'Right in the bread basket': How one knuckleball exemplified Waldron's gem

DENVER -- Matt Waldron was conflicted.

He had just thrown a pitch to Charlie Blackmon, the first batter he faced in the Padres’ 5-2 win over the Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday night. But instead of being caught by Waldron’s catcher, Kyle Higashioka, the ball hit home plate umpire Bill Miller in a place where -- well, let’s just use Higashioka’s euphemism:

“Right in the bread basket.”

Not the way Waldron -- or Higashioka, for that matter -- wanted to start things off.

“Yeah, not exactly a good way for me to start the game as far as catcher-umpire relations,” Higashioka said.

On the other hand, the reason why Higashioka didn’t catch Waldron’s pitch was because it was such a good one, a knuckleball that was so unpredictable that the veteran backstop -- who is in his eighth Major League season behind the plate -- wasn’t able to receive it.

“Oh, it was nasty,” Higashioka said. “It took a hard right turn. I think his knuckleball usually goes left, but that one went right. And I totally whiffed it.”

Miller bent over in pain and began walking away from the plate. He was then heard saying, “That’s a strike,” while pointing his right index finger in the air for the call.

“It was a strike, I was excited about that,” Waldron said, smiling. “We laughed about it, maybe lightened the mood for a second.”

One party involved wasn’t laughing, and that was Blackmon, who struck out on another knuckler a couple of pitches later. That was an ominous harbinger for Colorado, as Waldron proceeded to throw six strong innings, tying his career high, yielding only one run on four hits, walking three and striking out five on 91 pitches.

The rookie right-hander’s knuckleball fluttered its way through the thin Rocky Mountain air and past the bats of Rockies hitters -- six of the 15 swings Colorado batters took against it were misses. But it was far from the only pitch Waldron threw. His panoply of offerings included 30 knuckleballs, but he also mixed in his four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter and sweeper to keep the Rockies off balance for much of the night. The only blemish on his record was a solo homer by Ryan McMahon in the sixth.

“He’s established himself as a starter,” manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s shown the ability to pitch deep in games and give his team a chance. So regardless of the repertoire, if you’re gonna start, that’s gonna be a big part of the prerequisite for doing that. … He just happens to have a knuckleball that’s part of his arsenal.”

Very few knuckleballers have plied their craft in the hitter’s paradise of Coors Field. Although it didn’t behave exactly like it does at sea level, Waldron said his knuckleball had good depth to it and was the least affected of all his pitches by the altitude.

Waldron is no stranger to a high run-scoring environment. He spent his Triple-A tenure in the Pacific Coast League, a notoriously tough assignment for pitchers. In 20 appearances (18 starts) for El Paso last year, he struggled to a 7.31 ERA. He’s had a rocky start to his big league career as well -- so far this season, he’s alternated rough outings with solid ones.

But none has been better than his performance Wednesday night.

“Getting ahead [in the count] was the name of my game today,” Waldron said. “I executed well, and the offense did what they do and it was awesome.”

Before he took the mound Wednesday, Waldron was staked to a 4-0 lead thanks to a two-run double by Ha-Seong Kim, a sacrifice fly by rookie Jackson Merrill and an RBI single from Eguy Rosario in the first inning. Merrill added an RBI groundout in the sixth for San Diego’s fifth run.

The lineup jumped on Rockies starter Ty Blach early to set the tone for the offense. But it was the first Rockies plate appearance that set the tone, albeit painfully, for Waldron’s best outing of the young season.

“I think our focus was just to be on the attack,” Higashioka said of his gameplan with Waldron throughout the contest.

What they didn’t mean to do was attack Bill Miller behind the plate.

“Yeah,” Higashioka said, “it was a painful strike.”