Astros Strike First and Last in ALCS Game 5 Victory Over Rangers
If you came into Game 5 hoping for a pitchers’ duel between Justin Verlander and Jordan Montgomery, then this was your lucky night, for a while. The two starters traded blows for the first five innings, allowing a solo homer apiece, but otherwise made short work of the opposing lineups. Then the sixth inning rolled around and the narratives entered a tumble dryer. The game featured a little bit of everything: lead changes, defensive plays both great and terrible, bloops, blasts, backspinning bunts, and benches-clearing beanballs.
Asked about his gameplan on Thursday, Montgomery gave one of the best quotes of the entire postseason: “I mean obviously you want to not give up runs, so, I mean… yeah, it’s important.” He induced groundouts from Jose Altuve and Mauricio Dubón on the first and second pitches of the game, but said gameplan didn’t survive Alex Bregman, who staked the Astros to an early lead by depositing a sinker 416 feet away in the left field bleachers. Bregman may be accustomed to taking advantage of the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park, but he didn’t need any help from a short porch on this one.
Montgomery settled down and induced a groundout to get out of the first inning, then retired the side in the second inning on three more groundouts. His 43.2% groundball rate was 22nd among qualified pitchers this season, and eight of his first nine outs on Friday came on the dirt. In the fourth, he mixed things up by retiring Bregman on a line drive to right field and striking out both Yordan Alvarez and José Abreu.
Verlander, whose 16.5% infield fly ball rate led MLB, went in literally the opposite direction from Montgomery. Given that 1–0 lead in the first, the future Hall of Famer came out of the gate with a simple plan, firing four-seamers at or above the top of the zone and inviting the Rangers to hit them in the air. They obliged, popping out seven times and flying out five times against the right-hander. After throwing his four-seamer 50% of the time during the regular season, Verlander was at 62% on Friday night. He recorded just two groundouts, both rockets hit over 100 mph. The Rangers didn’t reach base until the third inning.
Things started to get weird in the fifth. Kyle Tucker led off with a single on a soft liner to right field. With one out, Jeremy Peña hit a chopper to short, but Marcus Semien couldn’t squeeze a perfect toss from Corey Seager, leaving runners on first and second with one out. Martín Maldonado flew out to right, moving Tucker to third and bringing Altuve to the plate for the third time. Despite being one of the greatest hitters in postseason history, Altuve tried to drop down a bunt single; it’s hard to explain the thought process, unless he just wasn’t feeling comfortable against Montgomery. The bunt didn’t look terrible off the bat, but instead of rolling toward third base, it hit the ground and improbably spun straight backwards, dying right in front of home plate. Jonah Heim had no problem throwing Altuve out at first for the third out. “The ball checked up, said Dusty Baker. “People would pay for that in golf.”
The Rangers finally got to Verlander in the fifth. Nathaniel Lowe stayed with an outside fastball, sneaking it just over the left field wall to tie the game at one. It wasn’t a bad pitch, and Verlander buckled down to retired the side without any further drama.
Now would be a good time to talk about the times through the order penalty. And well, they call it a penalty for a reason. One way to look at the sixth inning is that two old school managers let their cruising starters face the top of the lineup for a third time, and both starters repaid that trust by getting rocked. Another way to look at it is that two sabermetrically-savvy managers checked the numbers and saw that when facing the starting pitcher for the third time, Houston’s 98 OPS+ was the fourth-worst in baseball this season, and Texas’s 92 OPS+ was the absolute worst. Either way, things didn’t go well.
Despite Bregman’s first inning homer, Montgomery had cruised through the first four innings. The fifth was a struggle, and he was now about to face the heart of the Houston lineup for a third time. The fact that the Rangers had used six pitchers on Thursday night must have weighed on Bruce Bochy as he decided to let Montgomery pitch the sixth.
After striking out Dubón on a curveball, Montgomery approached Bregman carefully, eventually walking him. Alvarez followed by sneaking a single past a diving Lowe, putting runners on the corners with one out. Abreu hit a line drive to short that caught Seager on an in-between hop and ate him up; what would have been a sure-fire double play to end the inning instead kicked up and into center field, scoring Bregman. The play was somehow ruled a hit but was clearly the second big mistake made by the Texas middle infield, giving the Astros a 2–1 lead.
