3 years agoMinnesota Twins starting pitcher Kenta Maeda rebounded from a tough start to put together a solid effort in Sunday's win over the Astros. Maeda pitched five innings of three-run ball, allowing six hits while walking three batters. He struck out five, generating a healthy 16 swinging strikes, 12 of them on his slider, which was perhaps the best it's looked all season. Batters were teeing off on Maeda's slider earlier in the year, though it's back to being his go-to, swing-and-miss offering, as it was last season when it helped power him to a second-place finish in the Cy Young race. Maeda was fantastic in July, pitching to a 2.15 ERA with a 36:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He allowed five runs to Cincinnati in his first start of August, though he righted the ship with this performance ahead of his next outing against the Rays, who have been prone to striking out this year.--Tim Capurso
Source: Baseball Savant