Several of the Blue Jays' young call-up's have contributed in recent weeks. And left-hander Thomas Pannone was no different as he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in 6-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
Pannone, making his first MLB start, hit the second batter of the game, Jonathan Villar, but he was quickly erased when the lefty picked him off first base. After two high-pitch innings to start the game, Pannone said that the first inning pickoff helped him settle down.
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"I mean, my first two innings were kind of longer innings than I would have liked to kind of scatter in the strike zone," Pannone told reporters after the game. "But it definitely helped me settle in and kind of - I mean, you get a guy on base in the first inning you're always a little more tensed up so picking him off was huge."
From the third inning through the sixth, Pannone, 24, allowed just one baserunner on a walk to outfielder Adam Jones. Wednesday's catcher, Danny Jansen, said Pannone's command helped him navigate through the Baltimore lineup.
"His fastball, definitely his fastball," Jansen said on what helped Pannone dominate. "His composure, calm at all times. His fastball plays a lot higher than 89-90. It plays like 92-93. He threw it up in the zone, down in the zone. He was good today. Good command."
Folks, @ThomasPannone is through 5 VERY strong innings.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 22, 2018
Do NOT say another word. 🤫🤫🤫 pic.twitter.com/ut9K7h1gnb
The left-hander made three appearances out of the bullpen since he was called up on Aug. 9, but he was prepared to give Toronto length. Since he was activated from a PED suspension, Pannone made nine starts in the minors between three levels in the Blue Jays' system.
After using his fastball effectively throughout the start, Pannone surrendered his first hit, a single to Orioles' first baseman Trey Mancini on a 1-1 changeup.
"He was at the end of his...he was probably getting a little tired and he was sitting there with no outs," Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons said. "We'd seen him a couple of times in relief but I didn't expect that. But you know, 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 start and debut. You know, it was one of those games, too, he was chalking up a lot of pitches early and so it gets to the point where, in this day and age, nobody throws 140 pitches. You know, you never want to get in the way of the baseball gods but, I won't say I was rooting for him to give up a hit, but it didn't bother me when he did."
A special, special start for Thomas PannONE. #LetsGoBlueJays pic.twitter.com/LFGw8HJ7lV
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 22, 2018
Pannone became eligible for his first MLB win after Kendrys Morales launched his 18th home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning. Toronto added five more runs in the eighth inning, led by a three-run homer from Devon Travis.
In recent weeks, Toronto has enjoyed a lift from call-ups including Danny Jansen, Sean Reid-Foley, Billy McKinney, Justin Shafer and others. For Pannone, Wednesday's gem was the latest in a string of performances that helped the Blue Jays be in a position to win.
"Yeah, definitely. I mean, I didn't really hold myself to any expectations," Pannone said. "I just wanted to go out there and execute a good game plan and just give the team a chance to win and I felt like I did that today."
Jenn Smith contributed to this report