Detroit Tigers’ starting pitcher Matt Boyd had arguably his best start of the 2018 season as he went 6+ innings while recording six strikeouts and allowing three earned runs. Boyd was able to keep the Mariners’ offense off-balance through the first five innings thanks to his nasty slider.

Seager wasn’t the only one who was consistently fooled by Boyd’s slider tonight as the M’s struggled to read the pitch. And when they did make contact it was consistently soft contact on the ground that his defense was able to eat up.

Throughout this season, Boyd’s slider has been his most valuable pitch in 2018 and as a result he’s using it almost as much as his fastball this season. As a result, the 27-year old is pitching 3.21/3.63/5.04 while stranding nearly 75% of baserunners in 42 innings pitch.

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