Game #117 Preview: Glasnow vs Stroman

The Blue Jays wrap up their 6 game homestand this afternoon, looking to win just their 2nd game. The game gets underway at 1:07 ET, so you better read this quickly.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Marcus Stroman is supposedly good to go to make this start after leaving his last start with blister problems. He threw a side session earlier this week, and I guess that must have gone well enough to go today.

That blister prematurely pulled Stroman from easily his best start of the season too. Through 92 pitches, Stroman held the Red Sox to 1 unearned run on a pair of hits and 3 walks over 7 innings. Since he did it against the Red Sox, that was all the better.

That game brought his season ERA down to 5.20, which is still a lot higher than anyone expected after posting a 3.09 mark last year. But he also has a much more palatable 3.48 ERA since coming back from the early season shoulder injury he was obviously pitching through.

Rays’ Starter

Tyler Glasnow is making his 3rd start for the Rays since coming over in the trade that sent Ace Chris Archer to the Pirates. Glasnow has been pretty dominant for the Rays in his short work, although his workload is being limited due to ramping back up after pitching out of the Pirates bullpen. He has thrown 7 innings total, with 3 innings on 48 pitches the first time and 4 innings on 61 pitches the second time. Following that trend, he could look to get into the 75+ range today, which could be a complete game against the Jays.

Glasnow’s numbers for the Rays over those 7 innings look pretty great too. He has allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, 2 of those hits being solo home runs. He has only walked 1, the biggest concern that has surrounded the top prospect his entire professional career. And he has struck out a very impressive 14.

Lineups

Danny Jansen, who just got called up for today’s game, is on the bench in this one. With Sean Reid-Foley expected to start tomorrow’s game in KC, I would imagine that will be Jansen’s first big league start.

Russell Martin gets the start at 3B in this one, somewhere I’m sure he’s going to see a lot of time over the next couple weeks.

Randal Grichuk is in CF as Kevin Pillar also gets a day off.

And resident bench warmer Richard Urena is indeed on the bench.

For the Rays, it’s pretty much business as usual. Michael Perez is back behind the plate after a day off yesterday. C.J. Cron is back on the bench as Ji-Man Choi has taken over regular DH duties from him.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Ryan Zimmerman went 2-3 with a pair of homers, a walk and a sac fly, driving in 6 runs for the Nationals to earn the Monster Bat award. His big day helped the Nationals to the 9-4 win over the Cubs as they continue to fight for their lives in the NL East.

Ryan McMahon hit a 2-out, 3-run walk off home run for the Rockies to earn our WPA King title. His home run was worth .878 WPA, sending Colorado fans home happy in with a 3-2 win over the Dodgers, pulling the Rockies within 1.5 of the Diamondbacks and Dodgers who are tied for first place. That NL West is going to be a fun finish.

Edwin Jackson allowed just 3 hits over 7.1 shutout innings, helping his Athletics to the 7-0 win over the Angels. His Pitcher of the Day work maintained the 1.5 game lead the A’s have over the Mariners, as the Mariners have now won 3 straight.

Find the Link

Find the link between Glasnow and Trevor Bauer.