Tec - I'm glad you brought up coaching because I was just going to say that.
Any coach who's worth a salt is going to tell his pitcher to attack the zone and pitch to contact with a 5+ run lead, even if that's not his regular approach. How long does a pitcher last if he walks the bases loaded with a 5-0 lead while trying to nitpick for the strike out? Likely not long. I can't speak for Hunter specifically because I never saw him pitch. But to suggest a guy wouldn't change his approach from trying to keep guys off the basepaths, to trying to get the remaining outs as quickly as possible without giving up free bases when he has a huge lead is ridiculous.
Look at Cliff Lee. He does this all the time, not just with a huge lead - he pitches to contact. What are the results? His OAV is usually approaching average, but his BB/9 and WHIP are incredible. Some starts, he gets absolutely lit up - which is going to happen when you constantly pitch in the strike zone. But by and large, the result is a lot of strikeouts, in-play outs and shutouts.