Simon Delivers Ace-Level Performance, Also Entertains With Eephus

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

DETROIT - Alfredo Simon, the fifth starter in the Detroit Tigers rotation, provided an ace-level outing Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins. Over 7 2/3 innings, Simon allowed only one run and recorded six strikeouts, and the Tigers eked out a 2-1 win in the series opener.

"It might have been the best outing we've had from him, in terms of efficiency and pitches and swings and misses and big outs with runners in scoring position or on third base," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "His splitter was working, but I thought he used his other pitches well. I thought he used his fastball very effectively, especially in to some of the hitters."

Simon started well, facing the minimum in the first inning. In the second, Simon walked Trevor Plouffe and then gave up a double to Kurt Suzuki. The Twins had runners on second and third with no outs. Simon proceeded to strike out the next three batters, and he never faced more than four batters in an inning the rest of the game. He was removed with one out to go in the eighth.

"He threw really well," second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "He was commanding the fastball in, and I think when he commands the fastball in, it makes it really hard on the opposing hitter because his changeup is really good, and that's what he was doing. He was able to command that inside part of the plate, and that opened up everything for him."

A unique element of Simon's repertoire is the eephus pitch, and the pitcher showed it off Tuesday. Simon threw two of them against Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, previously a Tiger, and struck Hunter out.

"I just throw that pitch because they look like fastballs," Simon said. "The hitters look for that, and they just try to swing the bat, but it's a slow pitch, so it's hard to hit the ball.

"With Hunter, he's like a veteran guy, I just try to joke around with him, and then I just throw a slow one, a hard one, like just try to mix it up with him," Simon added.

"It's funny," outfielder J.D. Martinez said with a laugh. "It's one of those things where you're just like, 'Whoa!' [Twins starter Ricky] Nolasco throws one, so we'll probably see one tomorrow."

While the eephus can trick batters because it approaches the plate so slowly, it can backfire, too.

"Aramis Ramirez got one this year earlier in Cincinnati, I remember seeing it on TV," Martinez recalled. "[The pitcher] threw an eephus pitch, and he just sat on it, and it went a long way, so it's one of them risky pitches, but for the most part, you're not expecting it as a hitter. You might see it once or twice a game, and you're not expecting it to be you."

"It's just one of those things where if a guy's going to throw it, you've kind of got to laugh about it," Martinez added. "What are you going to do? If it's two strikes, you just kind of try to defend it. Unless some guy's done it to you before, and then you're like, 'You know what, I have a feeling.' Some guys do that."

Second baseman Ian Kinsler said one of the eephus pitches Simon threw Tuesday was unlike any he had witnessed in 10 years in the majors.

"I've never seen 50," Kinsler said. "I've never seen anything in the 50s. So that was the slowest pitch I think I've seen in the big leagues.

"The slowest pitch I've seen at the plate is Livan Hernandez throwing me like a 62-mile-an-hour curveball or something like that, but you kind of know he's got that in his repertoire, that he possibly could throw it, so you kind of have an idea," Kinsler added, "but Simon throws it maybe once a game if that, so it's a pretty cool pitch that he has."

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• MLB
• Minnesota Twins
• Detroit Tigers