Indians’ new reliever Clase throws so hard ‘it’s unfair’
Seconds after the ball leaves Emmanuel Clase’s hand and streaks toward home plate, the eyes of everyone in Progressive Field quickly turn to the ballpark’s video scoreboard to see what pitch he threw and how fast it went.
101 mph cutter. 100 mph fastball. 91 mph slider.
“It’s unfair,” Indians starter Logan Allen said after watching Clase mow down the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. “It definitely makes you think: How do people hit him?”
Eight games into a new season, the Indians, who began 2021 with uncertainty in the back end of their bullpen, may have something special in Clase, a harder-thanhard-throwing right-hander from the Dominican
Republic who arrived in a 2019 trade from Texas and missed last season due to a drug suspension.
Clase (pronounced clas-AY’) announced his arrival last week when his first pitch for the Indians registered at 101.3 mph — the fastest thrown by a Cleveland pitcher since the speed began being tracked regularly in 2008. Since then, he has unleased 35 more pitches over 100 mph, the most in the majors this season and more than all Indians pitchers combined over the past 13 years.
“I mean, he’s got a slider that’s faster than most people’s fastballs,” Indians reliever Bryan Shaw said. “He’s obviously stupidly good. He’s got a really good arm.
He’s got command of his pitches, obviously.”
Remarkably, he’s the anti-“Wild Thing.”
When using advanced baseball analytics, Clase’s whiff and chase rates are above the 94th percentile. By more traditional statistics, he has allowed one hit in four innings with six strikeouts. After giving up a one-out single in the ninth Sunday, Clase induced a game-ending double play for his second save to complete Cleveland’s three-game sweep.
HOUSTON HOMECOMING
First-year Tigers manager A.J. Hinch returned to Houston for the first time since being suspended by Major League Baseball for his role in the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport. With Hinch as their manager, the Astros were found to have used cameras and banged on trash cans to get an unfair advantage en route to winning the World Series in 2017.
Hinch was fired following a lengthy investigation and was prohibited from managing last season before being hired by the Tigers. He’s expecting a warm reception in his first game back at Minute
Maid Park.
“Houston fans have been tremendously supportive to me and my family,” he said. “It’s home for me. That city matters to me. The fans have been tremendous and obviously it will be very emotional when I see them.”
Detroit was be without slugger Miguel Cabrera, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with soreness in his left biceps.
MONDAY’S GAMES
Rays 1, Rangers 0:
●
Tyler Glasnow struck out a career-high 14 in 7 innings and Willy Adames homered in the seventh to help host Tampa
2⁄3
Bay beat sputtering Texas. Glasnow (1-0) allowed two hits and got his first win of the season after pitching well but not being involved in decisions in two previous starts.
ELSEWHERE
Twins: Monday’s
● game against the Red Sox at Target Field was postponed following the fatal shooting of a Black motorist by a police officer Sunday — the Minnesota Wild’s NHL game was also postponed. Daunte Wright was shot during a traffic stop by an police officer who, according to Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, deployed a firearm instead of a Taser. Tensions in the Twin Cities have run high amid former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial stemming from George Floyd’s death last year.