Montgomery stayed in to face the left-handed Tucker, but his night ended after a four-pitch walk to load the bases. In his third time through the lineup, Montgomery went bunt out, strikeout, walk, 108.6 mph single, 96.7 mph single(ish), walk. Bochy turned to Josh Sborz, who needed just three pitches to get out of the jam. That also closed the book on Montgomery, who went 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.
Verlander returned in the bottom of the sixth to face the heart of the Rangers lineup for the third time and started by hanging a slider to Seager, who ripped it for a double into the right field corner. Evan Carter shot a grounder past Bregman into left field, and now it was the Rangers with one out and runners on first and third. Adolis García immediately capitalized, launching an inside fastball for his fourth home run of the postseason and 43rd of the year, a 108-mph blast into left-center field that gave the Rangers a 4–2 lead.
García took his time admiring the shot and stomped on home plate emphatically. Asked after the game about the celebration, Maldonado said, “The worst thing he did was wake up the Houston Astros.”
The blast didn’t end Verlander’s night, but a bloop did, as Josh Jung plopped a single into left field, leading Baker to come get his starter. Despite a walk to Lowe, Hector Neris induced a flyout from Mitch Garver to end the inning. Verlander’s final line: 5.2 innings, four earned runs, six hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. Four of those hits came on his third time through the order.
Sborz returned in the top of the seventh, putting the Astros down quietly despite breaking just about every unwritten rule in baseball by walking both the leadoff man and the worst hitter in the lineup in the person of Maldonado. Neris returned as well, retiring the Rangers in order in the bottom of the inning.
With Houston’s big lefties coming up, Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch the top of the eighth. He quickly fell behind 3–0 to Alvarez on a 101-mph fastball dangerously close to the slugger’s head, a pitch clock violation, and a regular old ball, then flipped the switch, painting a fastball on the outside corner and a slider on the inside corner and getting Alvarez to chase a fastball up and away for strike three. Abreu flew out, but Chapman couldn’t complete the inning as Tucker flipped a double into the left field corner. That brough the right-handed Chas McCormick to the plate; once again, Chapman’s night was done, and once again, José Leclerc, who hadn’t notched a single save of more than three outs in the regular season, was asked to come in for a four-out save. He got pinch-hitter Michael Brantley to pop up to end the frame, and then he sat on the bench for a long, long time.
The game ground to a screeching halt in the eighth. Bryan Abreu came in for the Astros, walking Carter to lead off the inning. That brought García back to the plate, and Abreu sent his first pitch, a 98.9-mph fastball, sailing in at his ribs, catching him flush on the arm. García immediately turned to Maldonado, incensed. “In that situation, he could’ve hurt me, he could’ve injured me,” García said through an interpreter after the game. “I let him know that’s something that just shouldn’t happen there.” The benches cleared, then the bullpens, and it was the Sharks and the Jets in and around the home plate area.
Alvarez took it on himself to encourage his fellow Cuban to play it cool. If you didn’t already love Alvarez, I can’t really help you, but maybe the image of him simultaneously calming García and using his 6-foot-5 frame to usher him toward first base will change your mind.
After things settled down, both Abreu and García were thrown out of the game; Abreu for hitting García intentionally, and García for not appreciating it. Naturally, this unsettled things, and Baker earned his own ejection for arguing that there’s no way on earth his pitcher would intentionally put a second runner on base with no outs in the bottom of the eighth down two runs. Bregman expressed a similar sentiment after the game, saying, “I know Abreu, and he’s not trying to hit anybody in a two-run game in the postseason.” When the game finally restarted, Ryan Pressly retired three straight Rangers to end the inning.
Things got unsettled once more in the top of the ninth. Back on the mound after the extremely long layoff, Leclerc allowed a single through to Yainer Diaz, pinch-hitting for Peña. Next, he walked Jon Singleton, pinch-hitting for Maldonado. With no outs and runners on first and second, Altuve strode to the plate. To that point in the game, he was 0-for-4 and had only seen five pitches, and he had not looked remotely confident on any of them. But after taking a slider for a strike, he golfed a changeup just over the left field wall to give the Astros a 5–4 lead. The Houston dugout erupted onto the field to celebrate, with Verlander at the head of the pack.
Asked after the game where this home run ranked out of his 26 in the postseason, Altuve gave an extremely sensible answer: “Number one, because it was tonight, it just happened.” Maldonado described his feelings about Altuve even more simply, telling the Fox postgame crew, “He goes, we go.”
