BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. — In each of the last two years, Brady Bacon had to pull some late-race heroics out of his pocket in the final laps of the Jesse Hockett Classic Eastern Storm opener at Grandview Speedway.

Tuesday night’s race was anything but a nail-biter as the Broken Arrow, Okla., driver led all 40 laps in dominant fashion to collect $10,000 and become the first driver in Eastern Storm history to win three races at a single track.

As opposed to his 2017-’18 Grandview triumphs, Bacon felt he had car to beat right from the get-go, though it very nearly ended as soon as it started with a huge bike in turn two during hot laps that he managed to save, carry on and then thrive, on a night and a third-mile track he seems to have a knack for.

“This is the first year I actually think we had the best car,” Bacon admitted. “The other couple of years, we managed to sneak to the front and find some stuff to get the wins. This time, I feel like we had a really good car all night. We had a game plan going in here, and even though it was rough at the beginning of the night, we wanted to stick to our guns and make sure we got tight enough for the feature.”

Bacon’s victory was also special in personal ways, both for the car owner he won his two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car titles for and for the race’s namesake, who won at Grandview in 2009, and was one of Bacon’s closest fellow competitors on the USAC trail.

“This is the first win since the passing of (car owner) Richard Hoffman and with this being the Jesse Hockett race, I was close friends with him too. That’s pretty special,” Bacon beamed.

To set Bacon’s Grandview backstory, in 2017, Bacon started sixth and worked his way to lead laps 25-35 before being overtaken by C.J. Leary with five laps remaining. Bacon reeled Leary in and on lap 38 in lapped traffic, Bacon shot underneath as Leary got hung up on the outside.

In 2018, Bacon started from the pole, fell back, then charged to the front to lead laps 13-29 before Kevin Thomas Jr. snatched the lead away with 11 laps to go.

Again, when it all looked to be over for Bacon, he found his second wind and tracked down Thomas with three to go to pull off the victory.

None of that transpired Tuesday night. Bacon got the jump on the start, using the topside from his outside front row starting position to power around polesitter Justin Grant to grab the lead exiting turn two. By the fourth lap, Bacon was wheels up and just about ready for takeoff as he crossed the stripe with a one second lead.

As would be the case throughout the duration of the race, the battle was for second on back. Just before the end of the first quarter of the 40-lapper, Tyler Courtney went around the outside of Grant for position in turn four. Grant fought back to reclaim second going into turn three before Courtney got Grant at the line on lap six.

Grant got the runner-up position back from Courtney on lap seven and the pair tussled until the ninth lap when Courtney made contact with Grant’s rear bumper. Courtney swung wide in turn three, laying down the red carpet for series point leader C.J. Leary to duck underneath for third.

Moments later, disaster struck for local favorite and 12th running Timmy Buckwalter, who slid wide off turn four, clipped the right rear against the wall and rode out a wild flip down the front straightaway.
By the halfway mark, Bacon stepped away once again as second through seventh were all under a blanket, but the one surging through it all was ninth-place starter Chris Windom.

The two-time and defending Eastern Storm champ zipped by Kevin Thomas, Jr. for fourth on the bottom. Then, on lap 22, disposed of Leary for third in the same spot on the track.

On lap 24, Windom slid Grant into turn one. Grant countered back underneath off turn two. On lap 25, it was déjà vu with both swapping the lead on each end of the track before Windom prevailed a lap later with the position in turn three. Leary moved to third by Grant one lap later, likewise, on the bottom of three.

All the while, Bacon was grinning as he constructed an unchallenged 3.5-second lead with less than 10 laps left and to four seconds with just five to go. Although, the race for second was not on ice just quite yet. Leary stormed his way back by Windom with just two laps left to nab second at the end, though, still 4.352 seconds behind Bacon at the finish.

Leary finished second ahead of Windom, Courtney and Thomas.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for Wednesday night between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden. The Blues can win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history with a victory. The Bruins can win their seventh Stanley Cup with a victory. This is it, folks. There is no Game 8. Here's a little primer in today's Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily.

It's a Game 7 for the Boston Bruins in Boston. What do the numbers tell us about that?

Historically, this means good things. The Bruins are 6-1 all time with an opportunity to clinch the Stanley Cup. That's the best of any team in NHL history with a minimum of five chances to do so. That also includes Game 7 of their series against the Vancouver Canucks, which was the last Game 7 we've had in a Stanley Cup Final (back in 2011). Home teams are 12-4 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, however the past two home teams to host one have lost -- Vancouver to the Bruins in 2011 and the Detroit Red Wings to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.

It's a Game 7 for the St. Louis Blues in Boston. What do the numbers tell us about that?

The bad news is more centered on Game 6 than Game 7. The Blues are the sixth team in Stanley Cup Final history to lose Game 6 at home after leading 3-2 in the series. Of those six, only the 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs bounced back to win the Stanley Cup. And they were some odd ducks; the Leafs had actually squandered a 3-0 series lead before recovering to hoist the chalice.

Yikes, that's brutal. Any good numbers?

The good news is that if the Blues were going to win the Stanley Cup, it was probably going to be like this. They're 9-3 on the road, and the numbers explain why: They average 3.16 goals per game on the road vs. 2.54 at home, and they give up just 2.41 goals per game on the road vs. 3.07 at home. Ask the Blues and they'll tell you that their style of play lends itself to road success. "I think when you're at home, you're maybe trying to play a little differently at times. On the road, more of a simpler approach, I think, directness, predictability probably has a lot to do with it. We've just been a good road team for a long time. We feel pretty comfortable on the road," said coach Craig Berube.

That said, won't the Bruins be a little more comfortable, given the disparity in experience?

Sure. The Blues are the antithesis of the Bruins' experience advantage, with only Oskar Sundqvist having played on an eventual Stanley Cup championship team (the 2016 Penguins). The Bruins have a core of five players from their 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team and the 2013 team that lost in the Final: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask, who was a backup to Tim Thomas in 2011 and the starter in 2013. The players on both teams have been in championship situations before, but the Bruins certainly are the ones who have tasted from the Cup, and then tasted the bitterness of not winning one.

"It's the best thing in the world for the team that wins, and it sucks for the team that loses. Being on both sides of it, you realize how hard it is, and just how s----y it is to lose. It sticks with you forever," said Marchand. "Winning and losing sticks with you forever. You don't forget everything that happens when you win, and you definitely don't forget what happens when you lose. Again, unfortunately, there's going to be both sides of that tomorrow. See how it plays out."

How good has Rask been in these situations?

In Game 7s, Rask is 3-2 all time, and the numbers aren't pretty: a 3.18 goals-against average and an .877 save percentage. But his numbers in elimination games this postseason are a different story: In wins over Toronto (twice), Columbus, Carolina and St. Louis in Game 6, Rask is 5-0 with a .973 save percentage, including a shutout against the Blue Jackets.

"He's an ultimate professional and obviously has been in the zone the last couple of months here since the playoffs have started. It gives us a lot of confidence playing in front of him," said forward Karson Kuhlman.

What can we expect from his counterpart, rookie Jordan Binnington?

If there's one thing that defines Binnington, other than being known as "the rookie Jordan Binnington," it's his ability to bounce back from losses. Including the regular season, Binnington is 13-2 with a 1.83 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage in games immediately following a loss. In the playoffs, he's 7-2 with a 1.86 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. The Blues are confident that, win or lose, they won't have to worry about their goaltending.

Are the Blues going to have to worry about their special teams?

Oh, very much so. The Bruins' power play (32.9 percent) remains the best the NHL has seen in the playoffs since the 1981 New York Islanders. They're 7-for-21 in this series, and the power play has been a difference-maker in all three of their wins. The Blues, meanwhile, are a pathetic 1-for-18 on the power play, although they peppered Rask with 12 shots in Game 6 in going 0-for-4. Overall, Boston is outscoring the Blues 8-1 on special teams, including an empty-net goal.

What's the solution for St. Louis?

Short of declining the penalties they draw? That they aren't many in Game 7, because even when they have a power play and aren't killing one off, that means they're not rolling lines at 5-on-5 to establish their forecheck, and that's when they're at their best.

Is that feasible in a Game 7?

