Sugano buckles down to deliver gritty performance for O's

TORONTO -- More bad luck nearly caused another early exit for Tomoyuki Sugano on Saturday afternoon in Toronto. Instead, the 35-year-old Japanese right-hander turned in one of the grittiest outings of his MLB rookie season.

After getting hit in the left leg by a comebacker on the final play of the first inning, Sugano stayed in the game and tossed six stellar innings in the Orioles’ 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. He scattered four hits and yielded only one run -- which came on Addison Barger’s leadoff home run in the fifth -- while not issuing a walk and striking out four.

But at one point, it looked like Sugano -- who left his previous start last Sunday vs. the Dodgers after taking a comebacker off his right foot in the fourth inning -- wouldn’t make it to the second in his return to Toronto, where he made his MLB debut on March 30.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded a 112.6 mph chopper that bounced up and struck Sugano in the left leg. O’s catcher Samuel Basallo ran up to retrieve the ball, throwing it to first in time to nab Guerrero.

Sugano looked a bit uncomfortable as he gingerly walked off the field and into the first-base dugout. Then, during the top of the second, right-hander Albert Suárez began to warm up in Baltimore's bullpen.

As the bottom of the second began, Suárez remained up while Sugano returned to the mound. It became clear that Sugano would be fine as he proceeded to strike out the Toronto side in the second, resulting in Suárez sitting down.

With the O’s set to utilize a bullpen game in Sunday’s series finale -- with Suárez tabbed to start -- it was big that Sugano did not have to come out.

“At the time I got hit, it was pretty painful. But gradually, it was complying. I got hit last week, too, so I wanted to throw more,” Sugano said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “I didn’t want to, obviously, stop pitching two games in a row, so my mentality was to pitch through the game.”

Sugano retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced prior to Barger’s homer to open the fifth. After Davis Schneider followed with a single, Sugano settled back in and set down five of the final six batters he faced, getting Nathan Lukes to ground into a double play to cap the 63-pitch outing.

“Man, he was tough, he hung in there. He got hit hard,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “To see him fight through it and pitch the way he did in this environment, after six innings, just felt like it was the right thing to do for him and also for us to try to win the game.”

Mansolino opted to pull Sugano after six and give the ball to the bullpen to navigate a tough Toronto lineup, which was turning over for its third time through. However, the Orioles’ relief corps could not close out a win, as the Blue Jays rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth -- one off left-hander Keegan Akin and two against righty Yennier Cano -- as they won on Alejandro Kirk’s walk-off sacrifice fly.

There have been ups and downs during Sugano’s first season in the United States. He has recorded 10 quality starts, though he has posted a 4.39 ERA in 149 2/3 innings.

But Sugano’s best trait this year may have been his reliability, which Baltimore has needed during a season in which 28 players have spent time on the injured list. That group does not include Sugano, who has made 28 starts without touching the IL.

“It’s really good to see that he wanted to stay in the game and help us out, help the team out,” Basallo said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I think, as a teammate, that’s what you want to see. That was really nice to see, and I think, obviously, maybe he didn’t have the best couple outings before this one, but it was really good to see how well he pitched today and how well he decided to push through the pain he was in.”