Pannone stellar for Jays in first MLB start
Thomas Pannone realized early that he was cruising through innings and keeping Baltimore’s hitters off-balance in his first major league start.
But a sixth-inning defensive gem from Randal Grichuk — who dove for an Austin Wynns liner in centre field and kept the ball in his glove while bouncing to the turf — really got the rookie thinking about just how good his outing could be.
“You look at every no-hitter or perfect game that’s been thrown, there’s always that one play that’s just like: ‘oh my god, that play was amazing.’ So I thought: ‘maybe that’s it,’” Pannone said with a smile after taking a nohitter into the seventh inning of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 6-0 win over the Orioles on Wednesday.
Pannone (10) allowed just one hit while striking out three and walking two in a 108-pitch, seven-inning performance.
He lost his no-hit bid when Trey Mancini singled to lead off the seventh on his 91st pitch of the game, an 81 mile-per-hour changeup.
The 24-year-old left-hander nearly lost the shutout in the same frame, putting runners on second and third with no outs — thanks in part to an error from Teoscar Hernandez in left field — but the rookie got out of the jam with two ground balls and a pop out and walked off the mound to a loud ovation from the 40,595 in attendance for the afternoon start.
“That last jam he was in, he was getting a little tired, sitting there with no outs,” manager John Gibbons said. “We’d seen him a couple times in relief but I didn’t expect that.
“But you know, he’s sneaky, that ball jumps on you. He did a hell of a job.”
Pannone, starting in place of the injured Marcus Stroman (blister), had appeared in four games in relief for Toronto this season, posting a 4.15 earned-run average since being called up from triple-A Buffalo earlier this month.
He said having those major league innings under his belt helped calm his nerves before Wednesday’s start.
“I got to get my feet wet for four innings or so. So yeah, it made it easier today to go out there and pitch,” Pannone said. “But I haven’t made a start in a couple weeks so just to go back to that whole routine of warming up and the bullpen and everything like that, it was great.”