Perfect curveball causes batter to duck for cover

CHICAGO -- Kyle Seager has swung a hot bat for the Mariners lately, but even he couldn’t handle a nasty Brad Wieck offering in the ninth inning of the Cubs’ 5-1 victory over Seattle on Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

After battling to a 2-2 count, the 6-foot-9 Wieck threw a curveball that started way above the strike zone. Seager ducked out of the way to avoid the pitch, as it looked to be heading straight for his head, but the 74 mph breaking ball snapped back into the zone for a called strike three.

“B-Wieck, that's really nice stuff,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. “Command of a curveball and command of a fastball. Very confident demeanor out there. That's really interesting stuff."

That confidence had Seager thinking he was about to get accidentally beaned, when in reality the ball ended up smack in the middle of the zone as if Wieck had thrown a middle-middle fastball instead of a nasty curve. To be completely fair to Seager, anyone else in that position would have ducked too.