TORONTO — One by one the Toronto Blue Jays’ starting pitchers seem to be turning things around.
Mark Buehrle and Aaron Sanchez have rebounded from worrisome starts to pitch well in recent weeks, and Drew Hutchison’s Saturday outing shows he’s making steady progress, too. The 24-year-old right-hander pitched the Blue Jays to a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros in the latest encouraging development for a Toronto team that lacked reliable starting pitching early in the season.
“I think it’s just guys going out there and doing what they’re capable of doing,” Hutchison said. “I think we’ve been doing a good job as a group of starters lately and we need to continue to do that.”
Although the Blue Jays won for the fourth time in a row, Edwin Encarnacion had to be removed from the game in the eighth inning due to left shoulder soreness. Encarnacion said he had been experiencing the soreness for approximately two weeks before aggravating the area in his first at bat of the game.
“Today it was getting worse with the swing I took in the first inning,” Encarnacion said.
He had a cortisone shot Saturday afternoon and expects to rest Sunday before seeing if he can play early next week. “We’ll just monitor that,” manager John Gibbons said after the game.
Meanwhile, Hutchison pitched 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on six hits while walking one and striking out five, lowering his ERA to 4.91 in the process.
“He’s figuring out who he is, really, right now,” Gibbons said. “He just competes. That’s what he does. He’s got that knack for getting that big strikeout when he needs it or getting that big out because he can reach back a little bit more. Some guys can, and he can do that.”
Hutchison’s season started poorly. He posted a 6.67 ERA with 7.0 strikeouts per nine in April then pitched better in May with a 4.21 ERA and 8.2 strikeouts per nine. The Blue Jays hope Saturday’s outing is a sign that more progress is on the way.
“His number one trait — he’s got a good arm, no question about that — but he’s a great competitor,” Gibbons continued. “He doesn’t like coming out of games and he’s very accountable. He’s just going to get better and better. We expect a lot out of him now, but he’s really just scratching the surface … I think a couple years from now he’s going to be pretty damn good.”
Combined with another solid offensive showing, Hutchison’s effort allowed the Blue Jays to put together their first four-game win streak of the season in front of 31,809 at Rogers Centre. Toronto’s still just 27-30, but Saturday’s win assures the team of consecutive series wins against first place teams. The Blue Jays took two of three from the Washington Nationals before returning to Toronto for a six-game homestand.
“We’re finally seeing a healthy lineup,” outfielder Kevin Pillar said. “Having (Jose) Bautista back in the outfield’s a big help, too. It allows Eddie to get off of his feet, allows (Justin) Smoak to get in the lineup. I can’t say enough. We keep rotating guys in whether it’s at first base or in the outfield and they keep stepping up.”
One such player, Chris Colabello, doubled and scored in the fifth inning, extending his hit streak to 16, the longest active streak in baseball. By the time Colabello doubled, the Blue Jays already had the lead thanks to a bat-around second inning in which they scored three times. Jose Reyes, who drove in one of those runs, had two hits, a walk and three stolen bases by the time the game ended.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Gibbons said. “We can score a lot of runs in a big league game. I can’t remember a team I’ve been with — and maybe I’m wrong — that scores that many that often.”
With Hutchison making progress and Buehrle and Sanchez now pitching so well, the Blue Jays’ starting rotation — a weakness for much of the first two months — continues rounding into form. If R.A. Dickey can continue the trend by shutting Houston down Sunday, the Blue Jays’ hopes of contending will start to seem that much more realistic.