Potentially. There are have been 61 Game 7s in all rounds since the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, aka after the canceled season and the reset button on rules changes. The average total penalty minutes in those games was 14.4, or 7.2 per team. If the Blues get that in Game 7, it would be near a tie with the penalty totals in Games 1 and 4 in this series, in which the Blues were 1-1. They were 1-2 when the penalties were more than 14 total. Incidentally, the Game 7 average has dropped recently -- since 2015, they've averaged 11.2 penalties per game in total. Let 'em play, ref!

Any lineup changes?

One mystery for the Blues: Robert Thomas. The rookie returned for Game 6 after being out since Game 2, but his line was statistically the worst for the Blues that night; although, it should be said, they got only 6:37 in ice time with all those power plays. Does Berube bring Sammy Blais back up to the Tyler Bozak line with the return of Ivan Barbashev from suspension to play on their fourth line?

The Bruins are expected to go with the same lineup, which means speedy Karson Kuhlman is in and David Backes, the veteran former Blues captain, will watch his current team attempt to win the Stanley Cup against his former team from the press box. Which has to be devastating.

What should Game 7 look like?

As physical as any in the series and likely on the low-scoring side given the acumen of the netminders in the game.

Who are the favorites for the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP?

There's a convincing case that Rask should be the MVP, win or lose for the Bruins, becoming just the fifth player in NHL history to win it in a losing cause. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim was the most recent winner-as-loser, in 2003. If the Bruins win, it's certainly Rask. If the Blues win, a case could be made for Binnington, especially if he plays well for most of Game 7, but the smart money remains on Ryan O'Reilly, unless this award is truly Rask's to lose.

Thanks to ESPN Stats & Information for assistance throughout.

Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku has said he expects a hectic summer, amid interest from Inter Milan.

Sources have told ESPN FC that, while new Nerazzurri boss Antonio Conte is interested in making Lukaku his first signing at San Siro, there has not yet been any contact between the two parties.

- When does the new Premier League season start?
- Who has qualified for Europe from the Premier League?
- When does the transfer window close?

Asked after Belgium's 3-0 Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Scotland, whether he expected a hectic summer, Lukaku replied: "Yes, I think so."

He added: "I have a contract with Manchester United, but I will speak to my agent Federico Pastorello to ensure I make the best decision."

Pushed further on whether a move to Inter appealed to him, Lukaku simply smiled.

Lukaku, 26, joined United from Everton in 2017 and was a regular starter under Jose Mourinho. However, he lost his place to Marcus Rashford when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in.

In April, the Belgium international's agent said they would assess the forward's future in the summer.

Lukaku has scored 42 goals in 96 appearances for United and played in both the 2017 UEFA Super Cup and 2018 FA Cup final, while helped United to a second place finish in his debut season with the club.

Brazilian police have charged Flamengo's former president with manslaughter for a fire that killed 10 teenage players in February.

An investigators' report obtained by The Associated Press shows Eduardo Bandeira de Mello and seven others were charged over the fire at the club's training facility.

- Flamengo: Tragedy in the Vulture's Nest

Mello did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The Rio de Janeiro-based team said it didn't know of the charges.

The report signed by investigator Marcio Petra says Mello and a monitor "could and should have acted to avoid the result, which, by omission, transforms them into the perpetrators" of the fire.

Officials have not given an official cause for the blaze, but said they investigated the possibility an air conditioning unit caught fire after a power surge.

Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's coverage of Australia v Pakistan from Taunton. The Live Report is your pitstop for all the analysis and talking points from our correspondents and writers. If the blog doesn't load straightaway, please refresh the page

Rishabh Pant will fly in this week to join the Indian squad as a cover for Shikhar Dhawan, who suffered a hairline fracture after being hit on the left thumb against Australia on Sunday. Pant was one of the standbys announced by the selectors in April, while announcing the 15-man squad for the World Cup.

The selectors have worked out that KL Rahul can perform Dhawan's role should he fail to recover, which is the rationale behind choosing Pant, a middle-order batsman, as cover. Rahul was originally picked as the third opener in the squad, but sneaked into the XI last minute as No. 4.

Dhawan is also currently India's only specialist left-hand batsman in the squad, and he disrupted Australia's bowling plans during his century earlier this week, negating legspinner Adam Zampa. This purported advantage against legspin in the middle overs is another significant reason the selectors have opted for the left-handed Pant.

