We continue our "By the Numbers" analysis of the World Series. If you missed our analysis of Verlander and Zito from game one you can find that here. With game 2 in the books, and pitching dominating the game once again, we take a deep look at the pitching performances of Tigers starter Doug Fister and Giants starter Madison Bumgarner.
Fister turned in another postseason quality start, his third of the postseason, with no victories to show for them. Fister pitched well enough to give the Tigers a chance at a victory going into the 7th inning while giving up only one run. Unfortunately, Bumgarner pitched even better, shutting out the Tigers on two hits over seven innings.
Innings | Hits | Runs | Earned Runs | Strikeouts | Walks | |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Bumgarner came into this game with an ERA of 11.25 in the postseason. He averaged 8.25 strikeouts per nine innings during the 2012 season. Tonight he struck out eight Tigers over seven innings. The Tigers offense was unable to put up any meaningful offensive attack against Bumgarner.
Innings | Hits | Runs | Earned Runs | Strikeouts | Walks | |
7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
Now let's take a deeper look at pitching performances of Fister and Bumgarner.
Over 6+ innings, Fister used a pitch selection of five pitches, predominantly relying on his two-seam fastball. The top speed he reached was a 91 MPH two-seam fastball.
Pitch Type | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Pitches/Strikes | |
Four-seam Fastball | 89 | 90 | 10/5 | |
Changeup | 80 | 83 | 6/6 | |
Slider | 82 | 84 | 14/8 | |
Curve | 74 | 76 | 30/16 | |
Two-seam Fastball | 89 | 91 | 54/41 |
Fister really didn't have any particularly stressful innings. The 2nd inning required the most pitches from Fister: 29. After the second, Fister was able to get through each of his remaining innings with a maximum of 22 pitches. By the time he was taken out in the seventh inning -- after surrendering a base-hit to Hunter Pence that would eventually become the one run he gave up -- his pitch count had reached 114 pitches.
Inning | Pitches | Strikes | Strike Percentage |
1 | 10 | 6 | 60% |
2 | 29 | 19 | 66% |
3 | 10 | 7 | 70% |
4 | 19 | 13 | 68% |
5 | 18 | 13 | 72% |
6 | 22 | 14 | 64% |
7 | 6 | 4 | 67% |
Bumgarner mixed in the same five pitch types that Fister used, relying most heavily on his slider. The majority of his pitches were fastballs and sliders, and he reached a maximum velocity of 91 MPH with his fastball.
Pitch Type | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Pitches/Strikes | |
Four-seam Fastball | 90 | 91 | 24 | |
Changeup | 81 | 82 | 3 | |
Slider | 86 | 88 | 34 | |
Curve | 76 | 77 | 7 | |
Two-seam Fastball | 89 | 91 | 18 |
The Tigers were able to do no damage against Bumgarner. Last night, Zito was able to get through each of his innings with a maximum of 17 pitches. Bumgarner did him one pitch better, requiring a maximum of 16 pitches to get through an inning. Just like Zito on the previous night, he required only eight pitches to get through the fourth inning. Bumgarner's pitch count rose to just 86 pitches before he was taken out after seven complete innings.
Inning | Pitches | Strikes | Strike Percentage |
1 | 13 | 9 | 69% |
2 | 11 | 7 | 64% |
3 | 15 | 9 | 60% |
4 | 8 | 4 | 50% |
5 | 9 | 7 | 78% |
6 | 16 | 9 | 56% |
7 | 14 | 9 | 64% |
If the Tigers hope to turn this series around it is evident in looking at the numbers that they must do a better job of attacking the starting pitching of the Giants.