Former Sox Hurler John Halama Mystifies PawSox

John Halama is a living, breathing example of if you’re a left-handed pitcher you definitely have a chance to land a job—somewhere.

Halama, 36, was pitching for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the independent Atlantic League when Cleveland signed him Saturday and assigned him to the Buffalo Bisons.

In his debut with Buffalo on Sunday, the one-time Boston Red Sox pitcher worked six commendable innings as the Bisons beat the PawSox, 9-5.

Even though Halama actually had pitched the last 1½ years in the Atlantic League, he still had hopes that he would attract attention from a major league organization.

“I had a good year last year (8-10 with a 4.14 ERA for Long Island) and you sit there and think ‘What else can I do?’,” he said. “As of before I got picked up I wasn’t thinking it. I was throwing the ball extremely well.

“Anytime you watch Baseball Tonight you hear that everybody needs pitching—starting, relieving. I knew that eventually that if I kept coming to the ballpark in good spirits something good would happen. It did in this case.”

Halama threw 56 of 94 pitches for strikes and allowed three runs on four hits, replete with only two walks and four strikeouts. And one of his runs was a “cheapie” because Jeff Bailey lofted a fifth-inning fly ball into the short porch that is the visitors’ bullpen in right field.

“I’m not going to overpower guys,” said Halama, who was 4-1 in eight games with a 1.88 ERA for the Blue Crabs. “I am going to throw strikes. I’m going to pitch inside. I’m going to pitch away. I’m going to pitch to situations, and I’m also going to pitch to the way I feel a hitter’s going to approach me.

“If he’s going to try to attack me early in the count, I’m going to go soft. If you get guys who are caught in between. What am I doing to do here? Then, I’ve got an opportunity to go more with fastballs.

“It varies from batter to batter. It’s a matter of me locating.”

One pitch that Halama definitely didn’t locate was a first-inning fastball that Chris Carter crushed over the elevated bill boards in right field for a two-run homer, his 12th of the season.

Otherwise, he was in complete control.

“As far as what we saw today, he did an outstanding job of throwing three pitches in the strike zone,” said Buffalo manager Torey Lovullo. “He was commanding his fastball on both sides of the plate. It was just a fun outing for him. He’s experienced and knows how to set up hitters.

“After the home run by Bailey (which pulled Pawtucket within 4-3), John did a solid job of continuing to attack the zone and not relinquishing the lead.”

Even PawSox manager Ron Johnson was impressed with Halama.

“John Halama is a veteran guy who knows how to pitch,” said Johnson. “When you get locked in with something like that…I didn’t expect us to go out and beat him up.”

In one sense the PawSox beat themselves, because they made three errors (two by second baseman Joe Thurston and one by Chad Spann, who’s being given playing at first base as well as at third). Plus, Buffalo strafed starter Devern Hansack (2-8) and relievers Hunter Jones, Eric Hull, and Lincoln Holdzkom for 14 hits.

“We made three errors and gave up 14 hits,” said Johnson. “You’re going to be in a tough situation right there. We made some mistakes in the field and they took advantage.”

Hansack lasted five innings and was charged with four runs (three earned) and six hits. He walked two and didn’t strike out any Bison.

Over his last four starts, Hansack is 0-4 with a 7.53 ERA encompassing 22 2/3 innings.

“I told Devern he’s going to have to go through this right now,” said Johnson. “It’s just one of those things right now that he’s batting through.

“As they say, if it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger. This is what he has to go through right now but the ball is definitely not bouncing the right way for him.”

EXTRA BASES: Jed Lowrie cracked a two-run double in the eight that pulled Pawtucket within 8-5…Chris Carter followed with a laser-like double and Bobby Kielty walked…Jeff Stevens then fanned George Kottaras and got Keith Ginter to bounce into an inning-ending double play…Hull was the only effective Pawtucket pitcher, as he allowed just one hit over two innings.