He has played five ODIs since his debut against West Indies in October last year and averages 23.25, and he was part of India's squad during their home series against Australia this year. But Dinesh Karthik's experience and wicketkeeping had edged him ahead of Pant when the World Cup squad was named.

"It's definitely a case where we have debated at length and all of us in unison felt that either Rishabh Pant or DK [Karthik] will only come into the playing XI if Mahi [Dhoni] is injured," selector MSK Prasad had said of the decision. "If it is a crucial match, like a quarter-final or a semi-final or like an important game, wicketkeeping also matters. So that's the only reason that we went ahead with Karthik. Otherwise Pant was almost there."

On Tuesday, India had opted to retain Dhawan and monitor his recovery rather than name an official replacement for him. He has already been ruled out of the two matches India are scheduled to play later this week: against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday, and against Pakistan at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Dhawan had travelled to Leeds to consult specialists, where the fracture was ascertained. ESPNcricinfo understands the selectors have got a positive signal from the medical team that Dhawan is likely to be fit to play in the latter half of the tournament, closer to the June 30 match against hosts England.

It is believed that in addition to this week's games, Dhawan will also sit out the Afghanistan match, which will be played in Southampton on June 22 as well as the game against West Indies in Manchester on June 27. He is likely to rest a few days after recovery before he starts batting. It is understood that the selectors don't mind giving Dhawan extra time to recover and ideally want him fit for the England match, which has been built up as probably the biggest contest of the tournament.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, finally starting to get hot after spending most of the prior season sidelined by injury, pulled up lame while attempting to score during Tuesday's ninth inning, suffering what the team fears will be a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring.

Seager won't know for sure until he undergoes an MRI on Wednesday, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said "early indications" were that Seager suffered a Grade "2-plus" strain, which typically comes with a recovery time in the neighborhood of six weeks.

"I feel bad," Roberts said after his team's 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. "We all feel bad for Corey."

Seager singled and advanced on a wild pitch to begin the top of the ninth and probably would've scored easily on Alex Verdugo's ensuing base hit up the middle, but he grabbed at his left hamstring before reaching third base and walked gingerly off the field shortly thereafter.

Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez are likely to fill the void at shortstop.

"Just one bad step, I guess," Seager said moments before walking out of the visitors' clubhouse at Angel Stadium.

"Obviously very unfortunate, the way he's been playing and what he means to our ballclub," said Roberts, whose team failed to score despite putting runners on the corners with nobody out in the final inning. "As far as timetable, I think that we'll know more tomorrow."

An All-Star in each of his first two full seasons in 2016 and 2017, Seager, 25, underwent Tommy John surgery 26 games into 2018, then had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his hip in August.

He made it back by Opening Day this year, but carried only a .231/.320/.367 slash line by May 22. In June, though, Seager was batting .389/.421/.667 heading into Tuesday's game, then reached base four times.

"He was swinging the bat well," Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. "That's probably part of it -- he was swinging the bat so well he was on the bases three, four times a game. Doubles, first-to-thirds. When you have that kind of volume, and you get hot weather like this, it's almost a recipe for something to come up. Unfortunately it hit him."

It's usually a big moment in the game if Andrew Miller is pitching, and April 21, 2018, was no exception. Miller was protecting a one-run Indians lead in the eighth inning, with two runners on and two men out. He had two strikes on the Orioles' Adam Jones, and tried to put him away with a fastball. "Ninety-seven," a broadcaster calmly noted. It was, according to Statcast*, Miller's fastest fastball of the year by quite a bit.

Every pitcher has a fastball. And, of course, every pitcher with a fastball has a fastest ball, the one pitch he threw harder than all the other fastballs. A flamethrower like Aroldis Chapman (average fastball last year: 98.9 mph) has a fastest ball (104.4), and just as surely a finesse pitcher like Kyle Hendricks (86.8, 90.9) does, too. On average, a major league pitcher throws his fastest fastball about 3 mph harder than he throws his average fastball. That pitch from Miller was a little more than 4 mph harder than his fastball average, a half-mile harder than his second-fastest pitch, a mile and a half faster than his third.

