Glasnow can't keep heat on Astros in G4

Tyler Glasnow’s fastball tried to beat the Astros all by itself in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday and, for an early stretch, it looked like the hard-throwing right hander might just pull it off.

Glasnow set up shop in the triple digits, throwing 13 fastballs at 100 mph or harder, the fourth-most by a starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). Despite giving up a solo shot to the King of the First Inning, Jose Altuve, on a 100.4 mph fastball that he was sitting on, Glasnow was throwing with confidence and spotting his heat.

That heat needed some help, though, and when it didn’t come, the Astros eventually caught up to Glasnow, spoiling his shot at redemption.

Game	Date	Result	Highlights
Gm 1	Oct. 11	TB 2, HOU 1	Watch
Gm 2	Oct. 12	TB 4, HOU 2	Watch
Gm 3	Oct. 13	TB 5, HOU 2	Watch
Gm 4	Oct. 14	HOU 4, TB 3	Watch
Gm 5	Oct. 15	HOU 4, TB 3	Watch
Gm 6	Oct. 16	HOU 7, TB 4	Watch
Gm 7	Oct. 17	TB 4, HOU 2	Watch

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“I think I went out there with one pitch,” Glasnow said. “They’re a really good team and a good fastball hitting team, so when you go out there and have one pitch, it just makes my job a whole lot harder.”

This was Glasnow’s opportunity to rewrite his script after the 2019 AL Division Series, when the Astros jumped on him early in the deciding Game 5 loss. Glasnow allowed four runs in just 2 2/3 innings that night, and the long offseason gave the 27-year-old plenty of time to sit on the loss.

It all lined up perfectly for Glasnow on Wednesday, too. One year and five days after being eliminated by the Astros, he had a chance to return the favor while sending his team to the World Series. He was harsh in his self-evaluation at first following the 4-3 loss, but quickly got more specific, again focusing on his mistake of allowing the Astros to sit dead red.

“It’s a matter of falling behind, then everyone knows that the heater’s coming,” Glasnow said. “Today my offspeed stuff was not there at all. I just wasn’t able to throw it for strikes. Especially when I got behind in the count. I think people were just able to cheat on the heater and get to it.”

Glasnow got by with this approach longer than your average pitcher, thanks to his incredible velocity, but it came crashing down in the fifth inning when George Springer, much like Altuve earlier, hunted a fastball up in the zone. He found it, and turned on a two-run home run that put the Astros out in front for good.

This one didn’t just scrape over the wall, either. The ball left Springer’s bat at 110.8 mph, the hardest-hit ball of the game, and crashed into the fourth level of the Western Metal Supply Co. building at Petco Park.

Glasnow did deal with a “tiny little cut” on his throwing hand, as he described it, but said after the game that it was “totally fine” and didn’t impact his pitching in any way. On the broadcast, a closeup of Glasnow’s pants showed small spots of blood from where he’d wiped that finger between pitches, but there doesn’t seem to be any concern moving forward.

“I thought he was really good, really good,” said manager Kevin Cash. “I'd like to have that pitch back to Springer, Altuve's kind of hitting everything right now. Springer, Glas attacked him exactly the way that he wanted to, we wanted to, and he got a pitch out over [the plate] and Springer hit it a long way for the big home run, the deciding home run.”

In a traditional postseason, a built-in off-day might give Glasnow a shot at coming back around for a potential Game 7 on short rest if he was truly needed, but the Rays don’t intend on letting the series get that far.

If Glasnow’s next start comes in the World Series against either the Braves or the Dodgers, establishing his curveball and his rarely used changeup will be the top priority. If his fastball looked this sharp in Game 4, it’s got the potential to be even more dangerous when opposing lineups are respecting the rest of his arsenal.

Glasnow turned to that changeup just three times against the Astros and, averaging 93.5 mph, there isn’t much of a velocity gap between that pitch and his fastball, which averaged 98.6 mph across his full start. After throwing the changeup for just 4.7% of his pitches in the regular season, though, don’t expect that to suddenly become a secret weapon on the big stage.

Instead, for Glasnow, it’s all about establishing his curveball early and pounding the zone with that incredible fastball for strike one. He can’t do it with velocity alone but, as Game 4 showed, if he’s able to keep hitters guessing even the slightest amount, his fastball can take over a ball game and change a series.