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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Zac Gallen had the hitter admittedly shocked after throwing a silly cut-changeup off the ump’s mask

Zac Gallen Vinnie Pasquantino

The Arizona Diamondbacks are off to a surprisingly hot start this season, and the excellent pitching from Zac Gallen is a huge reason why.

The right-hander recorded double-digit strikeouts for a second consecutive start, striking out 12 in 6.1 innings against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. But one pitch in particular stood out.

The Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino had no problem admitting as much.

During the sixth inning, Gallen threw a 1-1 pitch to Pasquantino that must have been a mistake. The pitch — an 83.5 mph cut-changeup — seemingly had a mind of its own and evaded both Pasquantino’s bat and Jose Herrera’s glove on its way to umpire Edwin Jimenez’s mask.

You could see that Gallen was even surprised about what that pitch did as it was an obvious outlier in terms of movement for every other changeup he’s thrown.

Pasquantino ended up striking out in the at-bat, but after the game, he couldn’t stop thinking about that pitch. He called it the craziest pitch he had ever seen.

If a big-league hitter was confused with that pitch, just imagine how fans felt. It was mesmerizing.

This was how Twitter reacted

Now, if Gallen can figure out how to throw that pitch again, he might have himself a 20-strikeout game in his future.

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