Hutchison gets work in during Triple-A start

ANAHEIM -- Right-hander Drew Hutchison made a spot start for Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday afternoon and allowed two runs over four innings of work.

Hutchison was optioned to the Minors earlier this week when the Blue Jays decided to temporarily go with a four-man rotation. Toronto had three off-days within the span of eight days, which led to some tinkering with the roster.

The 25-year-old Hutchison is scheduled to make another big league start on Saturday, but before that could happen the club wanted him to get some work in at the Minor League level. That happened Sunday against Syracuse, and he surrendered three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

"You want to make sure you get everything in, I think I was able to do that," Hutchison told a group of reporters in Buffalo.

Hutchison surrendered a solo homer to Matt den Dekker in a first inning that also included a walk. He allowed another run in the second after Caleb Ramsey led off with a triple and later scored on a grounder to second by Mario Lisson.

In the third, Hutchison walked a pair of batters but escaped the inning without any damage before facing the minimum in the fourth. He was scheduled to toss either five innings or 70 pitches -- whichever came first -- and he finished at the 71-pitch mark.

"Towards the end I thought I got into a good rhythm," Hutchison said. "I wanted to make sure that I threw everything early. I thought I made some good pitches."