John Smoltz’ honest take on Lance McCullers Jr. tipping pitches to Bryce Harper, Phillies in World Series
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To say that Houston Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. struggled in his Game 3 start in the World Series would be a massive understatement. In only 4.1 innings of action, McCullers allowed as many home runs (five) as the number of opponents he struck out, allowing seven earned runs in such a historically putrid pitching display.
This performance is such a far cry from what many expected to get from the 29-year old pitcher with considerable playoff experience, that some believe that McCullers is committing the cardinal sin of pitching: being predictable.
According to Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, while there is no definitive evidence (yet) that Lance McCullers is, indeed, tipping his pitches, he’s almost certain that the Phillies’ intensive scouting and film viewing have contributed to their immense knowledge of how to hit McCullers’ pitching repertoire.
“I would be hard-pressed to think [the Phillies] don’t have something on [Astros pitcher Lance] McCullers, one way or another,” Smoltz said, per Mike DiGiovanna.
Four of the five home runs McCullers allowed were off of offspeed pitches, with two coming off his vaunted slider, one off his curveball, and another one off his changeup. The other long ball he allowed was off a 93-mph sinker he threw to Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.
One telling sign about Lance McCullers’ worrying performance was that he barely threw his sinker; while he has always tried to pitch off of the threat of his slider, he was primarily mixing it up with his changeup, instead of the typical fastball (or in McCullers’ case, sinker) changeup mix-up. Perhaps McCullers knew something was wrong with his sinker and he tried to shelve the pitch for as much as possible. Alas, whatever he was trying wasn’t working. It just wasn’t his night.
At the end of the day, McCullers will want to have another opportunity to pitch in the Fall Classic, especially after he missed last year’s festivities due to a forearm injury. The Astros could perhaps choose to call on him to pitch in a possible Game 7 or a potential bullpen appearance deep in the series, where his overwhelming stuff should work better in short spurts. He has experience coming off the pen in the postseason anyway.
The Phillies have played extremely well thus far, and their pitching staff has been more than up to the task of backing up the Phillies’ long ball explosion, as they are currently shutting out the Astros. The Astros’ bats will have to wake up if they want to avoid the fate of falling in the World Series in back-to-back seasons.
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