up the curve ticked up
here's a little breakdown and probably
the reason why if you look down here
last year
he threw his four seamer and his sinker
about 54 percent of the time
and they were both around the exact same
speed
so yeah the movement may be different
but not enough probably to full hitters
so they said dude you got to scrap one
of those scrap the four seamer
go up to 2020 only 5.7 percent of the
time he's only thrown it six times
this season the sinker is now the
fastball
curve change slider keeps them more off
balance those all move differently
i love when guys make changes to their
picks mitch and then have tangible
results now i don't know if this is
going to stay
i don't know if that's exactly what the
reasoning why he did it but he dropped
the four-seamer look at that pitch
look at that [ __ ] senzel's looking in
like what the hell but look where romine
sets up
and just boom right into his glove so
soft romine's actually as impressive as
alexander this whole clip
oh two let's come in let's get him to
swing over it dirt one
dirt's it he didn't fall for it but it
sets up the high fastball
now he pitched reverse style this whole
inning
usually pitchers will strike one strike
two fastball then try to throw something
nasty in the dirt to have him swing over
it
he's doing the opposite he's throwing
the nasty stuff early
and the fastball's in the zone late like
that's strike three with that fastball
right there
bam you're gone next up we got freddy
and this is actually a good at bat
he gets he goes 1-1 now romine calls for
some soft [ __ ]
says yep put it there galvez swings
right over it
one and two so they want him to swing
over it again he was he hunted that one
pretty bad let's see if he'll do it
again
he does it but he fouls it off okay now
he sits on it
and now he fouls it off again just keep
throwing that damn thing
okay he sat on it three two now what do
you do
you throw it in the zone he swings over
it strikes him out one two three one two
three one two three one two three one
two three
my dude tucker barn hard up he's going
at him with the saw stuff
gets him in a two-strike count and
romaine's like let's try that fastball
now
bam and the thing is roman's putting his
glove there and he's throwing it right
to his glove so he got a couple calls
that may have been off the plate
but he's hitting his target perfectly
now show goes up
goes soft he goes soft he goes soft
again shogo doesn't take it okay
let's go reverse style let's throw the
fastball with two strikes now
put it right there this freezes a little
bit nothing i can do about that
buddy strike him out i love the reverse
pitching i think a casual fan
wouldn't watch this dude out here and be
like he's mowing them down
because it's really tricky it's really
like you know
it's a different form of pitching
casiano's looking at him like damn dude
really
really man he's like yeah not bad like
come on he's like yeah okay it's been
pretty pretty [ __ ] awesome
this one's brought to you by draftkings
now he struck out nine of his first nine
he did pitch the next inning he hit a
guy he did get another strikeout so
that's 10 strikeouts on the outing
for our dude alexander if you picked him
up in draftkings on a whim
on the doubleheader day you would have
crushed the strikeouts
you can go get draftkings right now
using code using promo code
jomboy pick him up again maybe he twirls
some magic again
maybe go find another reliever you think
is going to come out in the middle of
the game and get you 10ks
good luck