In a high-stakes game against a fellow first-place team, this was the exact kind of performance the Phillies envisioned when they acquired Durán.

It was 30 minutes after Duran left the mound, and the Phillies readied to head home. Taijuan Walker sat at his locker and whistled Duran’s warmup song. Duran overheard him and smiled. A few minutes later, Alec Bohm whistled it as he left the clubhouse.

Duran discovered the signature pitch by accident during a bullpen session in 2018. This season, he’s thrown the pitch nearly 40% of the time and is holding opponents to a .221 average.