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Osuna tells good stories too, Lowe said. He talks about pitching at 16 in the Mexican League, as did his father and uncle before him.

“He hardened his soul there doing that,” said Jays bullpen coach Dane Johnson.

And now, barely out of his teens, Osuna is the Jays’ closer. Earlier in the season he was the most reliable reliever in an unreliable bullpen. Now he is the anchor of one of the league’s better bullpens, the man manager John Gibbons calls upon when the Jays carry a precarious lead into the ninth inning. Entering Thursday’s game, he had pitched in 46 games, finished 20 and posted eight saves.

Those numbers may not seem particularly impressive at first glance. But Osuna has been closing only since late June and has blown only one save opportunity. He has a 2.22 ERA, a WHIP of 0.925 and 53 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings.

Lots of folks around the league probably have no idea he is only 20. They just see the fastball at 95 to 97 (except when they don’t), the changeup at 82, the slider at 88, and the uncommon poise on the mound.

“He showed that early in the minor leagues when we got him when he was 16,” said Johnson, who came to know Osuna well as the Jays’ minor-league pitching co-ordinator. “He wasn’t scared of anybody. Went in there and threw strikes.

“What you see is what you get right now. He’s been iron and steel as far as his character goes on the mound.”

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Assuming that Osuna continues his iron-and-steel act, he will join a very small club. In the past 50 years, only two pitchers – Billy McCool of the 1965 Reds and Terry Forster of the 1972 White Sox – became full-time closers at age 20, according to Baseball Reference.