After his own long wait, Pressley came back out for the ninth inning, now in line for the win in what has to be one of the odder appearances of his career. He immediately stepped into yet more trouble. Garver sent Pressly’s second pitch into left field for a single, then left in favor of pinch-runner Josh H. Smith. Heim followed with a line drive off the glove of a diving Altuve, though Smith was forced to stay at second after waiting to make sure the ball got through the infield. No outs, runners on first and second, winning run at the plate. Semien ripped yet another line drive up the middle, one that looked all but certain to score Smith, but defensive replacement Grae Kessinger lived up to his job description and made a leaping grab at shortstop. Seager flied out to just shy of the warning track in center, and for some reason Smith didn’t tag up on the play, remaining at second. With two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, Carter struck out on a curveball below the zone to end the game.
After jumping out to a two-game lead, the Rangers have now lost three straight. They will head into Houston on Sunday the victims of a crushing ninth-inning loss. Their top two relievers have both faltered in the biggest moments of the series. Their leadoff man, who led the American League in hits, has just one in his last 13 plate appearances. Plus, García will likely have a big bruise on his arm. On the other hand, the Astros really do seem to have been awakened. They’ve scored 23 runs in their last three games. Their biggest stars came up huge on Friday, with home runs by Altuve and Bregman, and two hits apiece from Alvarez and Tucker. But if they want to win the series, they have a seemingly insurmountable task ahead of them: win a game at home.
Davy Andrews is a Brooklyn-based musician and a writer at FanGraphs. He can be found on Bluesky @davyandrewsdavy.bsky.social.
Altuve is just cold blooded he’s just an unreal performer especially in the playoffs and in big spots. I was really scratching my head when he bunted with runners on base with two outs early in the game but he came up when he was needed most. This was a wild one and between this game and the Phillies/Dbacks game this was a great day for baseball and as the great Sarah Langs says baseball is the best.
“This dude is one of the baddest dudes I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some greats.” -Dusty Baker
Altuve certainly is impressive. They have been consistently clutch in their career, and they have repeatedly come through in their post-season appearances. They are among the most amazing performers of their generation.
I said it when it happened and I’ll reiterate it here: that was solid gamesmanship by Houston to hit Garcia, a known hot-head. on purpose, to create a long delay in order to ice Leclerc in between innings. I fully believe that was an intentional move to try to get him out of his rhythm, and it worked. You can argue that putting a guy on base there wasn’t a wise baseball move, but at that point, the Astros are going to lose anyway with an unhittable Leclerc on the mound. Might as well mess with him mentally – either they lose by a lot more, or they make him falter. That’s the story of Game 5.
Wow – lots of downvotes. You don’t think a team who clearly and obviously cheated to win a World Series is above a little gamesmanship to gain an edge? If you want to downvote my comment, fine, but provide a comment of your own in response.
I downvoted your comment, and here’s why.
First, take a look at the pitching stats: other than Game 3, Astros relievers have given up NO runs in this series. They needed to send a message to the Rangers why?What psychological edge does it give the Astros to hit Garcia before they come up in the 9th, already down 2?Second, you cannot blame the Astros for “icing” Leclerc. If Garcia had just taken his base like Altuve always does when people bean him on purpose, Leclerc would not have waited so long.Third, you assume the Astros believed that Leclerc was unhittable. In reality, no one is unhittable against the Astros. Not Edwin Diaz or Jose Alvarado last year, not Felix Bautista this year, and certainly not anyone in the horrid Rangers’ bullpen.Fourth, you assume that the Astros play mind games with their opponents. Astros pitching is middle of the pack in hit batsmen this year. They are bottom 5 in intentional walks. They basically flat line in crucial moments. They get booed everywhere and Altuve gets plunked more than he should, but they only respond on the field and not in childish ways.Fifth, if you need further evidence of this, watch Jose Altuve round the bases after his HR. After the dust up, most players would have stared down the dugout, flipped their bat, thumped their chest and strutted around the bases (like Garcia did). Altuve just put his head down and rounded the bases.Word of advice to the Rangers: if you want to beat the Astros, focus on performing under pressure and not the sideshow on being offended by what happens on the field. Lose your composure at your own risk, because guaranteed the Astros won’t lose theirs.
