There’s an episode of Cheers where Norm has an interview for his dream job as a beer sampler at a local brewery. At the bar before the interview, Rebecca Howe tells Norm a story of her blowing an interview so badly she ended up singing knick-knack-paddy-whack-give-a-dog-a-bone. Rebecca’s story gets stuck in Norm’s head. When Norm met the president of the beer company well, the results were predictable, if humorous.
The moral: overthinking and the power of suggestion about disaster can cause serial repetition of that disaster.
I believe that phenomenon, although less funny in this context, is the best explanation of Reds pitchers continuing to groove offerings to Eric Thames.