Popular former Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield died of an inoperable brain tumor in his 57th year at the end of last season. Wakefield was famously a knuckleballer, a rare breed in the game, and a athlete admired and loved by fans and all who came in contact with him, another rare breed. One of those admirers was Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby, known for being a virtuoso with pitch grips.

Kirby was the starting pitcher in yesterday’s afternoon game between the Mariners and the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It was an important game for both clubs, which are among those battling for a playoff slots in the American League. Statcast now reads pitches instantly, announcing whether a pitch is a fastball, curve, slider, cutter, splitter, change-up, etc. based on its database on each pitcher and the speed, spin-rate and course of the ball. When Kirby began the game by throwing his first pitch to Boston leadoff man Jarren Duran, Statcast shocked observers by stating that Kirby had thrown a pitch that wasn’t normally in his repertoire: a knuckleball.

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