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The Blue Jays wrap up their four game series against the Orioles this afternoon, looking to win three of four against their division opponent. Game time today is early and starts at 3:07 ET.
Table of Contents
The starter of the Blue Jays
Kevin Gausman leaves for the Jays to end his personal two-game losing streak. His last start wasn’t bad, making it through 6 innings allowing only 2 runs (and only earning 1), but the offense was stifled that night. But it was certainly a good rebound from his previous start where he only went 3.2 innings and allowed 5 carries with 9 hits. The worrying thing about his start on Saturday was that he went 3 and only dropped 4.
Gausman continues to dominate the season. He’s 5-5 with a 2.67 ERA. His 1.76 FIP is still easily the best in baseball, and his 3.0 WAR also still leads the major leagues by a pretty comfortable margin. His K/BB ratio of 7.70 is only behind Aaron Nola. Gausman was easily one of the best pitchers in the majors this year.
Orioles’ appetizer
The Orioles countered with right-handed Tyler Wells. After spending 2021 hitting out of the bullpen, Wells switched to rotation this year and has had pretty good results. His 12 starts and 53.2 innings put him 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA and a pretty close 4.28 FIP. He’s quite stingy on the walks, only allowing 1.84 per 9 innings. Home run rate is also near average, but strikeout rate is exceptionally low – of the 104 pitchers with at least 50 innings, his rate of 5.53 per 9 innings is the sixth lowest, just ahead of the likes of Zack Greinke and Brad Keller.
The lineup of the Blue Jays
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s bat is heating up, and to do that right before the Yankees (and I) get to town is awesome. He’s starting today with a 6-game hitting streak and has been going 13-27 since last Friday. But the best part is that many of the hits aren’t cheap asses as he has an average exit speed of 100 mph even in that range. Last night was just another example of this as he had the three hardest hit balls in play, all at around 115 mph.
Gabriel Moreno is likely to make the catch today but hopefully that doesn’t mean Alejandro Kirk is back on the bench. At some point, the Jays will have to realize that they can lead Kirk around the DH spot a lot more times than they have been able to, and the team will be better off as a result.
Orioles lineup
Ryan Mountcastle continued his dominance with the Jays last night. So far this series, he’s 6-13, hitting 3 homers and 2 doubles and driving in 5 of the 13 runs the Orioles have hit so far.
On the other hand, the Jays’ pitchers have done a great job keeping Cedric Mullins’ bat in check so far. He only has 2 hits, a single and a double, in 14 PA.
Tyler Nevin, Ryan McKenna and Rougned Odor are all unsuccessful in at least 8 PA so far.
Trey Mancini is probably still out for tonight’s game with a sore hand. He and the Orioles are hoping he’ll be good enough to face the Rays sometime this weekend. I also hope that he will be there to get some big hits in this series.
Yesterday’s heroes
Yoan Moncada drove 5-6 with a home run, a doubles and 3 singles and drove in 5 runs to win the Monster Bat Award. His big day helped his White Sox win the Tigers 13-0.
With 2 outs and runners in first and second, Garrett Stubbs hit a three-run walkoff homer to give his Phillies a 3-1 win over the Marlins. He also chipped in a leadoff double in the bottom third of the third, eventually earning him the WPA King title with a .910 mark.
For the second straight day, a pitcher carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning but failed to seal the deal while he was over 120 pitches ahead. This time, however, Tyler Anderson gets the Pitcher of the Day consolation award as his line of 8.1 innings with 1 run to 1 hit and 2 walks with 8 strikeouts was the night’s best. Shohei Ohtani’s runner-inheritance hit at third base after Anderson was pulled, but the Dodgers still beat the Angels 4-1.
Find the link
Find the connection between Cedric Mullins and Reese McGuire.