I down-thumbed your comment because it is unnecessarily wordy. Are you writing a novel?
fair point, so I thumbs up your comment haha. see my comment below re why Abreu missed high instead of low.
I definitely blame Garcia for getting into it with Maldonado. If he had just walked to first base, he would have kept the “momentum” on Texas’ side. Altuve isn’t one to stare down a dugout anyway, so I don’t put any stock in that reasoning. He is a professional and will go about his business regardless of any dustup. That’s what Garcia should have done, and this whole thought experiment is moot.
Leclerc still might have given up the runs, but you never know.
When did they cheat? 2017? There’s like two players left from that team.
Same owner. Many of the same stakeholders at the top. Firing the GM and the manager as well as some employees doesn’t change organizational culture.
Respectfully, disagree. Luhnow didn’t relay to Hinch or the players the 9/15 Manfred email that drew a line in the sand on electronic sign stealing. He said he didn’t read it. (Come on, seriously?) Hinch was opposed to sign stealing, maybe he would have stood firmer against it if he had known about the email? Maybe Beltran would have said, hey it’s not a gray area anymore? Regrettably, we don’t know, and that’s Luhnow’s fault.
Hinch also was rightfully fired because he didn’t stand up because he thought it had support from above (baseball ops people) and below him (Alex Cora, Beltran etc.). So the Astros have now twice replaced a GM who can’t be bothered to read rules emails from the MLB Commissioner and a Manager who didn’t have the strength to stand up for what is right. Definitely Dusty is a stronger personality than Hinch on right way to do things versus wrong way. It’s his clubhouse now.
I don’t make post 9/15/17 excuses for electronic sign stealing, but I disagree that there’s a continued organizational culture of “cheating.” The culture I see is drafting and bringing in players who are open to preparation, feedback and development, not signing free agents to more than 3 years and not resigning home grown talent to more than 6 years.
I down voted for three reasons:
1. There’s no reason to think the Astros couldn’t come back vs. LeClerc -he’s not exactly Mariano Rivera
2. Their pen and particularly Abreau have been unhittable for the most part in this series. Tight game, and there’s no way they’re putting themselves in that spot
3. Fangraphs did their own assessment of the scandal and found any benefit to the system was minimal if it all. For a variety of reasons I won’t list.
It’s obviously impossible to disprove your theory, but common sense will tell you that the likelihood that all of that was done deliberately just to get Leclerc “out of his rhythm” is tremendously slim. If making Leclerc sit for a couple more minutes really has that big of an impact the Rangers wouldn’t be letting him pitch in the 9th.
I don’t think it was done for any tactical advantage. I do think Abreu hit him on purpose (though I’m sensitive for sure to the game situation argument). Maldanado and Abreu both gave completely different explanations for what they were trying to throw after the game and Abreu doesn’t hit batters. Where Maldanado setup doesn’t provide much evidence either (if you know you’re hitting a batter you setup just like that). I think Maldanado called for it and really was looking for payback and Adolis read what’s happening. Reasonable minds can disagree on all of this.
What I don’t think is in dispute is the umpires horribly mangled the situation. I can see the argument for not tossing him but if you’re going to toss the guy you’ve got to have it actually be a penalty to the Astros. Props to Dusty for making a scene to get his player enough time to warm up but Pressly should have to come in there effectively cold (Rangers brought the fracas on themselves). Ejecting Garcia was pretty ridiculous (though he should comport himself better). But not dealing with Dusty’s obvious gamesmanship was bush league by the umpires. If he won’t leave just have him hit with a suspension later.
Thanks for all of your objective reasoning. I respect it, and I think you’re all probably right, and I’m wrong. However, an inkling in the back of my mind says that there are some intangibles, like “clutchness” and “the hot hand” that objectively do not exist, although psychology does exist, and getting in a guy’s head (making Leclerc wait, and firing up the Astros) does have an effect on focus, flow, and ultimately, performance at a high level. Reading a little bit about the state of flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi will talk about all of this from a qualitative perspective. For instance, in basketball, if a guy keeps making baskets, and you tell him, “You know, you have a really nice follow through on your shot” or “You really know how to use the angles of the backboard,” it will make him start thinking about his follow through or his angle calculations, and disrupt his state of flow and can cause him to start shooting worse.
