Game #104 Preview: Borucki vs Rodón

After yet another ugly loss last night, the Jays look to earn the series win this afternoon in Chicago. Today’s game gets underway at 2:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Chicago native Ryan Borucki excitedly makes the start for the Jays, and he is still seeking his first Major League win. Through his first 5 starts, Borucki is 0-2 with a 2.79 ERA - the kind of win/ERA combo that would make you think he’s pitching for the Mets. The Blue Jays essentially need him to work good enough and long enough to ensure he gets the win in this one, because in the words of John Gibbons last night, “we’re screwed with our bullpen tomorrow.”

White Sox’ Starter

The White Sox send Carlos Rodón to the mound. Rodón started the 2018 season on the DL still recovering from the shoulder surgery he had at the end of September last year. The surgery was to do a debridement of the area with “significant bursitis” in it. As someone with absolutely zero medical knowledge, that sounds pretty terrible.

Rodón has pitched pretty well in his 8 games back. He has thrown 50.2 innings, averaging more than 6 per start, and has a accumulated a 3-3 record with a 3.38 ERA. His peripherals don’t look quite as nice, as he is struggling a bit with his control coming back, and is walking 3.55 batters per 9 innings. He also isn’t striking out batters like he has in the past, as his K rate of 7.64 per 9 innings is significantly down from previous years where he was more than a batter per inning. That, coupled with being a fly ball pitcher and allowing home runs accordingly, has given him an FIP of 4.63. Part of the reason for the difference from his ERA can be attributed to the .213 BABIP, which isn’t likely to hold up.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Lourdes Gurriel looks to continue his assault on the record books from second base this time. Diaz gets the start at SS.

Luke Maile is obviously back behind the plate in the day game after a night game, but also probably because I’m sure Russell Martin’s hand is a bit bigger today.

Dwight Smith Jr. gets the start in RF because of the lefty Rodon on the mound.

White Sox Lineup

It’s not the easiest to read, but the colours are pretty and you can see that the White Sox have a lineup loaded with righties and switchies to face Borucki.

Yesterday’s Heroes

If you expand the meaning of “yesterday”, there are 6 of them being enshrined in Cooperstown today. Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome, Alan Trammel and Jack Morris are all a part of the big Hall class this year, and will be commemorated by a long and lovely ceremony in Middle-of-Nowhere, NY today.

Back to the normal meaning of “yesterday” and *dry heaves* Rougned Odor is our Monster Bat award winner. He went 5-5 with 2 home runs and a double as Texas beat up on their in-state rival and only Texas team to ever win a World Series, the Houston Astros by a score of 7-3.

Rookie Rosell Herrera took 2 games against the Yankees to get his pretty low WPA King total of .401 WPA. The Royals split the doubleheader 10-5 (Royals) and 5-4 (Yankees).

I pick Jhoulys Chacin as the Pitcher of the Day. He went 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits and just 1 walk, as his Brewers beat the Giants 7-1. There were likely better choices on a day with several quality starts, but that’s the winner due to length and lack of walks.

Milestone Watch

Lourdes Gurriel is the one to watch in this one. He enters play with 10 consecutive multi-hit games, which is supposedly the most by a rookie since Shoeless Joe Jackson did it over 100 years ago. A little research on the subject too:

Find the Link

Find the link between Rodón and JP Arencibia.