José Ramírez reached a full count against Anthony Kay in the first inning, then watched a 97.6 mph sinker miss for ball four. Steven Kwan, who had singled on another sinker, moved to second. Kay had faced two batters and put both on base before recording an out.
Kay was a planned opener, with Sean Burke assigned bulk work behind him. His October 5 ALDS Game 2 appearance lasted three hitters and 17 pitches: one out, one hit, one walk and two runs charged, one earned. Chicago ultimately beat Cleveland 4-3, but both runners charged to Kay scored after his departure.
The short record can explain those three confrontations. It cannot carry the same claims about endurance or repeatability as a full start. All three first pitches were balls, and Cleveland missed none of its five swings.
A sinker-heavy opening against a selected part of the order
Kay threw 10 sinkers, 58.8% of the outing, compared with 18.0% in 2,788 pregame regular-season physical pitches across 33 games, March 29 through September 27. Four automatic balls are excluded from that season denominator because no physical pitch was thrown.
The comparison needs the role attached. He faced left-handed Kwan and Chase DeLauter around switch-hitting Ramírez, who batted right-handed against him. Eight sinkers went to left-handers, representing 72.7% of his 11 pitches to that group, compared with 38.2% over the season. That is a large descriptive difference within a very small sample.
The sinker averaged 96.7 mph, against 95.3 in the baseline. Velocity did not solve the early count problems. His three sweepers and two cutters were all taken for balls; the sinker supplied both balls in play and both the fouls that extended DeLauter's confrontation.
Pitch selection: regular season and Game 2
Share of all physical pitches. Scale: 0-60%.
Sinker
Sweeper
Cutter
Four-seam
Changeup
Slider
The first out moved the problem forward
DeLauter saw two balls before Kay recovered with a called sinker. He fouled off a 97.9 mph sinker, took a sweeper to reach 3-2, fouled another sinker and grounded the seventh pitch of the confrontation to second. Kwan advanced to third and Ramírez to second.
Sean Newcomb replaced Kay, intentionally walked Jo Adell and made a throwing error on Nathaniel Lowe's ground ball. Kwan and Ramírez scored on that play. The official record charged both runs to Kay, while distinguishing one as unearned. It would be inaccurate to describe two scoring hits against Kay or to transfer all responsibility for the runners to Newcomb.
Kay's two balls in play left the bat at 84.8 and 94.6 mph, both below the 95 mph hard-hit threshold. The immediate problem was a single and a walk without an early out, followed by runners advancing and an error after the pitching change. His 17 pitches provide a precise account of that opening, with the wider game covered by the separate Burke analysis.
José Ramírez: inning 1
Workload and four-seam speed by inning
| Inning | Pitches | Cumulative | Four-seam mph | Four-seam n | Outs recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1* | 17 | 17 | 97.0 | 2 | 1 |
All 17 pitches
Filter the complete outing and select any pitch for its measurements. Pitch result and completed plate-appearance outcome are separate columns.
17 of 17 pitches
No pitches match these filters.
| Pitch | Inning | Hitter | Count before | Tracking type | mph | Pitch result | PA outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Kwan | 0-0 | Sinker | 95.4 | Ball | Single | |
| 1 | Steven Kwan | 1-0 | Sinker | 95.5 | Called Strike | Single | |
| 1 | Steven Kwan | 1-1 | Four-seam | 97.5 | Ball | Single | |
| 1 | Steven Kwan | 2-1 | Sinker | 96.8 | In play, no out | Single | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 0-0 | Sweeper | 83.0 | Ball | Walk | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 1-0 | Cutter | 93.5 | Ball | Walk | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 2-0 | Four-seam | 96.6 | Called Strike | Walk | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 2-1 | Sweeper | 82.8 | Ball | Walk | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 3-1 | Sinker | 96.3 | Foul | Walk | |
| 1 | José Ramírez | 3-2 | Sinker | 97.6 | Ball | Walk | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 0-0 | Sinker | 97.7 | Ball | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 1-0 | Cutter | 92.8 | Ball | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 2-0 | Sinker | 96.4 | Called Strike | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 2-1 | Sinker | 97.9 | Foul | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 2-2 | Sweeper | 83.6 | Ball | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 3-2 | Sinker | 96.9 | Foul | Groundout | |
| 1 | Chase DeLauter | 3-2 | Sinker | 96.8 | In play, out(s) | Groundout |
Sources, definitions and limitations
The official MLB game record supplies the final score, pitching line and event order. Baseball Savant gamefeed supplies pitch measurements. Statcast Search supplies the regular-season comparison for pitcher 641743. Reporting cutoff: October 6, 2026, 11:30 AM Mountain Time; October 5 game final.
All 17 physical pitches reconcile by unique ID, order and pre-pitch count, with classification comparisons described below, as do 3 batters, 1 recorded outs and 0 strikeouts. Non-pitch actions and automatic calls are excluded from physical-pitch totals. Final plate-appearance outcomes remain separate from individual calls.
Baseline: 2,788 physical pitches in 33 regular-season games, 2026-03-29 through 2026-09-27; target game excluded. No type is removed from pitch-share denominators. Whiff rate means misses divided by swings. Swinging strikes, blocked swinging strikes and foul tips count as misses; swings also include fouls, balls in play and any bunt attempts. Counts accompany small samples. Chase uses the supplied zone flag. The location chart uses catcher-view plate_x and plate_z in feet and the batter’s recorded zone. Statcast documentation defines 2026 location fields at mid-plate and zone boundaries under ABS.
Release speed is in mph; spin is rpm; extension is feet. Induced vertical break, in inches, measures movement relative to a gravity-only path and does not imply that the ball rises. Horizontal movement in the CSV retains the source’s catcher-view signed convention. All outing pitches have speed, spin, extension, movement, location and zone measurements. All 2 balls in play have exit speed; 0 lack launch angle. Missing fields remain blank. Expected batting averages are per-ball rounded tracking estimates, not official aggregate results; this article does not sum them into a predictive claim.
Game rates describe one outing. Pitch selection, measured locations and velocity cannot establish intended targets, hitter expectations, fatigue or injury. Photo credits and source links identify the images; Kay’s cover is explicitly a file photograph.
