What a difference a couple of weeks can make. The Blue Jays entered the season as the only team many thought had a chance to top the Boston Red Sox in the AL East, yet here we stand after two weeks and the Jays are 2-10 overall. Toronto will try to get back on pace with a home series against the Sox kicking off on Tuesday, this just after dropping three of four from another AL East rival in the Orioles.
This series will be contested from Tuesday, April 18, 2017 through Thursday, April 20, 2017 at the Rogers Center in Toronto. On Tuesday and Thursday, the game can be seen on the MLB Network.
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Pitching Matchups
The Jays have hit a lot of bad luck in the season’s first couple weeks and they don’t get a break in this series with the Red Sox. They get to try and capture a win off of Eduardo Rodriguez in the series opener on Tuesday which isn’t too bad, but then they’ll have to go against the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner in Rick Porcello followed by Chris Sale.
For Rodriguez, it’s all about command. The young southpaw has great stuff, but he needs to place it where he wants. He saw him struggle early in his last game against the Pirates, but eventually settled down to go five and two-thirds, giving up just two runs. Boston will take that on Tuesday. They’ll bank on their offense to outdo Toronto against Marcus Stroman.
Stroman was supposed to lead this rotation last year, but instead was the weaker link when compared to teammates like J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez who were stars. Now, expectations are much lower, but Stroman looks like he may be ready to deliver on the lofty expectations, just a season later than some expected.
Stroman has given up just three runs this season and has a 1.76 ERA in 15.1 innings. He pitched a complete game in his last start, but lost 2-0.
The Jays need to win on Tuesday. The rest of the series matchups are much less favorable for Toronto.
Porcello had a rough outing against the Rays his last time out and has a 7.56 ERA through his first three starts. Toronto was one of the teams that had some success against him last year with a 4.50 ERA in five starts, but the Jays’ lineup wasn’t hitting as poorly then as it is to this point in 2017.
Porcello will match up against Francisco Liriano who didn’t even pitch an inning in his first start. He came back for a very good second outing against Baltimore. The key was the first pitch strike. He had a 0-1 count to 18 of his 26 batters.
This series wraps up with game between Chris Sale and Marco Estrada. While Estrada is the only one of the two that made the Opening Day start this year, there’s no question which of the two pitchers is the best.
Estrada didn’t look very good in his first start, but had his changeup working in his last start as he kept Baltimore off balance through seven scoreless innings.
One good start is a good sign, but Sale has been everything the Sox hoped in more so far. In three starts, he’s allowed just three runs and 11 hits, walking five through 21.2 innings of work. That’s a 1.25 ERA and 0.738 WHIP. He’s completely overpowered hitters, too, with 29 strikeouts and looks to be going for the K again, something he got away from last season.
Offensive Comparison
The Toronto offense has been almost anemic. They’ve scored just 34 runs through their first 12 games, that’s fewer than any other team in all of Major League baseball.
This was not supposed to be this way for the Blue Jays. They’re just two years removed from leading the sport in runs scored by nearly a 100-run margin.
Now, however, this team cannot buy a run. Russell Martin is starting to hit a bit better, but is still just 3-for-31. Devon Travis is hitting just .105 and Jose Bautista is 6-for-44 with a couple homers and 11 strike outs.
Nobody is having a really good season so far. Josh Donaldson was the lone exception, but he’s now on the disabled list. Kendrys Morales is hitting okay, but one batter alone cannot carry a team, just ask Mike Trout over in Anaheim the last few years.
The Jays have a team that should be better than this on offense, but they’re all lost at the plate and that does a number of a team’s confidence.
Boston’s bats haven’t really gotten going either. The Sox have been hit hard by the flu in the first couple weeks of the season and that’s led to some slow starts across the board. That said, Sunday yielded three hit games by both Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts. Hanley Ramirez’s bat is coming around, too, with a pair of hits on Sunday while Mitch Moreland has been the team’s most consistent bat.
Bullpen Breakdown
This is a Red Sox’s bullpen that’s lost Tyler Thornburg to injury and doesn’t have a replacement for set up man Koji Uehara. They shouldn’t be sound in the pen, at least not leading up to Craig Kimbrel, yet, this bullpen has been one of the best to date in baseball.
Matt Barnes has been huge in his six appearances and has yet the opposition scoreless while others like Joe Kelly, Heath Hembree, Robby Scott and even Fernando Abad have provided quality innings.
The Jays’ bullpen hasn’t been overly reliable, particularly with Roberto Osuna missing most of the year, but Joe Biagini has pitched well with a 0.96 ERA. The pen, however, blew up on Sunday with Ryan Tepera giving up four runs, Dominic Leone giving up one and Matt Dermody being touched up for five runs on three home runs in one third of an inning.
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