Dustin McGowan picked up his second win of the season Saturday, against the Chicago White Sox, 9-3.
Playing before the home crowd in Toronto, the hurler went seven solid innings for the second straight game. And appears to be gaining more confidence in every outing.
Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, McGowan and the Blue Jays had only allowed the Sox to score three runs. But, Toronto could only put up one run on seven hits, so Chicago led 3-1.
However, in the final two innings, the Jays were able to get nine more hits, and score eight runs to put the game out of reach, 9-3.
McGowan was solid through the first two innings, but the third inning is where he showed he was maturing as a major league pitcher.
Lead-off batter Tadahito Iguchi singled to first, and then McGowan threw a wild pitch against Jim Thome, advancing the runner to second. Thome then grounded out, and Iguchi moved to third. After a sacrifice fly by Jermane Dye, the runner scored, and the Sox had two outs.
McGowan walked Paul Konerko and then a single by Matt Stairs, put Konerko on third.
Manager John Gibbons visited the mound and talked to McGowan. The chat worked as McGowan got Joe Crede to fly out to left.
Gibbons and the fans were shown how much the Long County native had improved as he got out of a tough inning, allowing only one run.
Over the next four innings, McGowan was in the zone as he faced 14 batters, striking out four of them, and only issuing two walks.
For the game, the pitcher gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs. His ERA dropped to 5.50. He faced 30 batters in the contest, throwing 103 pitches, with 60 of them strikes.
McGowan has steadily improved since he was called up from Syracuse in May.
In his first three starts, he was 0-1 with an 8.22 ERA. Over the last three games, he went 2-1, pitched at least 6 innings and has had a 3.48 ERA.
With McGowan showing improvement, so have the Blue Jays at the plate. As of May 23 through 47 contests, the team had scored three runs or fewer in 20 of their games.
However, since May 24 and with the team’s win Sunday night over the White Sox, they have gone 7-4, and have scored at least 5 runs in 5 of 12 games.
The team also is averaging more than 4 runs in each game through that period, and has moved into second place in the American League East with a 27-29 record, 10 games behind first place Boston.
McGowan’s next start is Friday at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Playing before the home crowd in Toronto, the hurler went seven solid innings for the second straight game. And appears to be gaining more confidence in every outing.
Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, McGowan and the Blue Jays had only allowed the Sox to score three runs. But, Toronto could only put up one run on seven hits, so Chicago led 3-1.
However, in the final two innings, the Jays were able to get nine more hits, and score eight runs to put the game out of reach, 9-3.
McGowan was solid through the first two innings, but the third inning is where he showed he was maturing as a major league pitcher.
Lead-off batter Tadahito Iguchi singled to first, and then McGowan threw a wild pitch against Jim Thome, advancing the runner to second. Thome then grounded out, and Iguchi moved to third. After a sacrifice fly by Jermane Dye, the runner scored, and the Sox had two outs.
McGowan walked Paul Konerko and then a single by Matt Stairs, put Konerko on third.
Manager John Gibbons visited the mound and talked to McGowan. The chat worked as McGowan got Joe Crede to fly out to left.
Gibbons and the fans were shown how much the Long County native had improved as he got out of a tough inning, allowing only one run.
Over the next four innings, McGowan was in the zone as he faced 14 batters, striking out four of them, and only issuing two walks.
For the game, the pitcher gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs. His ERA dropped to 5.50. He faced 30 batters in the contest, throwing 103 pitches, with 60 of them strikes.
McGowan has steadily improved since he was called up from Syracuse in May.
In his first three starts, he was 0-1 with an 8.22 ERA. Over the last three games, he went 2-1, pitched at least 6 innings and has had a 3.48 ERA.
With McGowan showing improvement, so have the Blue Jays at the plate. As of May 23 through 47 contests, the team had scored three runs or fewer in 20 of their games.
However, since May 24 and with the team’s win Sunday night over the White Sox, they have gone 7-4, and have scored at least 5 runs in 5 of 12 games.
The team also is averaging more than 4 runs in each game through that period, and has moved into second place in the American League East with a 27-29 record, 10 games behind first place Boston.
McGowan’s next start is Friday at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.