From the way-too-specific statistics standpoint, Blake Sabol made history on Wednesday night.
With his 428-foot homer, Sabol became the first rookie catcher in MLB history to hit a walkoff home run when down in the count with his team down to his last out.
Arguably the most impressive aspect of that convoluted record is the situation Sabol was in: down in the count 1-2 to Ryan Helsley, an All-Star closer in 2022.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow detailed Sabol’s approach on Wednesday morning on KNBR.
“I think Helsely is a guy who’s got great stuff,” Krukow said on the Murph & Mac Show. “He’s in a situation with a runner on, and here comes Yastrzemski, who’s really locked in right now. And he throws a 100 mph fastball right across the middle of the plate, and it was up. And Yastrzemski jumps on it, hits it to the right-center field wall almost. Knocks in a run, now he’s in scoring position. That took the fastball away from Helsley. He doesn’t throw another fastball in the strike zone the rest of the time.”
To Sabol specifically, the Cardinals were avoiding throwing fastballs all night. Out of the 11 pitches Sabol saw all night, just two of them were heaters.
So, Sabol was expecting offspeed.
“Confidence in the fastball was taken away with one swing from Yastrzemski,” Krukow said. “So now you get Sabol up there, the first three pitches are all sliders — that’s his swing-and-miss pitch. When you throw that thing that starts out right at the knees and drops out of the strike zone, you have no chance. But in that 1-2 count, instead of cleansing the palate of the eye, instead of going off of the slider, which he’s thrown three, he throws no fastball. Which is what he should’ve done. But he didn’t trust it. Why? Because Yastrzemski took it away. So he comes back with a fourth slider in a row. If you listen to the quotes from Sabol postgame, he was sitting slider. And he got a hanger. And he knocked it over the wall in center field.”
Helsely ranks in the 98th percentile in fastball velocity and 100th percentile in fastball spin rate, per Baseball Savant. His four-seamer averages 99.1 mph and opposing hitters have posted an expected batting average of .179 against it this year.
But, as Krukow noticed, the closer went away from his best pitch. What followed was the best moment of the Giants’ season so far. Sabol’s shot lifted the Giants to a thrilling 5-4 comeback win over St. Louis — their fourth consecutive win.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a 101 mph fastball — if you don’t believe in it, it’s a hittable pitch,” Krukow said. “I love the fact that this kid gambled in a two-strike count. Sitting on another slider. If he throws a fastball there, it’s over, he doesn’t even swing. But he takes that hanging slider and knocks it over the wall, and it’s a winner. So it gives you an idea of the mentality that pitchers have, especially closers. You can take a pitch away from a guy.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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