Game #116 Preview: Stanek vs Gaviglio

The Blue Jays look to put their awful game from last night behind them as they move into game 2 of their 3 game set against the Rays this afternoon. The game gets underway at 4:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Sam Gaviglio gets the start for the Blue Jays. There was a time that I was happy to see Gaviglio on the mound. But that hasn’t really been since June. After his June 30 start where he allowed 3 runs over 7 innings, he was sporting a 2-2 record with a 3.97 ERA, averaging over 5.1 innings, pretty good numbers for a backend starter grabbed off the scrapheap. He was getting 8.50 K/9, only walking 2.64/9, but was allowing a lot of home runs, at a 1.51 per 9 inning rate. But since the end of June, he has made 7 starts and has gone 0-2 with a 6.82 ERA. He’s only averaging 4.1 innings per start, and while his K/9 has remained similar (8.60), the walks (3.86) and the homers (1.78) have gotten significantly worse.

Rays’ “Starter”

Ryne Stanek gets the nod as the opener in this one. Stanek has opened 18 games this season, and has entered as a reliever in another 19, owning a 2.56 ERA over 45.2 innings. He has struck out 60 over those innings, allowing 6 home runs and 19 walks. The walks are a bit high, but I’m sure the Rays are pretty happy with the work that he has done.

Ryan Yarbrough hasn’t pitched since the August 6th, so I’m guessing he’ll be the long guy coming in after Stanek goes an inning or two. Yarbrough has had a pretty good rookie season thus far, throwing 108.1 innings over 5 starts and 23 relief appearances. He’s probably on pace to have the most relief innings in 20+ years, but I’m not looking that up. He has a 4.24 ERA, although the lefty has looked better than that in his 2 outings against the Jays this season. In total he has allowed 4 runs on 8 hits over 11 innings, although his first outing when he threw 6 shutout innings allowing just 1 hit might be skewing my memory a bit. We did hit him pretty well when he made an actual start against us on June 11.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

I hope John Gibbons realizes that the righty Stanek is only going to pitch 1, maybe 2 innings before the lefty Yarbrough is brought in. In that case, Curtis Granderson shouldn’t be starting in this one. Although I’m pretty sure I wrote those words in the past too and Granderson proceeded to go 3-4 including a pair of hits off opener Wilmer Font. So who knows I guess.

Richard Urena started at 3B and collected one of the Jays’ 3 singles. That might have been enough to earn him a start today too.

Luke Maile caught last night, so we’re probably back to Russell Martin behind the plate.

Rays’ Lineup

They looked pretty good last night in getting 7 runs off Estrada et al. They surprisingly did it by hitting 2 home runs, which hasn’t really been a part of their offensive attack this year.

Top prospect Willy Adames looked really good yesterday, playing good defense at SS while also going 3-3 with a pair of doubles, a walk and a stolen base. It was probably the best he has looked all season, as that effort raised his WAR to 0.0.

Matt Duffy and C.J. Cron got the day off yesterday, but are likely to be back in the lineup today.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Rookie Ronald Guzman hit 3 solo shots yesterday in the Rangers 12-7 win over the Yankees. Earning the Monster Bat award and helping make the Yankees lose is a good day.

Carlos Rodon threw 8 shutout innings, holding Cleveland down long enough for Daniel Palka to hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 9th. His efforts kept the White Sox close, as Shane “Not Justin” Bieber kept the White Sox bats quiet too. But Rodon is our Pitcher of the Day, and he also contributed .556 WPA to his team’s win to earn WPA King as well in the 1-0 game.

Find the Link

Find the link between Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough.