Blue Jays looking for some ‘magic’ as starters struggle

TORONTO — John Gibbons, the Texas-raised manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, ambled out toward the pitcher’s mound in the fourth inning, expelling whatever he had been chewing from his mouth as he walked, leaving behind the first clear trail his starter had seen all afternoon.

Drew Hutchison had been lost. In his second start of the season, the 23-year-old struggled with his control against the New York Yankees.

And moments after Gibbons reached the mound, Hutchison followed the path back to the dugout, to the end of his game.

It was the second time in three games that a Toronto starter required an early rescue, and perhaps not coincidentally, it was the second loss.

The Blue Jays fell 6-4 to the Yankees at Rogers Centre on Sunday, a game in which New York shortstop Derek Jeter moved up to eighth in baseball history with the 3,320th hit of his career, ahead of onetime Blue Jay Paul Molitor.

Hutchison left after allowing six runs on six hits in just over three innings of work, a total that included New York’s first home run of the year.

“Too many free passes,” Hutchison said afterward, in a near-silent home clubhouse.

“He’s going to be fine,” Gibbons said. “He’s the least of our worries, if you want to know the truth.”

On Friday, Dustin McGowan allowed eight hits and four runs in just over two innings of work against the Yankees, en route to a 7-3 loss in Toronto’s home-opener, with McGowan telling reporters that “it felt like rapid fire out there.”

McGowan had battled injury for years, spinning what became a treadmill of surgery and rehabilitation before making a stirring return to the starting rotation this spring. He and Hutchison shared the comeback narrative, with Hutchison returning after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2012.

Together, they form a kind of hope-and-a-prayer combination in the rotation.

Gibbons suggested Hutchison had not been locating his pitches well for more than a week, traced back to his final start in spring training, against Philadelphia: “He was high in the zone a lot, and that’s not who he is.”

“It’s just execution, just execution and not performing,” Hutchison said on Sunday. “We scored four runs. We should win when we do that.”

“To have a big year, you’ve got to start winning some games like this,” Gibbons said. “You can’t fall behind, spot five runs — fall behind 6-1 — but there comes a time when you’ve got to start winning some of these games, especially at home. You’ve got to find that magic. You’ve got to have that magic. And hopefully we find that soon.”