With Pedro Strop struggling, the O’s bullpen was missing that power arm late in ball games to get to closer Jim Johnson.
Sure, Darren O’Day is a completely capable set-up man, but it’s nice to have more than just the one option to pitch the seventh or eighth inning. And it’s a luxury to have a completely different look to offer hitters during a series than the soft-toss frisbees O’Day offers up. Say, a guy who can hit 100 on the gun.
Enter Tommy Hunter.
That’s right, Tommy Hunter. The guy whose Twitter handle @TommyGoesBoom was funny for all the wrong reasons last year when he gave up 27 home runs (mostly as a starter).
Even early this year, Hunter seemed to be going right back to his old ways, serving up three long balls in his first 3.2 innings pitched out of the pen.
Since then though, Tommy has really stepped his game up.
In his last 10 innings pitched, spanning over six appearances since April 12, Tommy hasn’t allowed a single home run – or even a single run, for that matter.
He’s allowed only seven hits and two walks during that stretch, while striking out seven.
Hunter picked up his second victory of the year in last night’s 4-3 win over Kansas City, entering after Brian Matusz surrendered the tying runs on a two-run home run by Alex Gordon.
According to MLB.com’s pitch-by-pitch log, Hunter is doing a much better job of “pitching,” as opposed to just trying to throw his fastball by hitters.
His pitch sequence went as follows:
Batter 1: Curveball, slider, fastball (95)
Batter 2: Slider, Slider, Cutter, Slider, Slider
Batter 3: Fastball (95), Fastball (86), Fastball (96)
Batter 4: Fastball (95)
Hunter retired all four batters he faced, on two groundouts, a flyout, and a strikeout, and it took him just 12 pitches.
If the O’s can keep getting these kind of performances from Hunter – who has lowered his ERA for the year from 7.36 on April 10 to a nifty 1.69 – then the bullpen looks to be in good hands, even if Strop continues to sputter.
