Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians

Guardians lefty Parker Messick fired a 1-2 four-seam fastball to Ryan Kreidler in the fifth inning on Tuesday. The Twins shortstop offered at the pitch, which was well above the strike zone, but merely got a piece of it. Kreidler turned to see that catcher Austin Hedges had held on to the foul tip to secure Messick’s fifth strikeout of the night. In the Guardians’ 5-2 win over the Twins at Progressive Field on Tuesday, Messick struck out six batters over 5 2/3 innings, while allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits. He lowered his ERA to 2.68 and became the first Cleveland lefty to throw five-plus innings in his first 20 starts of a season since Cliff Lee in 2008. Five of Messick’s six punchouts came on his four-seamer, which he threw 48 times (his third most in a start this season). In his stellar rookie campaign, that has been one of the most valuable offerings in the Major Leagues this season. “He's got a really unique, sneaky, quick heater. There's something special about it,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, whose first-inning solo home run was the only earned run off Messick. “He's an All-Star for a reason.” Entering Tuesday, Messick’s four-seamer had a +19 run value, according to Statcast, which made it the third-most-valuable pitch in MLB. The only pitches ranked higher were Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski’s four-seamer (+21) and Mets right-hander Nolan McLean’s sinker (+20). You’re probably not surprised to see Misiorowski here. His fastball averages an MLB-leading 100.5 mph, while Messick’s heater averaged 93.9 mph through his first 19 starts. But opponents were hitting just .140 against Messick’s four-seamer with a .217 slugging percentage. They were hitting .179 with a .253 slugging percentage against Misiorowski’s. “Nobody really counts a low-to-mid-90s lefty heater,” Messick said. “You kind of just count it out and think that you can get to it, and it really just sneaks up on guys. I think now, it's starting to be one of those things where they know I have a good heater, and they're going to start swinging at it more and trying to get the head out on it. That just opens things back up for other pitches.”