Smith nearly doubled his splitter share to close Cleveland’s Game 5 win

Andrew Benintendi extended his ninth-inning plate appearance against Cade Smith with two full-count fouls on fastballs. Smith then returned to the splitter at 89.7 mph, and Benintendi missed it. The eight-pitch confrontation showed both pitches contributing to a finish that secured the second out of the inning.

Smith recorded five outs in Cleveland’s 2–0 win over the White Sox in ALDS Game 5 at Progressive Field on October 10. He struck out four, allowed no hit or walk and stranded one inherited runner. His 27 pitches preserved the lead through the final two outs of the eighth and the entire ninth.

The splitter’s usage nearly doubled relative to Smith’s regular-season relief work. That increase mattered in his acquisition of called strikes and in two strikeout finishes. The four-seamer remained his larger source of misses, so the outing is better understood as a changed balance between two productive pitches than as one pitch replacing the other.

The splitter gained share, while the fastball drew misses

Smith threw 13 splitters, or 48.1% of his pitches, against 25.0% in a baseline of 1,238 physical pitches over 69 regular-season relief appearances. The comparison is about 1.92 times the season share. His 14 four-seamers represented 51.9%, down from 63.7%, while other season classifications were absent from this outing and remain visible at zero in the chart.

The splitter generated three called strikes and two misses in four attempts. The fastball generated one called strike and five misses in 10 attempts. Smith finished Kyle Teel and Benintendi on splitters, and Murakami and Tristan Peters on four-seamers. The record separates those completed strikeouts from the seven misses accumulated across all pitches.

Together the two pitches produced a 50.0% whiff rate, seven misses in 14 attempts, compared with 34.5% in the season baseline. His four-seamer averaged 98.7 mph against 97.5 in that comparison. The splitter averaged 89.1 against 87.1, while its induced vertical break was minus 3.1 inches against minus 5.2. These describe recorded speed and shape differences without establishing an intended mechanical adjustment.

Benintendi’s sequence mixed two splitter balls with a fastball foul, a fastball miss, another fastball ball and the two full-count fastball fouls. The final splitter provided a different speed after consecutive four-seamers. Its exact location is shown in the diagram, but neither pitch coordinates nor the sequence prove what Benintendi expected.

Smith faced a heavily left-handed sample, throwing 22 of 27 pitches to left-handed hitters. The regular-season baseline had 705 left-handed pitches out of 1,238. Splitter use nevertheless increased within both hitter groups: nine of 22 against left-handers versus 228 of 705 in the baseline, and four of five against right-handers versus 81 of 533. The right-handed game sample is only five pitches and should be read with that limitation.

Five outs, with one contact to evaluate

Smith entered after Sam Antonacci’s single with one out in the eighth. He struck out Teel and induced a Vargas pop out, clearing the inherited runner. Vargas’ ball was measured at 91.1 mph and was the only ball put into play against Smith. A single contact supplies almost no basis for a broad claim about improved contact suppression.

The ninth required 17 pitches after 10 in the eighth. Smith’s four-seamer averaged 98.3 mph in the eighth on three pitches and 98.8 in the ninth on 11. The larger final-inning sample remained fast, but the chart cannot turn those measurements into a physical diagnosis or an explanation of stamina.

His previous four series appearances required 12, five, 19 and 31 pitches, with the last on October 8. Those postseason workloads are identified separately from the regular-season comparison. In Game 5, the evidence supports increased splitter use alongside a faster fastball and misses from both. A later outing would test whether that balance persists against a broader hitter sample.