Game #91 Preview: Gaviglio vs Foltynewicz

After a fun win last night, the Blue Jays wrap up their short 2 game set in Atlanta tonight. The game is scheduled for 7:35 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Sam Gaviglio gets his last start before the All Star break, looking to pick up his first win since May. On the season through 9 starts and 2 relief appearances, he has 52 innings pitched, a 2-2 record and a 3.81 ERA. He has been a very pleasant surprise for the Blue Jays, even if he has struggled pitching deep into games.

In his last start against the Yankees, Gaviglio went just 4.1 innings, but allowed just 2 runs (and only 1 earned) on 4 hits and a season high-tying 3 walks (he’s had it 2 other times, but those were both of his 7 inning starts). He struck out 6, which brings his total to 51 on the year and just short of one per inning.

Braves’ Starter

The Braves counter with Mike Foltynewicz (ful-ta-NEV-ich). The 26 year old is having a breakout year and has earned his way on to the NL All Star Roster for the first time in his career. And his numbers back up his selection. Through 17 starts, Folty has thrown 95 innings, pitching to a 6-5 record and a very impressive 2.37 ERA, the 9th best mark in the Majors.

Folty’s biggest gains this year have very much been in the strikeout and home run departments. Through the first 65 starts of his career prior to this year, he had a 4.87 ERA, striking out 8.11 batters per 9 and allowing 1.36 home runs per 9. So far this year, he has improved those numbers to be 10.80 K/9 and 0.76 HR/9, greatly helping his numbers across the board. And these gains could quite probably be linked to an uptick in his fastball velocity. Prior to this season, he was averaging 95.3 mph, and this year he has jumped that up to 97 mph. The effect of an improved fastball has spilled over to his slider, which has turned into an amazing secondary offering, allowing opposing batters just a .195 wOBA against it.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel got the night off yesterday. I would imagine they will be in the lineup tonight.

Kendrys Morales was also on the bench last night, but I don’t think he’ll be taking Justin Smoak’s spot out at 1B in this one with the way Smoak has been hitting lately.

I would imagine that Luke Maile will be back behind the plate in this one too.

Braves’ Lineup

Kurt Suzuki has caught each of the last 2 games, so they probably go with Tyler Flowers today.

Other than that, their other 7 guys are young (save for Markakis, but he’s an iron man), awesome and always in there.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Manny Machado went 3-4 with a pair of home runs, a double, and an intentional walk. Considering the level of ineptitude on the rest of that team, I’m surprised that was just his 12th such walk this season. Anyway, his Monster Bat performance helped the Orioles overtake the Yankees 6-5.

In a hilarious failure of the game telephone that was shared with us by canuck89, Cleveland brought in a right hander to face Joey Votto while still clinging on to a 4-3 lead with the bases loaded and 2 out. Votto ripped a bases clearing double, giving the Reds the 6-4 lead. That play alone gave Votto .656 WPA, which brought him from being in the negatives for the day all the way to his WPA King total of .618.

Eric Lauer had a night to remember. In the midst of a pretty ho-hum rookie season, he took a shutout into the 9th inning against the Dodgers last night. Through 8, he had allowed a double, a pair of singles and a pair of walks. With 2 outs, he allowed a solo home run on the 115th pitch of the night to Max Muncy, and that was the end of his night. But his effort was definitely good enough to earn the Pitcher of the Day award in the eventual 4-1 win for the Padres.

Find the Link

Find the link between Foltynewicz and Tommy DeJuneas.