'More aggressive' Bruce Rondon breezes through Twins in Friday's win
Sharp slider, near 100-m.p.h. fastball helping Rondon look more impressive by the outing
George Sipple
MINNEAPOLIS – Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila and manager Brad Ausmus both mentioned how good Bruce Rondon’s slider was in Friday’s 6-3 win over the Twins.
Rondon pitched a scoreless eighth inning and got a pair of hitters – Miguel Sano and Robbie Grossman – to strike out swinging at sliders. Rondon also got Max Kepler to ground out to short on a 99 m.p.h. fastball.
Rondon fell behind Grossman, 1-0, on a fastball with two outs. Grossman fouled off a change-up, the swung and missed at the slider to fall behind, 1-2. The count went even when Rondon missed on a fastball, then came back with the slider to get Grossman to swing and miss again.
“His slider has been really sharp,” Avila said of Rondon. “Good deception on it. It looks like a fastball out of his hand.”
“He looks much more aggressive, not only with his slider but with his fastball. He seems comfortable out there right now. Even today, he threw a good change-up today to Grossman, too. He looks comfortable right now.”
Closer Justin Wilson said of Rondon’s slider: “It’s nasty. Especially when the hitter is preparing for a 100. With the spin and the action he’s got on it, he gets a lot of swings and misses.”
Rondon gave up three runs in a 4-0 loss to the Indians on July 8. Since then he’s allowed one hit and two walk over three scoreless inning with six strikeouts.
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