Drew Hutchison stepped in against one of the top left-handed pitchers in baseball Tuesday holding Mark Buehrle’s bat and wearing Melky Cabrera’s batting gloves. The odds were stacked against him as he batted for the first time in two years.
But Hutchison singled to left field in each of his first two at bats against Cole Hamels, accomplishing something that no one on the New York Mets’ pitching staff has been able to do all season long (led by the 0-for-15 Dillon Gee, the 0-for-15 Jenrry Mejia, and the 0-for-12 Jon Niese, Mets pitchers are 0-for-66 at the plate this season).
Hutchison also entered some exclusive company in Blue Jays franchise history, joining Roy Halladay as the only two Toronto pitchers to collect two hits in a regular season game. David Cone became the first Toronto pitcher to get two hits in one game when he helped the Blue Jays record their first ever World Series win by getting two hits in the second game of the 1992 Fall Classic.
Of course, Hutchison’s out there to pitch, not hit. He allowed five earned runs in eight innings Wednesday, keeping the Blue Jays in the game long enough to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5. For the season, the right-hander has a 4.17 ERA while averaging six innings per start, and those results count for much more than anything he’ll do at the plate.
