The Tampa Bay Rays came back from a 6-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays last night. Reliever Chaz Roe retired the only batter he faced, so he was a small part of it. The righthander did use his brief time on the mound to capture the imagination of aspiring nasty-pitch-throwers everywhere with a gorgeous backup slider.
That’s the type of movement you see out in the backyard when everyone’s barefoot and there’s ghostrunners filling the bases. It takes special talent to make a real baseball move like a plastic Wiffle Ball, but then again, most Major Leaguers are uniquely skilled.
This isn’t even Roe’s best slider of the past few weeks. Feast your eyes upon a pitch so meandering it would fit right at home inside a Pink Floyd track.
For all his nastiness, Roe has been largely mortal this year, carrying a 1-3 record, 4.21 ERA and 1.65 WHIP into the dog days of August. At least he looks cool doing it.
