Salvador Perez will chase a slider like it owes him money, but in the second inning of Saturday night’s game, Red Sox starter Rick Porcello threw Perez nothing but fastballs. The first one was a ball and Perez fouled the second one off. Then Porcello threw Perez two more fastballs and neither one hit the zone. The count was 3-1—a fastball count—and sure enough Salvador got a fifth straight fastball.
After seeing four fastballs Perez had a pretty good idea of what the fifth one would look like and to make matters worse for the Red Sox, Porcello missed his spot—the pitch was supposed to be down and away but drifted back over the heart of the plate.