Jared Walsh was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle versus the Royals.
Walsh wasted no time doing his damage in the fourth inning, he didn’t react to a Jonathan Heasley curveball that was off the plate at head level. In a 1-0 count after taking that curveball he blasted a 93 MPH fastball that Heasley left belt level, 383 feet for a homer.
In the 6th inning, Walsh was the first hitter that reliever Jose Cuas faced. Walsh watched the first four pitches that Cuas threw. A slider down for a ball, a sinker for a strike on the outside part of the plate, a sinker down for a ball, and then a slider in the other batters box. In a 3-1 count Walsh got a center cut sinker that he hit 112.1 MPH down the right field line for a double.
Walsh faced reliever Gabe Speier in the 7th inning, he took a slider off the plate for a ball. Then in a 1-0 count, Walsh turned on an inside fastball hitting it 105.4 MPH for a game tying triple.
Jared Walsh mashes fastballs, he is hitting .318 with a .591 SLG and a 2.0 RV/100 against fastballs. Walsh is up there to hit, he swings at 49% of the pitches he sees, is in the bottom 8% of the league in walk rate, and bottom 9% of the league in strikeout rate. While Walsh needs to become more patient if he wishes to turn into a more complete hitter, if he gets a fastball in the zone, he will mash it.