Call him 'Joey Curves': Cantillo throws MLB season-high 44 benders in stellar start
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HOUSTON -- If you were watching the Guardians on Saturday and felt like Joey Cantillo was throwing a bunch of curveballs, you were onto something.
Heck, you didn’t have to be a Cleveland fan to recognize that Cantillo was throwing that pitch more than is typical. We’ve haven’t seen anything like it across the Majors this season.
“I haven’t seen how many I threw, but it did seem like a good lot,” Cantillo said after the Guardians’ 8-1 win over the Astros at Daikin Park.
Cantillo threw 44 curveballs on Saturday (on 98 total pitches), the most by any big league pitcher in an outing this season. White Sox right-hander Shane Smith and the Astros’ Spencer Arrighetti previously held the high-water mark (41).
It’s easy to see why Cantillo leaned into his curveball so much; it keyed his best start of the 2026 campaign. The lefty threw eight innings (a season high) and allowed just one run on four hits and one walk with nine strikeouts, including seven with his curveball.
“That curveball was something special today,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It was real. It was sharp. It was moving late.”
Cantillo logged a 4.38 ERA through his first 15 starts this season, and he was out of the strike zone at times (4.5 walks per nine innings). Folks with the Guardians have long preached that if he pounds the zone, including with his four-seam fastball, it will be tough for opponents to hit him.
When Cantillo gets ahead of hitters, he can look to put them away with a changeup that is his bread and butter and a curveball that is a weapon in its own right. The latter curveball has 6.9 inches of vertical movement compared to curveballs thrown at a similar velocity and release height.
Among 105 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 curveballs, that’s second most behind only Milwaukee’s Aaron Ashby (+7.6 inches).
“I’d say that's probably one of the best pitches in the game, so it’s pretty easy to call,” Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey said.
Entering Saturday, Cantillo’s curveball was his third most-used pitch (20% usage), behind his four-seamer (40.4%) and changeup (28.2%). Opponents had hit .220 with a .237 slugging percentage against it.
On Saturday, Cantillo threw his curveball 45% of the time. The Astros went 2-for-22 against it.
“We worked on throwing it hard,” Cantillo said. “We're not trying to be fine with anything, but really just letting that pitch rip and really just understanding how useful that pitch is. We did a good job of actually throwing it a lot. I think I threw it with a lot of conviction, and I threw it really hard.”
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Cantillo said his curveball is typically a pitch he just tries to throw for strikes, but noted he also threw it under the strike zone against Houston when he was ahead in the count. Make no mistake, the latter was crucial to his success on Saturday. If you can get ahead in the count early, you have an ability to get hitters to expand the zone against breaking and offspeed pitches.
Cantillo threw 71 strikes on 98 pitches on Saturday. His 72.4% strike rate was the second best of his big league career (minimum 50 pitches thrown), behind Sept. 9, 2025, against the Royals (78.3%).
“That's exactly what we've talked about [with] attacking the zone,” Vogt said. “That was one of the best games we've seen him pitch.”
The only trouble Cantillo faced came in the second inning. Isaac Paredes, Jose Altuve and Yanier Díaz hit consecutive singles as the Astros tied the score at 1-1. None was considered a hard-hit ball; they had exit velocities of 74.5 mph, 77.4 mph and 89.0 mph, respectively.
For Cantillo, it was proof he was doing what he needed to: pounding the zone. He bounced back by getting Cam Smith to fly out, then he struck out Jake Meyers (looking) and Brice Matthews (swinging) with his curveball.
“When a pitcher attacks like that, it helps the offense, helps the defense,” said second baseman Travis Bazzana, who went 4-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs. “You’re just engaged, because you're constantly moving. You're constantly ahead in the count. Walks aren't there.
“That was such a good start, and it allowed us to kind of pull away in the game. If Joey can throw it like that, this team's going to be in a really good position.”