Joe Ross has averaged 93.1 MPH with his sinker this season, but in Sunday’s series finale with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Washington Nationals’ starter was sitting at 95.2, and up to 97.2 (harder than any sinker Ross has thrown since back in 2015 according to Fangraphs), as he struck out six of the first 11 batters he faced over three scoreless on the 4th of July in the nation’s capital.
Given a 1-0 lead to work with after three, Ross came back out and gave up a leadoff homer on a 95 MPH 1-1 sinker that tailed away, across the plate from where catcher Tres Barrera’s target was set up, and Matt Beaty crushed it, hitting a 401 foot homer into the seats out in left-center field.