Marlins rookie Guerrero dials heat up to 104

ATLANTA -- Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero took his fastball to another level in Game 2 of Monday's day-night doubleheader against the Braves at SunTrust Park, a 6-1 Atlanta win.
The rangy, 6-foot-8 right-hander heated up the radar gun in the seventh inning, when his fastball topped out at 104 mph. It was just the 11th time Statcast™ has shown a reading that fast -- all occurring this season -- and the fastest pitch that has been thrown by Guerrero.
"The one thing he's doing now is, he's throwing enough strikes with that fastball," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "He seems to be able to throw that thing as hard as he wants and still throw strikes with it. At this point, the slider isn't really his out pitch."
The other 10 readings of 104 mph were reached by either Jordan Hicks of the Cardinals or Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.

Guerrero reached 104 against Ender Inciarte, who fouled off the pitch. In one sequence, Guerrero threw six straight fastballs at 102.3 mph or harder.
"I was surprised because it was right in the corner, and he got it," Guerrero said.
As hard as Guerrero was throwing, the right-hander still didn't have a clean inning. Freddie Freeman spoiled that by homering on an 85.9-mph slider to lead off the frame.
Admittedly, that home run angered Guerrero because it came on his secondary pitch. After that, he brought serious heat.
"Yeah, right after that slider that I missed it up, I was so [ticked] off about it," Guerrero said. "And that's why I threw 104 mph."

In all, Guerrero threw 17 pitches in the inning, including 13 four-seam fastballs that averaged 101.9 mph. The 27-year-old rookie allowed just the one hit without striking out or walking a batter.
"Right after I was done pitching, Mattingly told me, 'Hey, now you are more consistent with the fastball for strikes. I think you're going to get the slider down there because if you leave it up that's going to happen,'" Guerrero said. "He asked Starlin Castro who was close to me, and he said, 'Yeah, they're swinging at that because they're waiting for the fastball.' Even if you throw that slider there, you have no chance to hit it.'"