Peacock kicks slide by throwing more sliders
Brad Peacock went from nearly throwing the same numbers of sliders and curveballs in his first spot start two weeks ago to increasing his slider usage by three or four times compared to the other breaking pitch.
He needed a change after getting subpar results while at Class AAA Fresno, and it’s worked in his favor with the Astros. Peacock starts Saturday against the Angels, and is coming off consecutive outings where the righthander has worked at least into the fifth inning and allowed a combined three earned runs.
Peacock didn’t make it out of the fourth in that first start, only throwing 13 sliders to 10 curveballs. He’s thrown 47 sliders in his past two starts to 12 curveballs.
“My slider down there was getting hit pretty hard, and I knew I had to change something up,” said Peacock, who worked with Fresno pitching coach Dyar Miller starting right before the All-Star break. “We decided to slow it down.”
The slider is now more of a sweeping pitch than one with a harder break, giving it more movement despite its slower speed. A pitch he threw in the upper 80s is now down to 80.62 mph on average over his past two starts according to BrooksBaseball.net.
Of Peacock’s four pitches, his slider has induced the most swings and misses over his past two starts.
He hopes to keep that trend but added it still starts with his fastball when he faces an Angels lineup that includes standouts Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, who won Thursday’s series opener with a two-run home run and had three runs and three hits in Friday’s 10-6 win.
“Just attack them like I did my last (start),” said Peacock, who has lowered his ERA more than two full runs since joining the rotation. “Fastball command for me is key. Trying to locate it and work off that.”
Correa takes on insensitive tweets
The Mariners wasted little time dealing with Steve Clevenger’s insensitive and racist tweets, suspending the backup catcher Friday without pay for the rest of the season.
In the Astros’ clubhouse, Carlos Correa didn’t shy from the topic.
“Even if you have respect for that guy, now you have none,” the 22-year-old Puerto Rican shortstop said before Friday’s game. “How can you say something like that?”
Clevenger, 30, sent out two tweets Thursday referring to protests in Charlotte, N.C., following a fatal police shooting of a black man. The tweets read: “Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha (expletive) cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the anthem!”
“BLM (Black Lives Matter) is pathetic again! Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone should be locked behind bars like animals!”
The Mariners issued a statement condemning the tweets while Clevenger issued an apology and has since set his Twitter account to private. He’ll forfeit nearly $30,000 with his suspension.
A reserve for six seasons, Clevenger was better known as a piece in trades that sent ace righthander Jake Arrieta from Baltimore to the Cubs, and power hitter Mark Trumbo from Seattle to the Orioles over the
offseason.
“You just have to be smart about what you tweet and what you post,” Correa said. “You cannot just go out there and talk about people the way he did. It’s not right.”
Odds and ends
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said Lance McCullers felt good Friday after throwing off a mound the day before for the first time since exiting his Aug. 2 start. McCullers is scheduled to throw another bullpen Sunday or Monday. …
The USA Baseball 18U National Team watched batting practice, toured the Astros’ clubhouse and visited with players before Friday’s game. Team USA will face the University of Texas in an exhibition at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Astros Urban Youth Academy.