Fastball

Cleveland Guardians' Cal Quantrill Throws Bizarre Wild Pitch Over Everybody

Right-hander Cal Quantrill posted a quality start Thursday against the Angels, but his hilariously off-target curveball went viral regardless.
Sam Connon|
Cleveland Guardians' Cal Quantrill Throws Bizarre Wild Pitch Over Everybody
Cleveland Guardians' Cal Quantrill Throws Bizarre Wild Pitch Over Everybody

In this story:

Cleveland GuardiansLos Angeles Angels

Cal Quantrill is fresh off a two-month stint on the injured list, and he may still be shaking off a bit of rust.

The Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher had held the Los Angeles Angels off the board through two innings Thursday night, but he found himself in some hot water when he walked shortstop Kyren Paris with one down in the third. Paris stole second, then trotted his way down to third after the wildest of wild pitches from Quantrill.

The first pitch Quantrill threw to first baseman Brandon Drury was a 74 mile-per-hour curveball that didn't curve. The pitch sailed several feet over catcher David Fry and the home plate umpire, hitting the backstop in the air.

The pitch was so far out of the zone that it was not mapped by Statcast.

Drury popped out to end the inning on the very next pitch, though, and Quantrill wound up tossing 6.0 scoreless frames with six strikeouts. Quantrill is 2-6 with a 5.70 ERA this year – a far cry from the 2.89 and 3.38 ERAs he posted in each of the past two seasons – but he does boast a 1.50 ERA and .122 batting average against since returning from right shoulder inflammation on Sept. 1.

The Guardians' offense was ultimately unable to provide Quantrill with enough insurance Thursday night, and their bullpen surrendered three runs to hand the Angels a 3-2 walk-off victory.

Cleveland is now 67-74, which puts the club 6.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the race for the AL Central crown. FranGraphs gives them a 1.4% chance of making the postseason.

The Guardians will continue their four-game weekend series with the Angels on Friday night, with first pitch scheduled for 9:38 p.m. ET.

Follow Fastball on FanNation on social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Check out more Cleveland Guardians coverage at Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Cleveland Baseball Insider.

Published
Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

Share on XFollow SamConnon
Home/News