Three Blue Jays under the age of 25 led Toronto to a 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre Friday. One stole the show with his extra-base power and defence while the others held Baltimore’s potent offence to just two runs.
“The young guys were on display tonight pretty good,” manager John Gibbons said. “A fun, exciting night.”
Dalton Pompey tripled twice, doubled and made a fantastic diving catch in foul territory, earning appreciative chants from the crowd of 27,037. It’d be a remarkable performance for any big leaguer, and it’s particularly impressive considering that the 21-year-old started the season with Class A Dunedin.
Pompey has had designs on playing for the Blue Jays for years, but this kind of season would have seemed too good to be true if someone had outlined it to Pompey six months ago.
“I would have thought they were lying, to be honest,” Pompey said. “It’s been a dream come true for me. I’m playing well of late.”
Pompey had already tasted big-league success, flashing impressive defence, showing off his speed and hitting a home run against Felix Hernandez. Friday, he put it all together for the first three-hit game of his career against another former all-star, Chris Tillman.
“Now he’s facing the best in the game,” Gibbons said. “It’s not like he’s running into the average Joe who’s coming to make a spot start. Tillman, Hernandez. He’s facing some of the top in baseball and he’s handling himself well.”
Pompey’s still slated to play in the Arizona Fall League and there’s ample reason to believe he’ll open the 2015 season in triple-A Buffalo, but his big league cameo has included tantalizing hints that he could be an impact big leaguer sooner rather than later. For a team in need of outfield options, that’s big.
The price for making the sliding catch and scoring two runs? Some rugburn and a Todd Stottlemyre-like raspberry on his chin. Pompey says it’s worth it (though when Stottlemyre’s name came up after the game, Pompey wasn’t quite sure who the former Blue Jays right-hander was “I never saw that,” he said. “I feel embarrassed because I don’t know that”).
The Blue Jays clinched a winning record with the victory, which gives them an 82-78 record with two games remaining. But, Toronto now owns the longest playoff drought in baseball after the Kansas City Royals clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 1985.
Drew Hutchison pitched well in his 32nd and final start of the season. The 24-year-old allowed two earned runs in five innings while striking out eight to put the finishing touches on a season that exceeded expectations.
When the year began he wanted to make his starts and log innings, something the entire Blue Jays rotation has done in 2014.
“You’ve seen the way we’ve thrown the ball, and really the responsibility is about giving innings and keeping your team in the game,” Hutchison said. “I think collectively, as a group, we’ve done a real good job of that.”
On the season, Hutchison completed 184.2 innings while striking out just about one batter per inning (184) and limiting the opposition to 60 walks and 173 hits. He posted a season ERA of 4.48 and had generated 2.4 wins above replacement entering play Friday. In other words, he made a full recovery from ligament replacement elbow surgery and emerged as a dependable mid-rotation option for the Blue Jays.
“Coming off Tommy John, a young kid, just turned 24, he’s got to be proud of himself,” Gibbons said. “We’re excited. He’s a great competitor and we think the best has yet to come.”
Hutchison’s season started off well, yet he struggled midway through the year before finding what Gibbons has described as a second wind and finishing the season strong. He views the season as a good starting point and is now able to look forward to his first normal off-season since before he got injured.
While Hutchison’s five-inning outing was relatively short, the Blue Jays had no reason to over-exert a pitcher whose career high in innings entering the season was 58.2.
Instead, 23-year-old Marcus Stroman took over for Hutchison with his first relief appearance since May 14. Stroman picked up where Hutchison left off, holding the Orioles scoreless for four innings to earn his first big league save. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 3.65 with what should be the final appearance of a stellar rookie campaign.
For much of the summer it looked as the series between the Blue Jays and Orioles would impact the pennant race, but Baltimore has long since clinched, so the Blue Jays are left to focus on the future while the likes of Baltimore and Kansas City look ahead to October.
Still, thanks to Pompey, Hutchison and Stroman, the glimpse ahead that the Blue Jays got Friday sure was promising.