Mike Clevinger may not be the quickest of workers on the mound, but the Padres’ right-hander wasted little time making quips in his postgame interview Wednesday night.
After blanking the Diamondbacks with six innings of one-hit ball, Clevinger took a shot at Arizona’s color commentator, Bob Brenly.
“I overheard a little talking upstairs with Bob saying that he might have a flight delayed because of my pitching,” Clevinger told BallySports with a smile. “So I said, ‘You know what, let’s see if I can go fast and attack.’ And it seemed to go really, really well, so thanks Bob.”
Clevinger is the 275th-fastest worker out of 401 qualified pitchers with the bases empty, in terms of tempo, that places him in the 31st percentile, per Baseball Savant. He takes 19.7 seconds between pitches, nearly a full two seconds longer than Madison Bumgarner, who opposed Clevinger on the bump for the Diamondbacks.
Clevinger drew the ire of Brenly for his slow pace on the mound. Getty ImagesAnd Clevinger’s critique of Brenly didn’t stop there.
“It’s hard to sit here and hear guys in the booth, they get to talk all they want and not know who the guys in the clubhouse are,” said Clevinger, who noted that Brenly’s comments served as motivation. “You hear this back-and-forth that’s been going on for years, especially here, and I just want Bob to know, he has an open invite to come down to our clubhouse and find out who the people really are instead of just running his mouth up there.”
Later on in the clubhouse, Clevinger re-upped that sentiment.
“He spent half my outing talking about me getting punishments at the Citadel,” Clevinger said, referring to his early college days. “… So I would like Bob Brenly to come down here and talk to me face-to-face and find out about who I am as a person and why I even got into the Citadel in the first place. I’m just sick of hearing him get this pass because he’s in the booth.”
Brenly (right) has perturbed San Diego in the past with his commentary. Getty ImagesBrenly has a checkered history of controversial comments, including ones that have previously irked the Padres. In 2019, Brenly criticized star shortstop Fernando Tatis for wearing gold chains; In 2020, Brenly openly advocated for Arizona pitchers to begin throwing at San Diego hitters, merely because the D-Backs had allowed six home runs in the game.
