Game #58 Preview: Blue Jays vs. Royals

The last game of a four-game weekend set sees the Blue Jays trying to split the series with the Kansas City Royals. Mark Buehrle faces right-hander Jeremy Guthrie who currently has a 4.14 ERA on the season. The Oregon native started against the Blue Jays on May 1st going six innings allowing eight hits and four earned runs in a 7-3 loss for the Royals. It looks to be another year of an average mid-four ERA for Guthrie who has made a career of being a reliable back-end of the rotation starter.

Guthrie throws mainly a fastball, changeup, and slider combination with a few curveballs as well. As with James Shields a few days ago, Guthrie is not afraid to throw his changeup to hitters of either handedness, with 23% of his pitches against left-handed hitters being changeups and 20% for right-handed hitters. The main difference for Guthrie is actually how he throws his slider almost exclusively to right-handers, while his curveball is mainly saved for opposite-handed batters. As you can see, Guthrie's slider has a lot of vertical break as well, making it similar in appearance to his curveball, but about 10 mph faster:

Actual Lineup

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Today&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays">@BlueJays</a> lineup:&#10;Reyes-SS&#10;Cabrera-LF&#10;Bautista-RF&#10;Lind-DH&#10;Encarnacion-1B&#10;Francisco-3B&#10;Lawrie-2B&#10;Navarro-C&#10;Gose-CF&#10;&#10;Buehrle-P</p>&mdash; Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/statuses/473114049178112002">June 1, 2014</a></blockquote>

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Find The Link

Find the link between Jeremy Guthrie and former Blue Jays radio analyst who now works for the Astros broadcast team.

Game In A Sentence

The Blue Jays try to salvage a split with the Royals, going up against the always reliable Jeremy Guthrie.