Toronto Blue Jays Sweep Baltimore Orioles 6-0
-
By Noan Gagnon
- —
Jays pitcher Thomas Pannone pitched seven innings against the Orioles on Wednesday night giving up one hit and two walked bases
Pannone was acquired by the Jays in a deal with the Cleveland Indians and was sent to Toronto’s triple-A team, the Buffalo Bisons. Considering he was only called up to the big leagues, and the rookie pitched seven innings and only allowed one base run in three of those innings.
For a rookie, Thomas Pannone’s start was impressive, and he wasted little time attacking the zone throwing sixty-six strikes. Not bad for a guy who threw 108 pitches in his opening game in the big leagues. Even more impressive is going seven innings and overcame a Teoscar Hernandez error.
Commenting on Pannone, John Gibbons, manager of the Blue Jays said,
“I didn’t expect that, but he’s sneaky. The ball jumps on you. He did one hell of a job. It’s a great way to make your big-league starting debut.”
Keeping the Orioles hitless early on, Pannone was staring down a hitless sixth inning, and after Austin Wynns was denied a hit by Randal Grichuk, a hitless game suddenly seemed possible.
In post-game interviews, Pannone said.
“You look at all the perfect games and no-hitters that have ever been thrown, there’s always that one play that’s just like ‘Oh my god, that play was amazing. I was saying to myself ‘Maybe that’s it.’”
As the innings passed, Gibbons was left in the dugout to ponder how long to keep Pannone on the mound. For Gibbons, he said,
“In this day and age where nobody throws 140 pitches, you don’t ever want to get in the way of the baseball gods, so I won’t say I was rooting for him to give up a hit, but it didn’t bother me when he did.”
Talk about ELITE company! @ThomasPannone set a #BlueJays RECORD for the longest no-hit bid in a pitcher’s first @MLB start. pic.twitter.com/9FctzOYMVb
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 23, 2018
“I didn’t know how many pitches I was at, nor did I really care. I could have kept going.”
The Orioles managed to get this first single in the seventh, and for Gibbons, that was the moment he decided the seventh would see Pannone calling it a day after a job well done. The seventh also saw Teoscar Hernandez making an error and dropping a fly ball that put runners on first and second base. With no outs, Pannone managed to pull off the save after a pop-up and two ground balls.
Commenting on the experience, Pannone said, “Once the crowd stood up and they got loud, that was an experience I’d never felt before. A crowd rooting for you that much? It was amazing.”
The Toronto Blue Jays are currently 58-69 this season and are sitting in fourth of the AL East. It is unlikely that the Orioles will be serious contenders this season, and while Toronto swept the series, they are well off the rest of the pack. They are 9 wins behind the Tampa Bay Rays, 21 behind the Yankees and 32 behind the Red Sox. Canadian sports betting sites such as Bodog, who is offering Canadian punters up to $200 at a first deposit offer, favoured the Jays over Baltimore, but as August winds down, the Jays next face the Phillies before heading to Baltimore for another three-game series.
