TORONTO — In Buffalo last week, when Nate Pearson was in the midst of his third ever major-league start, he found himself falling into what he describes as a bad habit.
From the first pitch of the evening on, catcher Danny Jansen would set up his target to call for a pitch. Pearson, of course, would try to hit the glove. But looking back, maybe he tried a little too hard.
“Me, being a young player in the league, I think, ‘Alright, I’ve got to paint this first pitch fastball,’” Pearson recalled.
He walked four against the Marlins that day and didn’t escape the third inning. He was trying for pinpoint accuracy, and while the drive to succeed in all aspects of the game is certainly admirable, pitchers who throw 99 m.p.h. can afford to challenge the opposition. In a way, Pearson was giving big-league hitters a little too much credit.
With that in mind, his game-plan for the Baltimore Orioles was simple: attack early then force hitters to expand the zone late.
“I’ve been forcing myself to make these pinpoint pitches from the first pitch and then I get behind in the count,” he said the day before his fourth big-league outing. “It’s all about getting ahead for me right now and filling up the zone.”
It was the right game plan, only Pearson still didn’t execute it. Still, the Blue Jays managed an 8-7 win over the Orioles in 10 innings thanks to another big game from Randal Grichuk, a three-run homer from Travis Shaw and some effective bullpen work. It was by no means pretty, but with the win the Blue Jays are 9-11 on the season.
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From the first batter of the game, Pearson’s command wasn’t quite there. He walked Chance Sisco and fell behind in the count to the next hitter, Anthony Santander, who then homered. Two outs later, Pearson diverged from the stated game plan once again, walking Pedro Severino on four pitches. By then, he had fallen behind on four of the five hitters he’d faced.
As the game progressed, Pearson recovered. He started attacking the zone with first-pitch strikes again, and even if his fastball command was never fully there, he was still touching 99 m.p.h. while mixing in his slider – and even some more curveballs than usual.
For three innings it worked, and despite a second home run from Santander, Pearson seemed to have recovered. But in the fifth, on the cusp of his first big-league win, the right-hander’s command eluded him once again. He walked Andrew Velazquez, the number nine hitter, and gave up a two-run home run to Sisco that chased him from the game.
“He’s pitching behind and he’s not locating his pitches,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “That’s been the trouble. We know whenever he gets his location back, he’ll be fine.”
“This kid’s going to be very good for a very long time,” Shaw added. “The last couple starts he hasn’t been able to locate his fastball, but he’s young.”
After Pearson’s departure the bullpen kept the game close even on a night Rafael Dolis and Thomas Hatch were unavailable. With the bullpen taxed heavily, Anthony Bass pitched two critical innings to keep the game close and then save it. Julian Merryweather, recalled earlier in the afternoon, was warming in the bullpen but an effective outing from Bass meant he could stay there.
Thankfully for the Blue Jays, their offence gave them just enough breathing room. Grichuk, who has now replaced the injured Bo Bichette as the team’s hottest hitter, homered to centre in the third and added an opposite-field, two-run double in the fifth. Shaw then followed that up with a three-run homer of his own, a 410-foot shot to right-centre field.
Then, in the 10th, Shaw would score the decisive run after starting the inning on second base. Danny Jansen sacrificed Shaw to third and a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ground ball to first was enough to score Shaw when Severino, the catcher, couldn’t handle a one-bounce throw from first baseman Chris Davis.
“Once (Davis) dove, I took off and it ended up working out,” Shaw said. “We’ll take it any way we can get it.”
All things considered, the Blue Jays had eight runs to work with – probably more than they had reason to expect on a night that Bichette (knee), Rowdy Tellez (concussion protocol) and Teoscar Hernandez (back) were all out of the starting lineup. Hernandez could start as soon as Wednesday after appearing as a pinch-hitter Tuesday, but Tellez may require more time.
Either way, the Blue Jays have plenty to contemplate in the days ahead. There’s a daily juggling act at shortstop as the Blue Jays look to cover for Bichette; perhaps Santiago Espinal’s two-hit effort will nudge him up the depth chart a little. On Thursday, Trent Thornton could return from the injured list when the Blue Jays play a double-header against the Phillies.
And while Pearson’s work is done for the time being, he already knows what his next challenge looks like: attack the strike zone with conviction from pitch one. In five days’ time, he’ll have another chance to apply that lesson.
“Since the day that I met Nate, I’ve always seen him as a really hard worker,” second baseman Cavan Biggio said. “He’s going to be pitching for a long time. It’s good to see him get out there and finally have success in the big-leagues that we’ve all been waiting for, but it’s also been a positive in my eyes for him to struggle a little bit.”
“He’s only going to get better from it, so I’m excited to see him grow.”
