Camilo Doval lost control of his fastball at the worst possible time

San Francisco Giants flamethrower Camilo Doval lost control of his fastball against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5.

Gabe Kapler called upon Doval to retire the side in the eighth inning, and keep the game tied at one run apiece. Unfortunately for the Giants, that was not the case, as Doval never had complete control of his fastball.

Doval threw nothing but sliders to Cody Bellinger, despite the fact that he owns a fastball that can hit triple-digits. This is after he put a runner on courtesy of that fastball, and then Gavin Lux joined said runner on with a single off Doval’s main pitch.

Doval clearly lost confidence in that pitch, which is why he went with four straight sliders to the struggling Bellinger.

San Francisco Giants: Doval goes with wrong strategy against Cody Bellinger

Bellinger has struggled to catch up to high-velocity pitches all season, making it all the more odd that Doval went with four pitches less than 90 MPH to attempt to get him out.

A visit to the mound didn’t do Doval much good, as he still didn’t have much confidence in said fastball. The slider isn’t much good when it’s not used as an off-speed pitch to throw off the hitter. Instead, that slider turns into a batting practice fastball.

Kapler very well could’ve pulled Doval in favor of Alex Wood, who was warming up in the bullpen. Instead, he stuck with Doval, which turned into a huge mistake once Bellinger made up for a season’s worth of poor play in one at-bat.

Giants fans will have plenty to talk about in the days to come, especially after the first-base umpire robbed Wilmer Flores of at least one more pitch from Max Scherzer. Flores very clearly did not go on the final pitch of the game from Scherzer, ending the Giants’ incredible season short of final expectations.