Kyle Freeland and the mysterious sinker

For the first time in five seasons, Kyle Freeland threw more than 40% sinkers in his last start. Check out that orange spike on the far right:

This outing, last Wednesday against St. Louis, was one of Freeland’s shortest of the year (4 2⁄3 IP). He matched a season-high six earned runs allowed, also letting up double-digit hits for just the second time in 2022.

Freeland returns to the mound tonight for his first game since, facing the exact same Cardinals that he did last week. It would be easy to suggest his game plan will be different given his showing from a week ago, but what exactly prompted that sinker spike to begin with?

Freeland’s Best Start of 2022: July 25 @ MIL. 7 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 1…