Game #131 Preview: Indians @ Blue Jays

After a savage sweep of the Tigers, the Blue Jays welcome Detroit's fellow AL Central basement dwellers in the Cleveland Indians. Sitting at 63-66, the team from Ohio actually has a pretty solid squad on paper but it just didn't work out for them this year which is a little surprising. The offence is buoyed by players like Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Michael Brantley, while future star Francisco Lindor has been solid since his arrival in town. A bad April really helped sink them as they've been a pretty good team since then and I wouldn't be very surprised at all to see them win the division next year as they have a slew of solid starting pitchers to go along with their good offence. The AL Central team has actually won 8 of their last 10 so they come into Toronto on a roll. If it wasn't for their racist logo, the squad would actually be a fun one to watch on a daily basis. Of course future Jays president Mark Shapiro was one of the men who helped assemble the team.

The starting pitching matchup for tonight's contest features David Price against Danny Salazar. The right-hander from the Dominican Republic, Salazar, made his first career start against the Blue Jays a little over two years ago and has become quite a good pitcher since then. He's developed into one of the top strikeout hurlers in the American League and should combine with Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, and Corey Kluber to form one of the best rotations in baseball for a long time.

The righty sits at an ERA of 3.30 and a FIP of 3.66 this season, backed by a K-rate of 27.7%. He is slightly prone to the long ball, which could bode well for the Jays tonight. Salazar mainly throws a fastball and splitter, although curveballs and sliders occasionally make appearances as well. As you can deduce, Salazar's splitter is so good that he rarely needs to throw a third pitch, getting a whiff nearly half the time that pitch is thrown. It's easily one of the best splitters in baseball this year.

Filth:

via FanGraphs

Hopeful Lineup

1. Troy Tulowitzki SS
2. Josh Donaldson 3B
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion DH
5. Chris Colabello 1B
6. Russell Martin C
7. Ben Revere LF
8. Kevin Pillar CF
9. Ryan Goins 2B

Bullpen Usage

Brett Cecil is going to have cobwebs on him if the Blue Jays don't use him soon.

Find The Link

Find the link between Danny Salazar and the DH of the 1992 World Champion Blue Jays.

Enjoy the game tonight, maybe we'll see our first pitcher's duel in a while.