DETROIT — Drew Smyly's welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment came quickly in Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
After throwing his first pitch in the majors for a strike, he threw ball after ball after ball. Before he knew it, the bases were loaded with no outs.
Enter catcher Alex Avila and manager Jim Leyland, who went out to talk to the 22-year-old rookie.
"I just had a little talk with him, no big deal," Leyland said. "I could see it might be getting close to Panicsville and I didn't want that to happen. I just went out and tried to relax him a little bit."
Avila said that he could tell by the way Smyly was pitching that he was a little too excited about his major league debut.
"He doesn't show any emotion, so he can be doing bad but you can't really tell," Avila said. "You could tell just by the way he was throwing the ball, it wasn't like him from what we have seen. I went out there just to talk to him a little bit, get his mind off it, let him catch a breath and know he's one or two pitches from getting us out of the inning.
"Sometimes that's all it is. When Skip came out there, he basically reiterated it. With both of us up there, I think that gave him a lot of confidence, knowing that we were behind him."
Smyly then retired Jeff Keppinger on a flyout and struck out Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez to escape any damage.
"I was struggling," Smyly said. "It was tough. I was barely missing and then I was missing low. I couldn't really get in a good groove. But once I got the bases loaded, I was like, you've got to settle down and get out of this. I was just trying to throw strikes and let the defense work. I was lucky I was able to get out of it."
Because he knew well in advance what day he'd be starting, Smyly had 20 friends and family members among the 30,288 in attendance at Comerica Park.
Smyly ended up lasting four innings (plus one batter in the fifth), allowing just one run on four hits while walking three and striking out four.
"We had the game right there for the taking in the first inning, and we chose not to take it," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "The kid was obviously nervous, so I felt good with Kepp up there. But he gets the pop-up and then two punch-outs, and we get nothing.
"It's tough to not get anything out of the inning, because the kid looked comfortable after that. He's going to be really good. I can certainly see why he was out there."
The run was a solo home run by former Tiger Carlos Pena in the third inning. But Smyly knew he had the Tigers' big bats on his side.
"You're not worried about being down 1-0 or 2-0," Smyly said. "You know this team's going to go out and score runs every game. You just gotta stay within yourself and make sure you get outs and keep it close."
Sure enough, the Tigers backed Smyly and his bullpen mates with seven runs, good enough for a 7-2 victory. Smyly didn't get the victory as he did not go long enough, but he was happy to have helped the team win.
"I had an awesome time out there. I couldn't ask for anything more," Smyly said.
Avila said one of the big things Smyly has going for him is his presence on the mound.
"He's a cool customer, he doesn't get rattled easy," Avila said. "His demeanor, his poise, everything's very good. Even when he was struggling a little bit, he just got back up there and went right after them."
Pena, who hit the homer off Smyly, was impressed as well.
"After that first inning, he didn't look like someone that was out there for the first time," Pena said.
Leyland said the kid still has a few things to learn, in addition to getting pitches besides his fastball over the plate for strikes, but he was pleased with Smyly's first outing.
"He's not afraid," Leyland said. "He's a pretty confident kid. He's not afraid to challenge people, but he's going to have to learn there's times to challenge and times not to. That was a big thing today, I thought he had a little tough time throwing other stuff over besides his fastball.
"He's got the other pitches — hopefully this one's behind him now, and the kid will settle in a little bit and fall into that fifth starter role. I think he has the potential to do it. We'll just have to see."