There are 575 pitchers who, last year, threw at least 250 pitches. We put each pitcher's fastest pitch into a spreadsheet -- 575 lines, one for each pitcher -- to try to answer some questions: What do we make of these fastest fastballs? When are they thrown, and why, and to whom, and to what effect? We will answer those questions, after giving you the chance to hypothesize with a game of multiple-choice:

1. When in counts are these fastest fastballs thrown?

A) They're thrown when the pitcher is ahead in the count, especially with two strikes. The pitcher is using his fastest fastball as a strikeout pitch, a way to get a swinging third strike while he has the luxury of being a little wild.

B) They're thrown when the pitcher is behind in the count, especially 2-0 and 3-1. He knows the batter is geared up for a fastball, he knows he has to throw a fastball, and so he throws extra hard -- power on power, a true challenge pitch.

C) They're pretty evenly distributed. There's not much intent here, and a pitcher's fastest fastball is really just his fastball, thrown in a moment when he just nails his form.

The answer is:

A, and by a lot. A fastball thrown in a two-strike count is more than five times likelier to be a pitcher's fastest pitch of the season than a fastball thrown in any other count. The most common count is 0-2; the second most is 2-2, then 1-2, then 3-2, and only then come all the other counts. A fastball thrown in an 0-2 count is 30 times more likely to be a pitcher's fastest fastball than a fastball thrown on 3-0, nearly 20 times more likely than a fastball thrown on 2-0, more than four times as likely as a fastball thrown on 0-1.

Bartolo Colon, for example, averaged just 87.4 mph with his fastball last year. But one day in Texas he had Didi Gregorius in an 0-2 count. Colon threw that fastball 93.7 mph, more than 6 mph harder than his usual. It was the biggest average-to-fastest margin by any pitcher in baseball. (Gregorius lined out hard to center field.)

Using this pitch with two strikes makes sense. (But, then, all the hypotheses made sense!) A pitcher's very, very fastest fastball is almost like a specialty pitch: He doesn't want to throw it all the time, for various reasons, but on two strikes it works to give a batter something new, late in a count, when there's a premium on swinging strikes.

2. When in innings are these pitches thrown?

A) They're thrown mostly with men on base. These are the most crucial situations, and a pitcher pulls out his very best stuff to get out of trouble.

B) They're thrown mostly early in innings, often to the first batter of an inning, when the pitcher has some strut coming out of the dugout, before he has been tired out by his time on the mound.

C) They're thrown mostly with two outs, when a pitcher has gotten into a rhythm on the mound and he really wants to put a punctuation mark on an inning.

The answer is:

C. The fastest fastball is more than three times as likely to come on a two-out fastball as a none-out fastball. (One-out fastballs are in the middle.) Put this fact and the one before it together and we get this: A fastball thrown with two outs and two strikes is our most common fastest-fastball scenario.

Chris Sale's fastest fastball is a good example: It came in June, against the Mariners, and it was his final pitch of a seven-inning start. He struck out Mike Zunino swinging with that pitch, then marched off the mound with the lean of an ace who'd just polished off a masterpiece: seven innings, no runs, four hits, and 13 strikeouts, the last one on a 100.5 mph pitch that was nearly 6 mph harder than his average fastball. (Sale had the third-biggest jump from his average fastball to his fastest fastball last year.) His second-hardest fastball of the year would have been an even better example: It came in the same game, also against Zunino. Sale had struck out the first two batters of the inning on six pitches, then jumped ahead Zunino 0-2, and with a chance at his first-ever immaculate inning -- and just the 93rd in major league history -- he missed the zone for a ball. He came back with his 10th pitch of the inning, at 100.4, to get Zunino. Same result: Stomp off the mound, etc. Sale's eight fastest pitches last year all came on two strikes; five came with two outs.

Fastest fastballs aren't thrown any more frequently with runners on base than with bases empty. As long as we're throwing out untested hypotheses -- perhaps because a pitcher is more likely to throw this pitch when he's in a groove? From the windup? When he's less worried about a wild pitch?

3. Whom are these pitches thrown to?

A) Mike Trout, the best hitter in baseball. You just have to bring a little extra against him.

B) Bryce Harper, the most, how would you say, divisive hitter in baseball. He's got a target on him.

