Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians and Luis Castillo of the Seattle Mariners gave fans a classic pitchers duel to open up the 2023 MLB season. The game was scoreless headed into the eighth inning as it truly seemed like the game was destined for extra innings.
However, James Karinchak found himself in some real trouble during the eighth inning and ended up giving up the lead to a Ty France three-run home run. There was some drama and controversy during the first at-bat against J.P. Crawford, but Karinchak still struggled with command even before this.
After the game, Karinchak's response to the missed foul ball call was, "The game gives, the game takes. So, it's just the way it goes." While it is true that there are just some things that are out of the player's control, these things can't go on to affect production.
The pitch clock was also something that was something that had Karinchak flustered on the mound.
When asked about the timer, Karinchak said he deals with "It's just breathing, taking a deep breath between each pitch and feel confident in the next pitch."
This confidence is something that Karinchak will need to build up with the pitch clock if he's going to find himself in these high-leverage situations in the future.
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