Can I prove any of this? No. I am a huge data head as well, and this is a quantitative analytics website, so I realize that this theory is misplaced here. But I can’t shake the thought that this must have had something to do with it. Maintaining flow state at such a high level in such a high-leverage situation such as the ALCS is hard, and any mental disruption to that continuity can have ripple effects into the physical realm. We’re all human, after all. Not robots. Little things can have big effects in small moments.
What a game! Altuve’s previous at bat he hit a 104mph 371 ft rocket to left which would have been a homer in 12 ball parks one of them being MMP, so he was definitely seeing the ball well. How would the game have gone if Garcia had just taken his base? Abreu getting tossed seemed a little over the top being that is was a terrible time to hit him and how can they determine it was intentional? Garcia’s reaction precipitated the fisticuffs, and it’s not like Yordan hadn’t been hit and Altuve hasn’t been brushed back multiple times over the past few games seem like the Umps got caught up in the moment. Altuve’s post season legend grows. Lucky for the Rangers they have Eovaldi going game 6, but this lineup seems to be pretty laser focused right now.
I think that the reply clearly shows that Abreu intentionally threw at Garcia. The way the ball came out of his hand, directly at Abreu, was not a pitch gone awry, but one that hit its target. It was not a pitch that rode up inside, but one whose release point makes clear that it was NOT intended for the vicinity of the plate.
More likely he was trying to brush him off the plate and missed further in. I can’t rule out an intentional beanball nor can anyone definitely prove it was unintentional.
That’s what makes the decision to eject Abreu and Garcia so dumb. It’s game 5 of the ALCS! No punches were thrown, nobody got hurt, just warn both dugouts and play ball. Good on Dusty for losing his cool and forcing them to toss him as well
Reminiscent of Dave Henderson’s homer in ’86. Also Game 5 and on the road. More dramatic with 2 outs and 2 strikes and facing elimination though.
I genuinely don’t even know why I even like the sport anymore. First the dark times, then effervescent, pointless hopes against a Yankees dynasty in the 90s,then 2010 a loss, but a legit one, then 2011, one strike away, twice to an inferior team, then 2015 when Elvis commits 3 errors in one inning, and now this. I’m fighting an internal battle where I try to even see if it’s legitimately worth my mental health
People say that the highs beat the lows, but who cares when the franchise is nothing but pitiful, embarrassing lows?
Can Texas still win? Of course. But the effect losses have on my mental state makes me want to take a step back anyway, and that crushes me.
The Rangers/Expansion Senators never should have left DC. The Expos/Nationals have won more titles in DC than the Expansion Senators/Rangers have in their existence. I hope they never win a title. Much more compelling g to see teams struggle with decades of futility.
I can commiserate with you but will encourage you to hang tough. As a Red Sox fan since 1948 i went through a long period of awful teams then a period of good teams that broke your heart. 1967 was incredible, even in defeat but 1971, 75, blowing a 14 game lea d on August 11th in 78, then to lose to Bucky F. Dent’s pop fly were bad enough but 1986 tested me to the point where you are today. Then 2003, what needs to be said, however 2004 erased every bad memory. IT WAS WORTH THE AGONY!!!!!!!
The situation might have made it irrational and the timing might have been a huge coincidence, but the movement on that Abreu pitch looked like every intentional HBP I’ve ever seen RHP vs RHB. It starts way inside and has a ton of arm-side run (lateral movement) that basically chases the hitter as he tries to get out of the way. Abreu would have had to miss by a mile for this to be an accident. It doesn’t make much sense to aim a fastball starting inside already when you are planning on it moving aggressively toward the hitter. Pitchers can miss targets but pretty much always control which direction the ball moves.
ETA – “It would make no sense for me to do that” is not a denial and is a weak add-on when paired with an actual denial. People do things that make no sense all the time!
It was definitely not a normal pitch, but the question is whether it was a brushoff pitch gone awry or intentional plunk. The answer is we will never know, but I also believe to say it was out of question is incorrect.
The situation makes more sense than most cases of a 8th inning in a close game. The Astros are the veteran been there done that team being shown up by this brash upstart Rangers. It’s stupid from a common sense perspective or even a winning perspective, but sometimes baseball is just this kind of thing
Also worth considering that Garcia hit a homer off of a Verlander fastball on the inside corner.
So if you’re going to pitch inside again, you’re probably aiming further in than before.
I think it was a brush back pitch that got away.
