Game #151 Preview: Sanchez vs Bundy

The Blue Jays, winners of 3 straight games, try to continue their winning ways in Baltimore tonight in game 2 of their 3 game series. Gametime is at 7:05 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Aaron Sanchez looks to continue the Jays’ recent trend of great starting pitching. On the season he is 4-6 with a 4.90 ERA, but he is coming off a pair of strong starts against Tampa Bay and Boston. In Tampa, Sanchez went 6 innings, where he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits including a pair of homers, but he also struck out 8 against just 2 walks - both strong numbers compared to the struggles he had earlier in the season.

His last time out against Boston was arguably his best start of the season. He went 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, striking out 6 but he did allow 3 walks. However, he did this against the very strong Red Sox lineup, so that’s worth bonus points.

Orioles’ Starter

Home run magnet Dylan Bundy goes for the Orioles. On the season, Bundy is 8-14 with a 5.48 ERA, a little worse than his 5.25 FIP. He is doing a good job striking guys out (9.58 per 9 innings) and also doing fairly well limiting walks (2.83 per 9 innings). But where his season has gone completely off the rails is the home run department, where he has allowed a Major League worst (>100 innings) home run rate of 2.19 per 9 innings. That is a recipe for disaster, and that’s what Bundy has given the Orioles this year.

Bundy has thrown 16 innings over 3 games against the Jays, with 1 good start early in the season and 2 really bad starts more recently. In those 16 innings, Jays’ batters have hit .288/.329/.677, scoring 14 runs while launching 7 home runs. While Bundy does have the ability to shut the Jays down, like he did allowing 2 runs on 4 hits at the beginning of April, I would imagine the Jays are excited to see him on the mound.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Anthony Alford has finally earned the callup to the Blue Jays after a couple weeks off. I would hope that he is able to get into the lineup tonight.

Yangervis Solarte drew another start at 3B yesterday. I wish he would stop doing that. I would rather see Richard Ureña out there, getting to see what he can do. Barring that, Russell Martin has not played in over 2 weeks, and could get a start at 3B too.

Orioles Lineup

I’m a little surprised that they don’t have a plethora of rookies that they’re cycling through the lineup. Aside from Chris Davis and Caleb Joseph, most of their starters that have gotten them to this 43-107 record are still the ones that are being trotted out there day after day.

Speaking of Davis, he will likely be back in the lineup today with Sanchez on the mound after getting last night off against the left handed Borucki.

DJ Stewart is also likely to be in there somewhere, as I would imagine Buck Showalter will try to load up on lefties in the lineup.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Christian Yelich went 4-4 last night, completing the cycle against the Reds for the second time this year and also winning the Monster Bat award. He became the first player ever to hit for the cycle against the same team twice in the same year. If that wasn’t bad enough, Milwaukee beat Cincinnati 8-0.

Dan Vogelbach hit a huge grand slam in the top of 8th inning last night, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead. His Mariners would hold on for the win over the Astros, as Vogelbach’s WPA King total of .617 easily led the way.

In what I believe is just the second instance of this happening, a Blue Jay is Pitcher of the Day. Ryan Borucki’s 8 shutout innings on 3 hits just narrowly edges out Kyle Hendricks, who gave up his only run leading off the top of the 9th and went 8.2 innings. So thanks to my unbiased choice, I am picking Borucki against the O’s instead of Kendrick against a real team because I can.

Find the Link

Find the link between Bundy and Archie Bradley.