In a two-pitch clip shared by Pitching Ninja’s Rob Friedman, Duran struck out the Washington Nationals’ Luis Garcia on Sunday with a 102-mile-an-hour fastball that looked like it swerved through a time warp. Then he got Keibert Ruiz to swing and miss on a 92-mile-an-hour curveball from hell.
The break on the pitch left the batter “so rattled, that he took an automatic strike [on a clock violation] before he could see a second pitch,” USA Today’s For the Win reported. “Curveballs are not supposed to move like that with that kind of velocity.”
Ruiz eventually grounded out to end the game with the host Twins on top, 3-1.
Duran, 25, from the Dominican Republic, earned his fifth save of the season and plenty of praise from awestruck fans. “The movement on that thing!” one wrote. “Looks like something from a video game,” another commented.
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