The Astros have dealt with so much adversity between 7 straight ALCS appearances and being scapegoated by MLB for the electronic sign-stealing era.
They’ve had to master keeping cool on an individual and team level.
Knowing that Yanier Diaz and Altuve are guaranteed to hit with the top of the order to follow if somebody reaches base…
I just don’t see Maldonado and Abreu losing perspective of all that in game 5 of the ALCS, down by only 2
Listen to Verlander talk about what happened on the Garcia HR, re where his pitch was supposed to go versus where it ended up. The Astros’ game plan against Garcia has them pitching him high and inside. Abreu didn’t want to make the same mistake Verlander did, let the pitch get low enough for Garcia to handle. If he were to err, it would be on the high side and unfortunately, his margin of error was larger than he intended.
Abreu misses his spots often. They’ve pitched Garcia up and inside all series. There’s very little logic you can use to suggest it was on purpose
He only hit three batters all year. If the pitch was meant to be inside why wasn’t Maldanado setup inside?
That Abreu ball to Seager was smoked, with backspin. It caromed off Seager’s upper arm. Clearly a hit, to characterize it as a misplayed double play ball is off the mark. Seager is good but he’s not a magician.
No doubt Altuve is a playoff legend. They have hit 26 post season HRs in their career. Altuve has a good chance to hit 30+ post season HRs before their career is over. I wish them well in their career, even though we are not an Astros fan.
Why is everyone plural in this comment? Legitimately asking, it happens so often that it’s clearly intentional, I just think I missed the joke somewhere
We were not making a joke. We aren’t Astros fans but we love Altuve. They are definitely worthy of the Hall of Fame in our opinion.
The Royal We should work on a baseball website. We are not amused… (except we are a little bit).
The woke need no reason for their rules, and any rules they make must be followed, without question.
Do the woke know who Joe McCarthy was?
Ok Q, please go back to Gateway Pundit with your BS.
So does Maldy get plunked his first AB? The Rangers post game comments seem to indicate they believe it was intentional.
Intentionally hitting the worst hitter in the majors in an elimination game should disqualify anyone from ever having decision making power in baseball ever again
They are a bunch of cheating cheaters and they will remain so until the sun swallows the earth.
As much as Houston fans wish we would forget, we won’t. Ever.
This Houston fan hopes you never forget. Something with it is working, no need to change
Yes, you and the other 3% of neanderthals that pretend it wasn’t widespread, the ostrich society, will never forget. Bravo
MLB quickly suspended Abreu so I guess they saw what I saw and the crew saw. Location can miss (even inside) but the chasing arm side run action requires purposeful grip shifting unless you always throw a low slot 2 seamer.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing it how you do. Thing is, you can’t prove it.
He could claim he made those grip and arm slot changes to pitch inside and it got away. No malicious intent, poor execution.
I thought it was dumb to eject both Abreu and Garcia. Think the same about suspending Abreu regardless of how the appeal process goes
Of course, it can’t be proven, but that this was intentional is beyond a reasonable doubt, for sure. Thus, the suspension. Smart move.
***Besides, he is on the Astros. Win at all costs, anything goes, rules don’t matter, to steal a trophy so they can pretend they deserve it.
Just reading your characterization of the Astros is enough to realize that you are too biased against them to have a worthwhile discussion.
That being said, your first sentence is nonsense. The reasonable doubt is that this was game 5 of the ALCS. Damn near the worst time possible for petty beanballs.
And a win at all cost mentality doesn’t square with intentionally beaming Garcia, vastly increasing the Rangers chances of scoring, because of hurt feelings
Looking at the pitch data from Baseball Savant, the fastball that Abreu threw that hit Garcia was the second furthest inside fastball he’s thrown in the regular and postseason to a right handed batter. At about 20.4 inches inside the plate, that’s well inside the right handed batter’s box.
The furthest inside he’s thrown a fastball to a RHB was a fastball he threw on July 5, 2022 at Michael A. Taylor, which was 21.72 inches inside the plate. Why do I say he threw at Taylor? Because on June 5, 2022, Ryan Pressly was ejected from a game where he was throwing at Taylor, didn’t hit him, was warned, and ultimately ejected. The funny thing is that Abreu missed Taylor as well, since Taylor was alert that they might throw at him.
So Abreu either threw at Garcia, or he missed inside with his fastball by the second most in his entire career.