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Last week, Blue Jays manager John Schneider made a clear statement when he called on Guardians pitcher Parker Messick as the first pitcher out of the AL’s bullpen in the All-Star Game.
On Tuesday, he made his first appearance since that outing and put together a gritty start against the Twins where he allowed two runs (one earned) with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
While that ended up being more than for the Guardians given their offense was able to scrape enough runs across in classic “Guards Ball” fashion, Messick’s outing resembled that of a 10 year veteran, not a player who was pitching in the minors at this point last year.
Parker Messick continues to wow for Guardians
There were two moments in Messick’s start where it looked like things were going to come undone. The first came right off the rip when Ryan Jeffers tagged him for a home run in the first inning on a curveball Messick left over the plate.
He ended up settling in after that and retired eight straight Twins before the second instance, which came in the fourth inning when the Twins scored their second run on a play that featured errors from Messick and Travis Bazzana.
For most young pitchers, either of those events could have been enough to derail an outing. But Messick responded well both times, and was able to put it in the past.
In fact, he put it so much in the past that he wanted to stay in the game in the sixth inning when manager Stephen Vogt pulled him in place of Colin Holderman with two outs.
When Jeffers hit his home run, it seemed like there was going to be a chance that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the sixth inning. But he ended the outing by practically begging Vogt to let him finish the inning.
With the outing Messick became the first Guardians left-hander to throw five-plus innings in his first 20 starts since Cliff Lee in 2008.
The biggest reason for that has been his fastball, which has become one of the best pitches in baseball despite the fact it was never his calling card in the minors.
“Nobody really counts a low-to-mid-90s lefty heater,” Messick said yesterday, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. “You kind of just count it out and think that you can get to it, and it really just sneaks up on guys. I think now, it's starting to be one of those things where they know I have a good heater, and they're going to start swinging at it more and trying to get the head out on it. That just opens things back up for other pitches.”
While Messick impressed last season in his brief MLB cameo, no one could have expected this kind of season from him in a year where he’s still technically a rookie. But Tuesday’s start was just another reminder that he’s not your average rookie.
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This article was originally published on awaybackgone.com as Parker Messick’s gritty outing against Twins showed that he’s matured into Guardians' ace.
