DENVER — Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Devin Williams makes no bones about it when asked about pitching in Denver at Coors Field at a mile high.
“I don’t really like it (at Coors Field), to be honest with you,” Williams said after the Milwaukee Brewers earned a 6-4 Labor Day decision over the Colorado Rockies. “The more I spin the ball, the less it moves here, which is completely different than anywhere else.”
While Williams may not necessarily love pitching in Denver, he has had success when he has taken the mound at Coors Field. In four career road games against the Rockies (including Monday, when he earned a four-out save), Williams has allowed just one hit and one unearned run in 3.1 innings of work, striking out four and walking one.
Devin Williams got a great tip from catcher Victor Caratini in a Milwaukee Brewers win on Monday
While Caratini was the offensive hero for the Brewers on Monday with a three-run homer that proved to be the difference in the game, Caratini also shared a nugget of knowledge with Williams when he entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning.
“I had to kind of ease up. I don’t know what it is. A lower spin rate is more effective here — it’ll move more,” offered Williams, who needed 21 pitches to record the four outs.
“That’s what (Caratini) came out and said — just ease up and let it do its thing.”
You can hear Williams talk about the difference of pitching at altitude in the clip below.
Interesting stuff here from Devin Williams, who had a very tough time spinning his changeup in the altitude at Coors Field: pic.twitter.com/la0KZsX73p
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) September 6, 2022
Williams enticed Rockies catcher Elias Diaz to ground out to third to end the eighth-inning threat, then got a strikeout and a double play (after a leadoff walk) to record his first four-out save since the 2020 season. Williams got Diaz to end the eighth on a changeup, one of 14 he threw on Monday versus seven fastballs. That’s a little higher usage for the changeup than what he has shown this season (56.3 percent of his pitches have been changeups before Monday’s action).
“That (four-out save) is not going to be every time. But certainly today, with the way the game went and where we were at and where we are at, we had to try it,” said Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell, who earned his 600th managerial win on Monday.
Whatever Williams figured out with his pitches at altitude worked and helped the Brewers pull even closer in the National League Wild Card race (two games behind Philadelphia and San Diego entering Tuesday). The 27-year-old right-hander may not like it in Denver, but he’s shown he can be effective there, including when the Brewers need him the most.