Danny Salazar’s Most Gorgeous Pitch from Today

While it’s fair to say that almost all of Danny Salazar’s pitches from his start today (Sunday) touched the author either on, or at least near, his heart, it’s also the case that — just as a flamboyant and bloodthirsty tyrant loves one pair of tasseled epaulettes more than all his others, and just how a parent always loves one particular child more than the rest of his or her other children — that the author wasn’t immune from making note of the relative charms of Salazar’s assorted offerings today.

Distinguished primarily for its radiance and majesty is the split-change embedded here and thrown by Salazar to strike out Detroit’s Don Kelly to end the fourth inning. Meditating upon it, one is overcome by the sensation that there’s food in the pantry, a fire in the stove, and all is right with the world. One is also unsurprised to learn that Salazar presently has one of the ten-best xFIPs among starters with 20-plus innings in that role.