Pecyna: Game 5 pitching matchup: a showcase of dominant hurlers

In the first game of the Pirates-Cardinals National League Division Series, pitcher Adam Wainwright threw 33 curveballs. Wainwright offered fewer fastballs and cutters, 32 and 16, respectively. His stats show he has a pretty good idea of how to use what he’s got.

And what he happens to possess in that arsenal is a masterful curve, a pitch that leaves his hand mimicking a 93 mph fastball before it descends about nine inches, comes in about 15 mph slower and leaves major leaguers looking like Pony Leaguers. 

Google search Wainwright and look at the suggested queries. After sifting through the general top entries, such as “Adam Wainwright Jenny Curry,” who is his wife; “Adam Wainwright ESPN” or “Adam Wainwright contract,” Google offers a dirty suggestion.

“Adam Wainwright curveball GIF.”

It’s such a nasty pitch that I advise not clicking through the brief clips while at work or school.

There’s a GIF of Wainwright serving the breaking ball to Diamondbacks infielder Cliff Pennington. Pennington is batting left-handed on a 3-2 pitch with men on first and second with one out. The pitch leaves Wainwright’s fingertips while his hand snaps in a downward motion, a split second of mechanics that generates a tight rotation and spin on the baseball. Pennington watches the pitch out of the hand  and must be thinking, “Fastball, ball four, we’re in business now.”

So Pennington waits, assuming it’s a shoulder-high, walk-inducing offering. Of course, then Wainwright’s curve, well, curves down into the strike zone. Pennington’s reaction is priceless.. He sees the umpire ring up strike three, then rests his bat on his shoulder as he stares dumblytoward the dugout, realization that he fell for the deceptive picth finally dawning on him. Pennington arches his back a bit in what appears to be a full-body wince, extends and kicks his straightened left leg over the plate and then takes the long first step of an even longer walk back to the dugout, where he’s safe from the curveball for at least a couple innings.

And now, with Wainwright starting tonight’s’s deciding game of the National League Division Series, the Pirates face the possibility of their own Pennington moment — with more weight than a bat on their shoulders and a much longer post-defeat trek back to Pittsburgh. 

In Game 1, the hitters had plenty of opportunities to practice shuffling back to the dugout, enjoying the majestic sight of the Gateway Arch looming over the St. Louis skyline and trying to forget the strikeout that just occurred.

The 32-year-old Wainwright struck out nine Pirates in seven innings of dominating work, the linchpin to a 9-1 Cardinals victory. He threw the curveball for 31.4 percent of his 105 pitches, generating a whiff on one-third of those curves, according to Brooks Baseball and Pitch Info. He threw it 18 times when the batter had two strikes in the count and 27.3 percent of the time when batters had three balls in the count.

In case it’s not clear by now, the Pirates need to be able to handle Wainwright and his devastating weapon of a pitch. 

Baseball Info Solutions has documented every one of Wainwright’s pitches in the majors, and the site says he’s thrown a curveball 24.1 percent of the time. Fangraphs, a site that features a pitch-tracking tool called PitchFx, lists that he’s thrown 4,092 curveballs since PitchFx was created in 2007. 

Against those offerings, opposing hitters have posted an embarrassing .189 weighted on-base average — an all-encompassing offensive metric — and an anemic .164 average. To lend some perspective, Braves pitcher Mike Minor posted a .188 wOBA and .164 average in 70 plate appearances this season. Wainwright, who is a solid hitting pitcher, put up a .206 wOBA and .211 average this year, therefore making him more likely to get a hit against any pitch than anyone has against his curve.

Wainwright’s curveball has turned very good hitters into the equivalent of a pitcher stepping into the batter’s box. 

It doesn’t exactly look promising for Pittsburgh.

But the series and the season are not over yet. Pirates fans, find ballast in Wainwright’s mound opponent, 23-year-old Gerrit Cole.

Cole was the Pirates’ answer to Wainwright after Game 1, as the rookie right-hander tossed six innings of two-hit, one-run baseball en route to a 7-1 Pirates win in the second game of the series. And while he doesn’t feature a similarly crushing pitch like Wainwright — yet — Cole’s arsenal inspires hope that the Pirates can at least get themselves into a pitching and defense duel.

The 2011 first-overall draft pick, Cole still relies heavily on his high-90s fastball, which is fine for now because he induces high whiff rates. In Game 2, Cardinals hitters swung and missed on 37.2 percent of Cole’s fastballs, and his ancillary offerings posed nearly just as tough a challenge for hitters to make contact.

Cole’s pedigree and performance are uplifting and reminiscent of another rookie pitcher in the 2006 playoffs.

This 25-year-old former first-rounder appeared only in relief for the Cardinals, but he was nonetheless electric. He pitched 9 2/3 innings that postseason, allowing no runs and seven hits while striking out a whopping 15 batters. He picked up four saves and a championship ring, as he recorded the final out against the Tigers in Game 5 of the World Series.

Off to a flying start in his postseason debut already, Cole has the chance to make a similar impact as this talented right-hander did in 2006. 

The best part? 

Cole is presented with this opportunity against that same star pitcher, who happened to perfect one of baseball’s filthiest pitches since then: Adam Wainwright.