Just in Time: Matthew Boyd Rounds Back into Form in Final Regular-Season Start

The Cubs' magic number dwindled to 2 Wednesday, as the Brewers beat the Padres in San Diego and Chicago took care of business against the visiting Mets. Arguably, though, there were even more important numbers to be found in the box score, where Matthew Boyd turned in an encouraging start: 5 1/3 innings, two hits, two runs, one walk and three strikeouts. It wasn't the kind of gem to which Cubs fans became accustomed from Boyd early in the year, but it was just the second time in his last seven outings that he pitched well.

Boyd's raw stuff was solid, but not exceptional. He induced 12 whiffs, though he only got those three punchouts, and that roughly matches his recent trends: a limited ability to overpower anyone, and a need to locate well if he hoped to succeed. The difference was that, by and large, he did locate well.

Here's his pitch chart from a recent rough outing, against the Rays on Sept. 6.

The problems there were a lot of sliders left up and a lot of big, arm-side misses with the changeup. When Boyd struggles to execute those pitches, his fastball becomes much more hittable, too. On Wednesday night, he was much better at keeping the ball down, and he filled up the zone with the change.

To get swings and misses in two-strike counts, he'd need to be better at leaving the zone, especially with the changeup. That strike-to-ball change that made him devastating in many starts early in the season still isn't there for him. By being able to throw the change in the zone, though, he forced Mets hitters to swing a bit less aggressively against his fastball, and he worked ahead in the count more often. This version of Boyd won't be the frontman for the team's playoff rotation, but he's perfectly viable as a Game 2 or Game 3 starter. 

Ideally, of course, he'd get back to executing both that changeup and the slider a bit more consistently, and regain the ability to miss bats at a high level. Until late July, he did so. He threw his slider for strikes, letting his sidearm slot on the pitch make hitters balk and freeze. He kept them off the fastball with that slider, then left the zone to get strikeouts with the changeup. Recently, he's had a harder time elevating the heater, but he's especially struggled to land the secondary offerings in the zone. If he can get back just a portion of his command on those pitches in the postseason, he figures to be quite good. That was the case Wednesday night, giving fans renewed hope that it might be true next week, as well.