Pearce finding ‘comfort zone’
Blue Jay on a tear since return from DL
BOSTON • Before the calf injury that sent him to the disabled list in May, Steve Pearce was struggling to get settled with his new team.
A slow start to the preseason because of off-season elbow surgery was part of it for the utility fielder, but he never found momentum in the early going of the regular schedule, either.
Before the i njury that kept him out of the lineup for 27 games, Pearce was batting .205 with six extra- base hits. Since returning to the lineup on June 15, Pearce was hitting .375 with seven extra- base hits heading into Tuesday’s game in Boston, including a solo home run in Monday’s 4-3 win over the Red Sox.
“I’m just finding a comfort zone, that’s really it,” Pearce said of his recent surge at the plate. “Mechanically, you can do whatever you want but when you feel comfortable, you can almost find a way to slow the game down.”
Jays manager John Gibbons said Pearce is just now starting to realize the potential the club saw in him when he was a free agent signee last November.
“What happened to him was what happens to a lot of guys when they go to a new spot,” Gibbons said. “You want to do well. You press, and that was affecting him. Then he had the calf issue.
“It just ( seems) like he’s settled in. He looks like those years watching him play for Baltimore. I think he’s a little more disciplined now. He’s still aggressive, but he’s swinging at good pitches.”
HAPP- Y DAYS
Like many of his teammates, Tuesday starter J. A. Happ has been getting some prominent traction as possible trade material for the Jays.
The 20- game winner from 2016 has rounded into form recently after an early- season stint on the DL. While Gibbons sees the appeal other teams would see in Happ, he doesn’t see the sense in the Jays moving him.
“Really, he’s turned into one of the better pitchers in the league in the last couple of years, in my opinion,” Gibbons said. “I don’t get involved in it, but he’d be a tough guy to trade. I’m sure teams want him, but for your own well-being you’d (like to have him).”