The Blue Jays continue their four game series against the visiting Orioles and play the third game of the series tonight. The game is scheduled to start again at 7:07 ET.
Table of Contents
The starter of the Blue Jays
José Berríos will choose the Jays and look to build back-to-back great starts, his two best of the season by score. Two starts ago was the game in which he hit 13 twins allowing 2 runs over 7 innings. His last time out against the Tigers was even better, allowing only 1 run over 8 innings despite only batting 5 of those. But his season numbers improved to 5-2 with a 4.73 ERA and a slightly better 4.41 FIP – still far short of where anyone expected him to be this season.
Orioles’ appetizer
Left-hander Bruce Zimmerman will choose the Orioles and make his 13th start of the season in what will be a new career highlight. If he makes it through 2.2 innings, he’s pitched more innings this year than either of the previous two, despite the shortened 2020 season being his first in the big leagues.
Orioles fans probably aren’t too thrilled that he’s hitting career bests in an innings since he wasn’t exactly an effective pitcher. So far this year he is 2-5 with an ERA of 5.52 and a nearly identical FIP of 5.49. The only thing he’s good at is limit walks, but that just means he sits in the strike zone more than necessary and gets hit hard as a result. Of the 72 pitchers with at least 60 innings this year, only Hunter Greene has allowed more home runs per 9 innings than Zimmerman’s 2.18. As a left-hander against this line-up, I don’t really like his odds of that number dropping today.
The lineup of the Blue Jays
With the exception of the opening day, Alejandro Kirk caught every start from Berríos and I wouldn’t expect anything different today. I think it fits for Kirk to catch Berríos and Manoah with a few DH days in between while the other catcher (be it Moreno or Jansen) catches the other three. Moreno could get the DH duties against the left-hander today.
Speaking of Moreno
Matt Chapman returned to the lineup last night after missing the previous three games due to a wrist injury and hit a pretty big home run in the 4th inning. Hopefully the wrist reacts well today and he can stay in the lineup.
Orioles’ appetizer
They showed their nervousness last night and how the offensive part of their game has the ability to frustrate opponents and keep them in the game.
Ryan Mountcastle especially showed what he’s capable of last night, hitting a pair of doubles and a home run.
Trey Mancini was out last night with a right hand injury. He’s probably a question for today and could be out for the rest of the series.
After being caught stealing from a great throw by Moreno on his first try, Jorge Mateo was successful on his next two tries yesterday, putting him in sole possession of second place in the majors at 16, a back from Julio Rodríguez of the mariners
Yesterday’s heroes
Paul Goldschmidt had a remarkable double header yesterday at 6-8 with 3 homers and 3 singles plus a walk. He drove in 8 heats and easily walks away with the Monster Bat award. His Cardinals defeated the Pirates 3-1, 9-1 in the double header.
Rhys Hoskins also had a great day, going 4-5 with two homers and 6 RBI. His 3-run home run in the 4th tied the game at 4. His 2-run double in the 5th increased the lead to 8-4. And then his solo home run in 8th place gave his Phillies a 9-8 lead. But that wasn’t enough as the Marlins beat the Phillies 11-9. However, Hoskins’ efforts earned him the WPA King title, with a .729 mark in a loss.
Although Miles Mikolas is only 1 shot behind a no-hitter, he is not our pitcher of the day. That honor goes to Tyler Mahle, who completed 9 shutout innings. Mahle only allowed 3 hits while hitting 12 batters, but since he plays for the Reds that wasn’t good enough. The game went to the extras and after the dust settled on 3 more crazy innings the Reds won 5-3.
Find the link
Find the connection between Ryan Mountcastle and Luis Ortiz.