C) Chris Davis, the most strikeout-prone batter in baseball. If these fastest fastballs truly come from pitchers hunting Ks, it could just be as simple as Davis being the busiest game in town.

D) Jose Peraza, an option so out of nowhere I couldn't possibly have come up with him unless he is the correct answer. Anyway, a harder fastball might be more likely to be a wilder one, and a straighter one, and you'd rather make a straight-and-centered mistake to Peraza than to Trout.

The answer is:

B -- Bryce Harper, by a lot, relatively speaking. Trout saw two fastest fastballs (by Kendall Graveman and Erik Goeddel). Davis saw one (Tim Hill). Peraza saw one (Chris Volstad).

Harper, meanwhile, saw 11 -- as many as those three guys and the No. 2 player on the whole danged spreadsheet, Manny Machado, combined. Joe Musgrove, Aaron Sanchez, John Gant, Brandon McCarthy, Jimmie Sherfy, Dillon Peters, Alex Wood, Seranthony Dominguez, Andrew Suarez, Arodys Vizcaino and Zac Curtis all throttled up against Harper: Nine times, Harper swung, putting just one in play (for a fly out) and striking out thrice.

There's a bunch of noise here -- these are rare events -- but one's intuition would probably expect that the top of this list would be a bunch of stars, and it does skew toward that. Harper and Machado being at the top is a powerful suggestion that the order of this list means something.

1. Bryce Harper, 11
2. Machado, 7
2. Ronald Acuna Jr., 7
4. Willson Contreras, 6
4. Jesus Aguilar, 6
6. Eight players tied with 5: Paul Goldschmidt, Francisco Lindor, Odubel Herrera, J.D. Martinez, Amed Rosario, Brian Dozier, Justin Upton, Jose Altuve

4. So, what happens?

A) These pitches are wild but effective (at getting swinging strikes and bad contact)

B) These pitches are wild and also ineffective

C) These pitches are not wild but also aren't very effective

D) These pitches are not wild and are effective

E) These pitches are actually just like all the other pitches

The answer will be somewhat open to interpretation, depending on how different something must be before you consider it different enough to mention. But here are the basics:

The average fastball across the majors is a strike 65 percent of the time, gets whiffs on 19 percent of swings, is put in play on 39 percent of swings and, when it is put in play, allows a .338 batting average and .560 slugging percentage.

The average fastest fastball, meanwhile, was a strike 63 percent of the time, got whiffs on 20 percent of swings, was put in play on 32 percent of swings and, when it was put in play, allowed a .422 batting average and .600 slugging percentage.

That's a bit of a mixed bag, complicated by the sample smallness of fastest fastballs, and complicated further by a whole bunch of other factors (like the effect of the count, and the better quality of hitters in the sample, and the fact that on this spreadsheet Jimmie Sherfy threw as many pitches (1) as Max Scherzer). But to my eye the answer is closest to E: They're mostly just like the other pitches. Slightly wilder, more likely to get a whiff, more likely to be fouled off but also more likely to be hit hard -- all of it, though, just slightly, and probably leaning against the pitcher's best interests. If we take that to be the case, then we can understand why these fastest pitches are each pitcher's outliers, rather than what they try to do all the time on every pitch: There isn't a ton of benefit to throwing at the outer bounds of one's ability, except perhaps situationally. And, of course, if they tried to throw this hard every time, they'd presumably get tired more quickly, perhaps get hurt more often. So they don't. These are just their occasional fastest.

To understand a little bit better, we went to the man who started this story: Andrew Miller. He wouldn't have recalled this as his fastest pitch of the year, but it made some sense to him that it would turn up: big situation, two strikes and two outs. It was a two-seamer -- which he feels like he throws a little bit harder, but hardly ever -- because he wanted to show a quality hitter like Jones a little wrinkle. More than all that, though, it made sense to him because, at the time, it felt like "my mechanics were falling in line. I felt like I was figuring it out. And usually I don't throw the two-seamer unless I'm really locked in."

