CUTTER ABOVE: MCCULLERS BRINGS EXPANDED REPERTOIRE INTO GAME1 ALDS START FOR ASTROS.
McCullers brings recently expanded arsenal into Game1 assignment against Bassitt
LOS ANGELES — The initial strategy involved waiting until September, but Lance McCullers Jr. missed the mark by two days. He had started tinkering with a new pitch during side sessions in mid-August and found instant comfort. McCullers embraced being a “stuff guy” earlier this season. Adding more can only aid his evolution.
“Part of this year is building for who youwant to be in the future,” McCullers said recently, alluding to the oddness of Major League Baseball in 2020.
McCullers spent much of this shortened season re-establishing his identity and remembering what makes him so menacing. Manager Dusty Baker chose McCullers to open the American League Division Series for the Astros against the A’s on Monday. McCullers will carry a streak of 172⁄ innings without allowing an
3 earned run. The new wrinkle in his repertoire accentuates the advancement he’s made.
A 722-day absence from a major league mound made McCullers forget some of the game’s intricacies. After his season-opening start, he rued a minuscule problem with Martin Maldonado’s glove placement.
McCullers wore a 5.06 earned run average after an Aug. 29 appearance against the A’s but proudly proclaimed a revelation. No longer could he emulate former teammate and mentor Dallas Keuchel, who can command the baseball better than almost any starter in the game. McCullers’ attempts at precision were not working.
That day at Minute Maid Park, McCullers introduced the cutter. It caught many by surprise, especially given his established arsenal. He threw six of them, all to lefthanded hitters. The first flummoxed former Astro Robbie Grossman. McCullers was ahead in the count 1-2. Often, that’s time for McCullers’ devastating curveball. Grossman watched this 92.7 mph fastball dot the top of the strike zone.
McCullers has thrown 14 cutters this year, including six in four frames during his final regularseason tuneup against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 26. His first three strikeouts against the Rangers all concluded on the cutter.
McCullers’ arsenal is still predicated upon three pitches: his sinking two-seam fastball, a changeup, and the trademark curveball he’s thrown much more in his last few starts.
The cutter can offer a different look against lefthanded hitters. Oakland employs some good ones: Grossman, leadoff man Tommy La Stella and slugging first baseman Matt Olson. McCullers can change eye levels with the pitch. Most of his cutters finish up in the strike zone, contrasting the curveball-sinker combo that hovers low.
“Whenever you can peel the plate with a cutter cutting one way, his natural sinker going the other way, his four-seamer going straight and his curveball going down, he covers all quadrants of the strike zone,” Baker said. “That makes it more difficult, especially if he has his control, to hit him.”
McCullers has bordered upon unhittable in his last three out-ings, during which opponents posted a .405 OPS against him. He’s yielded four unearned runs and struck out 24 in his last 172⁄
3 innings pitched. The Astros offense has not scored a run during any of them. Its taskgets no easier Monday against A’s starter Chris Bassitt, who ended his regular season by throwing 261⁄ innings
3 of one-run ball.
Battling Bassitt is McCullers’ next obstacle in a season full of them. He will toe the same mound where he made his last postseason start — a forgettable outing on an unforgettable night. Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, which the Astros won despite his being lifted in the third inning, seems like ages ago forMcCullers, a pitcherwhose nowmorphed into a man.
“I was just a kid, really, when I started pitching for the Astros. I was 21 years old. I’m 27 now,” McCullers said Sunday. “A lot has happened withme inmy life personally, professionally. I think I’m in a different head space now.”
Dodger Stadium is the same mound where McCullers’ careeraltering injury occurred in 2018. He summoned trainers after throwing awarmup pitch prior to the fifth inning of an Aug. 4 game. McCullers’ ulnar collateral ligament was torn.
McCullers pitched in the postseason despite the injury. All five of his relief appearances that October arrivedwith full knowledge he’d require Tommy John surgery — and the myriad uncertainty that entails.
“It kind of brings it full circle,” McCullers said.“I’ve spoken a lot in the past about how there’s no guarantees for this surgery or this rehab I went through. I did believe Iwould come out on the other side a better pitcher and a better teammate, and I believe I’ve done that.”