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.
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