In other words, he had to feel like he was in the right place to really reach back. He rarely throws a pitch as hard as he can. He doesn't feel like he can command it as well, he isn't sure his stuff plays as well, and he worries that really exerting himself will cause him to lose his mechanics. Throwing his very hardest tends to get him in trouble more than anything, he says. But this day he felt like he had it in him. "To me, that's just me feeling really good where I'm at. I sold out for velocity. The thought inside my head was, 'I'm going to throw one by him.' I was ready to take off."

"It obviously didn't work," he says. Jones fouled the pitch away to stay alive. On the next pitch, a slider, Miller got the strikeout.

*Nothing can measure millions of pitch velocities, in 30 different parks, with perfect precision and accuracy. We used Statcast data, and we spot-checked against Brooks Baseball's velocities (and watched many of these pitches) to make sure everything looked about right. But it's probably best to assume a few of these "Fastest" pitches might have actually been a pitcher's second, or third, or fourth fastest. Close enough to have fun with. "Average" fastball velocities, also from Statcast, included four- and two-seamers, but not cutters.

US champion who chronicled her journey as a professional athlete running through cancer has died aged 32

Thousands of tributes have been paid to Gabriele Grunewald after the US champion runner, who inspired so many with her brave fight against cancer, died at the age of just 32.

Grunewald’s strength both on and off the track saw her win a US title and race at two global championships, as well as empowering people through the Brave Like Gabe Foundation – all following her initial cancer diagnosis in 2009 and further three rounds of cancer and treatment.

“Brave Like Gabe” began as a hashtag to support Grunewald as she sought treatment for her third battle with an incurable rare salivary gland cancer in 2017 but it became so much more as she chronicled her journey.

“From the very first day I was told I had cancer in 2009, I knew running would be a big part of my journey back to health,” she wrote on the foundation’s website. “It has truly been my refuge; when everything else seems to be going wrong and the outcomes are far beyond my control, I can find perspective and hope on the run.

“Being brave, for me, means not giving up on the things that make me feel alive.”

On Tuesday, Grunewald’s husband Justin, a fellow runner and doctor, wrote on Instagram that his wife died “peacefully with no suffering”.

“At 7:52 I said “I can’t wait until I get to see you again” to my hero, my best friend, my inspiration, my wife,” he wrote. “I always felt like the Robin to your Batman and I know I will never be able to fill this gaping hole in my heart or fill the shoes you have left behind. Your family loves you dearly, as do your friends.”

On June 9, he had posted an update that Grunewald had been moved to comfort care, which prompted thousands of messages of support from around the world.

“Gabriele heard your messages and was so deeply moved,” Justin wrote. “She wants you to stay brave and keep all the hope in the world. Thanks for helping keep her brave in her time of need.”

Among those to pay tribute was world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe, who wrote on Twitter: “The bravery, heart and smile of @gg_runs will always shine brightly and inspire so many. Thinking of you and of @JustinGrunewald and all those whose lives were enriched by your courage and love.”

USA Track & Field wrote: “@gg_runs embodied true determination, dedication and commitment in every facet of her life. She will be remembered as one of the bravest athletes we knew. Her legacy lives on as she inspired a world of people.”

USA’s 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medallist Deena Kastor said: “Courage. Grace. Bravery. It lives on when good people teach us these winning virtues.

“The running community lost a hero in Gabe due to a rare cancer, yet her gifts live on.”

Grunewald was initially diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma after the discovery of a small tumour on her parotid gland in 2009. She ran a 1500m PB just the following day. Despite treatment, she continued to train and compete.

In a routine follow-up in 2010, doctors discovered papillary thyroid cancer and Grunewald underwent further treatment but still returned to the track. She finished fourth in the 1500m at the 2012 US Olympic trials, missing out on a place in the London Games team by one spot. A further 1500m PB followed and she won her first national title with US 3000m gold in 2014 which qualified her for the World Indoor Championships in Sopot.

In 2016 it was discovered that she needed further treatment which led to the removal of around half of her liver. After the surgery she was believed to be cancer-free but a follow-up scan in March 2017 showed small tumours. Grunewald’s last competition was the US Championships in Sacramento in June 2017.

More about her life and fight can be read in a touching account by Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden here.

In 2017, Grunewald’s sponsor Brooks Running shared a powerful short film documenting her journey towards qualifying for the US Championships while looking for the best course of treatment to combat her rare form of cancer.