strike zone

The pitch was in the strike zone, meaning that Busch would have still struck out if he had kept the bat on his shoulder.

He attacked the strike zone with a heavy fastball, touching 98 mph on the radar gun.

Though all five hits he gave up were singles — most of them hit softly — the $182-million star struggled to find the strike zone, walking four and putting himself under constant stress.

Yet, at any given moment, he can also lose his rhythm, pepper the ball anywhere but the strike zone, and create chaos for himself and his Dodgers team.

But he did begin throwing “with conviction on every pitch,” he said, learning to have “the belief in yourself” to more consistently pound the strike zone and attack opposing hitters.