Off-speed: The method behind Donovan Hand's mesmerizing Reds debut

CINCINNATI -- Donovan Hand came up with an interesting explanation as to why he had a distinctive debut Wednesday night for the Cincinnati Reds.

On a night when Great American Ball Park was assaulted by a massive army of moths, Hand said, "Sometimes you are the bugs and sometimes you are the windshield."

On Wednesday night, Hand definitely was the windshield and the Detroit Tigers were the bugs. Hand, who was in minor league camp during spring training and never set foot in the major league clubhouse, was lifted from the Triple-A Louisville roster this week, sort of a last man standing due to all the injuries rampaging through the Cincinnati Reds roster.

Asked if he had seen much of Hand during spring training, manager Bryan Price said, "No, not at all, other than to say hello."

So there was the 29-year-old Hand, sitting in the bullpen Wednesday night, sort of the last man standing and he was the 'hand' Price was dealt with.

Due to a mid-game hour-and-14-minute rain delay, the Reds lost starter Johnny Cueto. So it was "Bullpen Day" when play resumed. A couple of the Reds bullpenners were overused and unavailable, an ominous situation when the game droned on into extra innings.

So Price summoned Hand and the result was astonishing. Hand pitched the 10th, 11th and 12th innings, holding the lethal Tigers to no runs and three hits. And the Reds won in the 13th on Todd Frazier's grand slam home run.

The amazing thing was that Hand was retiring the Tigers with pitches clocked at 65, 66 and 67 miles an hour, an assortment that reminded some of former Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. Hand was Arroyo without the straight leg kick and the long blond hair.

"When you pitch for a team for the first time, you want to impress everybody, but at the same time you have to pitch your game and that's what I did last night," he said. "And (catcher) Bryan Pena did a good job mixing pitches up. We talked to each other between innings and got to know each other on the fly (while ducking moths). You want to make that good impression so you get a chance to stay."

It was for sure that the Tigers wondered, "Who is this guy coming out of the bullpen?" They'd never seen him. Hand's only experience was last year with the Milwaukee Brewers and he was 1-and-5.

"Sometimes that's a good thing," said Hand. "I'm a surprise tactic and they don't have much on me and I don't have much on them. So, it is here's my stuff and let's see what happens."

To avoid the intimidation factor of facing guys like Miguel Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes, Hand said he doesn't want to know who is standing in the batter's box.

"To be honest, I try not to look at who he is in the box," he said. "I just look at the mitt and throw the ball to it. If you get a look at who's coming, look at the numbers, look at the names, you can get a little intimidated, especially when you aren't established. I keep my eyes off the scoreboard and my eyes on the mitt."

But it seemed as if the intimidation factor was all on Detroit's side. They were mesmerized by Hand's 12-to-6 curveball bending homeward at 66 miles an hour. To make it tougher, the inning before Hand arrived was pitched by Aroldis Chapman, throwing 100 and 101 miles an hour.

"That's been the biggest pitch for me," he said. "I used to throw harder than I do now. I was 90 to 92, three seasons ago. But during the offseason after 2012, I went to Venezuela and worked on the off-speed. Then I went to the Milwaukee organization and that was the pitch that got me to the big leagues. I kept working on it so that I could use it early in counts, later in counts, any time I wanted it. It's a good pitch to keep hitters off balance, especially when they think a fastball is coming on 2-and-1 and 3-and-1 counts."

When he began his professional career, he was sinker/slider, pitches that split the plate. He needed something that broke down and that's where the curve thrown at snail's pace evolved.

"It is not a wiepout pitch by any means, but by being so slow with good break at the end it has served me well the last couple of years and it has blossomed and I've become comfortable with it.

Hand laughed when it was metioned how perplexed the Tigers had to be after seeing Chapman at 100 and 101, followed by Hand's 66 and 67.

"You go from 101 to 67, that's quite a drop," Hand said with a laugh. "That worked out pretty good for me. That was a good time."

In addition to his mesmerizing curveball to take away the jitters, Hand said the fact he pitched a couple of times in Great American Ball Park for the Brewers last year made him semi-familiar with the surroundings.

"With that Detroit lineup, if it had been my first time pitching in the big leagues it might have been scary," he said. "My first time was in Pittsburgh and I faced Andrew McCutchen. So, yes, then I was a little nervous.

"I don't throw many four-seem fastballs, but I threw him one the first time and I thought he hit it to the moon," said Hand. "He nearly killed the catcher and the umpire swinging. But those guys get paid to hit just as we get paid to pitch."