Detroit – Chris Paddack, making his first relief appearance since 2023 Tuesday night, entered the game in the sixth with a runner on and one out.
Working from the stretch, he was initially encouraged by the reactions he was getting with his changeup. He threw three of them and got two whiffs (one to punch out Francisco Lindor) and a half-swing chopper right back to him from Brett Baty.
Imagine his bewilderment, then, when Juan Soto and Pete Alonso began the seventh with back-to-back home runs off the only changeup each of them saw in their at-bat.
“Something I did notice,” Paddack said afterward. “They swung at every single changeup but one.”
Correct. The Mets swung at 10 of the 11 changeups he threw and put seven into play, five for hits. Besides the two homers, Jeff McNeil, Luis Torrens and Baty all banged out singles on first-pitch changeups.
He got Cedric Mullins to chase one out of the zone and got him to ground into a force out.
Another changeup was fouled off.
But that’s good hunting, almost like the Mets hitters knew when the changeup was coming.
“I might do some digging on that to see if I’m tipping that pitch or not,” said Paddack, who ended up with six runs and eight hits on his ledger. “Or if I’m tipping something out of my delivery. We had some swing and miss out of the stretch then I started the next inning out of the windup.
“I might be doing something out of the windup, I’m not sure.”
But Paddack fully understands that tipping the changeup is only a symptom of some larger issues. In the month of August, hitters slugged .684 against his changeup, .500 against his curve, .500 against his cutter and .714 against his sinker.
That is a primary reason manager AJ Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter decided to move him to the bullpen, hoping in shorter bursts his four-seam fastball will tick up and thus facilitating better results with his secondary pitches.
“There are definitely things I’ve got to fix,” Paddack said. “I’m not proud of the results.”
Paddack, not for nothing, took the move to the bullpen like a pro.
“We’re in September,” he said. “We have a really good team and I haven’t met some of my expectations as far as the numbers on my stat line. There’s really no arguing the decision. I’m here to contribute any way I can. There are a lot of good arms in this clubhouse.
“The pitching chaos I heard about last year, it’s a thing. And they had success doing it. If that means we run it back to go deeper in the playoffs this year, that’s what AJ is going to do. I’m here to contribute in any way.”
First, though, Paddack will hit the pause button. He left the team after the game Tuesday to tend to a death in his family.
“Mentally, the game has done some things to me this year that (put me) in a hole,” he said. “I’m proud of myself for keeping my head up and continuing to get ready for tomorrow.”
Paddack is expected to be gone three days.
“We’re human beings,” he said, his voice cracking. “I want to be there for my family…Hopefully that’ll be a little reset for me to be able to go back home and hug my loved ones. The reason I play this game is for them.
“But I have to continue to stay strong. I have some things I need to fix to help this team win.”
@cmccosky