SEATTLE — Emilio Pagan’s version is his confidence never flagged despite starting his big-league career with a blown save and then a loss before getting shipped by the Seattle Mariners back to the minor leagues.
“Honestly,” he insisted, “it was just believing the pitches I threw those first two times could get outs. I made some good pitches.
“I gave up three singles (May 3 against the Angels) in that first outing, and then Guillermo (Heredia) made an awesome catch. But three singles don’t often beat you.”
“The (May 5) outing against Texas, the first two innings were money. Then I made one bad pitch to (Rougned) Odor. Eliminate that mistake, and I believe my stuff was good enough to get outs.”
This is all pertinent because Pagan, a rookie right-hander, has been lights outs in three subsequent big-league tours: only one run and six hits allowed over 151⁄3 innings in five appearances.
Pagan pitched three scoreless innings in Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Yankees. His ERA, which was 81.00 after his debut, is down to 3.00.
“He’s changed a few things in how he goes about attacking hitters,” manager Scott Servais said, “and it’s working. The breaking ball has been effective for him, but (he’s thrown) a lot of fastballs. He’s going right after guys.”
With veteran Yovani Gallardo returning Sunday to the rotation, Pagan becomes the bullpen’s primary long reliever. It’s a new role for a reliever who served as a closer for much of his five minor-league seasons.
“The main thing that’s helped me the most with that (switch),” he said, “is I stopped throwing out of the windup. It’s just all stretch. That makes my mechanics a lot easier to repeat with days off between outings.”
Pagan dropped the windup last year in an effort to simplify his delivery.
“All of a sudden, I stopped throwing strikes,” he recalled. “I’ve always been a strike-thrower my whole life. It was something to try to make my mechanics a little easier to repeat, and it’s helped.
“I know when I’m in the zone, I’ll get outs. When I’m not in the zone, and I have to come in on 2-0 and 3-1, anybody is going to get hit. If I can get ahead early, that helps my chances a lot.”
Back to those first two outings.
Pagan began his big-league career by blowing a save when he gave up three runs in one-third of an inning against the Rangers in a game the Mariners eventually won 8-7.
Two days later, Pagan got the call again. It was the 11th inning of a tie game against Texas after injuries knocked out Jean Machi and Evan Marshall earlier in the inning. The Mariners were out of pitchers.
Pagan closed out the 11th inning by striking out Joey Gallo, then worked a one-two-three 12th inning before giving up a leadoff walk in the 13th. Odor followed with a two-run homer. The Mariners lost 3-1.
The following day, Pagan was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma with a 16.88 ERA.
“The confidence has always been there,” he said. “It’d be good to get some results to reaffirm that confidence, but it’s nothing that I was worried about.”
That next opportunity came after the Mariners recalled Pagan on May 22. The next day, he pitched four scoreless innings in a 10-1 blowout loss at Washington. He was optioned the next day to Tacoma in order to get a fresh arm for the bullpen.
Pagan returned this time to the minors with reinforced confidence.
“They’re (the Nationals) arguably the best lineup in the game,” he said. “To do it against those guys, it was a pretty awesome feeling.”
Pagan returned again June 10, pitched four more scoreless innings the next day in a 4-0 loss to Toronto and, again, was sent back the following day to Tacoma in order to, again, get a fresh arm for the bullpen.
“Obviously, I want to be here as long and as often as possible,” he said. “But I knew the situation the team was in. We had four starters on the (disabled list) at one time.”
Now, though, Pagan might — might — stick around for a while as the long reliever because the Mariners no longer see the need to replenish their bullpen on a daily basis.
“It’s solidified because our starting rotation has become more solid,” Servais said. “They’re getting deeper (in games) more consistently. We haven’t had to go to that (long reliever) as much.”
And for now, that job belongs to Pagan.
“That’s how we’ve decided to go,” Servais said. “He’s done a really good job. We’ve stretched him as long as four innings. (Friday) night, again, he was very efficient. He’s got a nice feel for what he’s doing.”
And growing confidence.
“I think the (World Baseball Classic) was huge for me,” Pagan said. “It showed that I could pitch on a big stage. That was a big opportunity for me. And then getting an opportunity, when guys were on the DL, to fill in here.
“Now that things have calmed down, I’m glad to still be up here.”
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