ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The thing that strikes you about watching Drew Hutchison pitch is the poise, the presence on the mound. You get the sense that he’s in total control of things, and how often in recent years can you say that about a Toronto Blue Jays starter?
That’s why as dismal as things looked in an opening day loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the total opposite was true in Tuesday’s impressive 4-2 victory before a sparse gathering of 11,113 at Tropicana Field. Behind 5.1 innings of shutout ball from the 23-year-old right-hander – with props to Aaron Loup for keeping things clean in the sixth – the Blue Jays delivered exactly the kind of bounce back they needed after Monday’s mess.
With Jonathan Diaz in at short for Jose Reyes, optimistic about a return from the DL when eligible for activation on April 16 after an MRI showed only mild inflammation on his left hamstring, Adam Lind gave his team a dream start with a three-run blast in the first. Hutchison and the bullpen ran with it from there, making sure to give the Rays no air to breathe.
“In control, not fazed by the situation,” is how Lind described Hutchison. “He looks like a vet out there, throws strikes. It’s what we need.”
This outing was nice early return for GM Alex Anthopoulos, who essentially bet really, really big on Hutchison, home opener starter Dustin McGowan and prospects like Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez by not adding a starting pitcher over the winter.
Despite having only 11 big-league starts under his belt, the last one on June 15, 2012 lasting only 12 pitches before he blew out his elbow, Hutchison again looked mature beyond his years, just as he had before.
“When the heat’s on (pitchers like Hutchison) are able to slow things down. Some guys, things start speeding up on them, they don’t think as clear,” manager John Gibbons said before the game. “What he’s able to do, since he’s a command guy along with a good arm, under the gun he makes pitches. …
“Emotion is a big part of the business and how you control it when you’re on the mound, at the plate, anywhere, the guys who are able to relax and slow things down are the guys that are successful. Sometimes it takes a while to get that.”
Though he struggled early with his fastball command, there wasn’t much stress for Hutchison, sitting 91-92 with his fastball and topping out at 94, to work through. Back-to-back walks with one out in the second presented a challenge, but he induced a weak comebacker from Logan Forsythe on a slider, calmly waited for Ryan Goins to reach the bag at second and started a 1-4-3 double play to escape the inning.
“Early on I wasn’t sharp at all, I kind of grinded through that one,” said Hutchison, pitching before friends and family from nearby Lakeland. “I just got a rhythm and I got there. … It was a good night.”
After working around a one-out Desmond Jennings double in the fifth, Hutchison allowed the first two batters to reach in the sixth, retired Wil Myers on a fly ball to right, and then handed off to Loup, who got Ben Zobrist on a 5-3 and the right-handed Evan Longoria (with the left-handed James Loney on deck) on a soft liner to first to end the threat.
The Blue Jays certainly would have loved six frames from Hutchison, but for now 5.1 innings of shutout ball (three hits, three walks, four strikeouts) is certainly a good starting point.
“When he gets rolling he’ll go deeper than that,” Gibbons said. “But I thought that was plenty for his first game.”
Not to be lost from this night is the consistent quality of at-bat delivered up the lineup, including from Diaz, who was brought up for his defence with any offensive contributions considered gravy. He worked Alex Cobb for a walk in the first and then collected his first career hit, an RBI single, in the fourth.
A couple of stumbles in the field didn’t lead to any trouble, and couldn’t sully a memorable night.
“Pretty amazing, especially with the team that drafted me, the team that I spent so many years with,” Diaz said. “It was definitely a good feeling, and that we got the W was even better.”
The Blue Jays can use that type of tenacity and his defence to hold the fort until Reyes is ready, and even with a nervous ninth as closer Sergio Santos allowed the tying run to reach second, this was a glimpse of what this team could be. But for it to happen with any kind of regularity, they’ll need plenty more efforts as good or better than the one Hutchison gave them.