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On Saturday night in Atlanta, Hctor Neris blew his third save of the season. He allowed back-to-back RBI hits on two poorly placed splitters, and the Atlanta Braves went on Odell Beckham Jr. Jersey to beat the Houston Astros 5-4.It was a shame to see Neris blow the game with his splitter, because he had been looking so good with the pitch lately. While he began the season throwing fewer splitters than normal, his confidence in the pitch had been on the rise.Over the years, Neris has been on quite the journey with his split-finger fastball. The pitch has been with him throughout his entire career. Neris and the splitter have a special relationship, and they have been through a lot together.Let me explain.Those who knew Hctor Neris during his Phillies career know him for his splitter. Since his debut in 2014, no pitcher has thrown more split-finger fastballs than Neris.From the end of 2015 to the start of 2020, he threw the splitter at least once in 285 consecutive appearances.During his six full seasons in Philadelphia (from 2016 to 2021), Neris threw his splitter more than half the time. He used the pitch so much that ran a story titled As of the day that story ran, Neris was throwing his split-finger fastball 72% of the time. The author, Matt Gelb, explained how the Phillies were asking Neris to throw "more and more and more" splitters. Yet since that day, Neris has actually been using the pitch le s and le s.From the day Gelb's story ran until the end of the 2019 season, Neris used his splitter about 62% of the time. Over the next few seasons, his usage of the pitch continued to decrease.2020: 48.1% splitters2021: 40.6% splitters2022: 29.8% splittersIn particular, he was using the splitter le s frequently against right-handed hitters.2020 vs. L: 52.4%splitters2021 vs. L: 49.8% splitters2022 vs. L: 44% splitters2020 vs. R: 42.4%splitters2021 vs. R: 30.7% splitters2022 vs. R: 15.7% splittersThe thing is, it's not immediately clear Neris would use fewer splitters against righties. Throughout the years, the pitch has been a deadly weapon against them.Last season, Neris threw Matthew Orzech Jersey 184 splitters to right-handed hitters. Those opposing batters managed just two hits against the pitch.When he threw his split-finger to a righty with two strikes, it resulted in a punch out more than 30% of the time. That's really good. When righties swung at his splitter, they mi sed more often than they made any contact at all. That's also good.Neris is continuing to succeed with his signature pitch in 2022, even though he is using it le s often than ever. Hehas deployed 60 splitters versus right-handed opponents so far. Those hitters have swung 30 times but have only managed to put the pitch in play on five occasions. He has thrown the splitter to 17 different right-handed Kenny Young Jersey batters and struck 11 of them out.Scroll to continueThe 33-year-old Neris is having another strong season. He is on pace for 66 IP with a 3.42 ERA. Whatever he is doing is working, and there is no reason to me s with succe s. Even so, one can't help but wonder why Neris is using fewer and fewer splitters.It is the pitch that made his career, and it is still an excellent offering. Why would the most splitter-heavy pitcher in the league who is really good at throwing splitters all of a sudden throwing splitters?Well, maybe he's not.I know, I know. It sounds confusing. But hear me out.Since the start of August, the splitter has made a resurgence. Neris is throwing it 53.1% of the time(per Baseball Savant). That's more than twice as often as he was using it from April to July.Against right-handed hitters, he has used the pitch 36.7% of the time. From April to July, that number was just 12.7%.Neris has only made eight appearances so far this month, so it is quite a small sample size. Even so, it is hard to ignore the sudden change that has taken place. He has thrown at least 45% splitters in six of those eight games.Throughout the first four months of the season, he threw at least 45% splitters just twice.The reliever and his splitter spent some time apart earlier this season, but they appear to have reconciled. It is hard to say why Neris reduced his splitter usage so dramatically at the start of the season, but what really matters is that he and the splitterare back together and looking. stronger than ever.In his eight August appearances, Neris has faced 30 batters and struck out ten. He has a 2.25 ERA and 1.74 FIP.Right-handers have managed Matt Gay Jersey just two hits against him, good for a .143 batting average.He has thrown the splitter to them 18 times, and they have yet to hit it into the field of play.Again, these numbers are coming from a very small sample size, but it certainly seemed like Neris had returned to his old ways and was all the better for having done so.And then he went and blew a save with a couple bad splitters.Does this spell trouble for Neris and his splitter? No. It doesn't have to.First things first, both RBI hits were by left-handers.More importantly, though, every pitcher has bad days. Every reliever gets hit around on even their best pitches from time to time. It would be foolish to let this one bad outing from Neris influence an analysis of his splitter.Yet it would also be irresponsible not to mention it at all. Neris was just getting comfortable with his splitter again, Greg Gaines Jersey and now his newfound split-finger confidence has been shaken.Going forward, it will be very interesting to see what Neris does with his favorite pitch. Will he stick with what's familiar and continue throwing more splitters? Or will he continue to experiment, working with the Astros staff to find the best pitch mix?Only time will tell. But when it comes to Neris and his splitter, at least you know it's going to be a fascinating journey.More From SI's Inside The Astros: