Game #154 Preview: Castillo vs Reid-Foley

The Blue Jays had fun in last night, and they’ll look to duplicate that fun in game 2 of 4 against the Rays tonight. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Sean Reid-Foley makes his 6th big league start, and MLB.com says it will be his last of the season as the Jays are managing his workload. Through his first 5, Reid-Foley has gotten mixed results. There have been 2 gems where he was completely untouchable, going a combined 12 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 5 walks, striking out 20. He has also had 1 not good start, and 2 very terrible starts, but you can’t really expect more out of an unrefined rookie. The excellent starts were a lot of fun to watch, and hopefully something he can build off.

Rays’ Starter

Diego Castillo gets his 10th opportunity to work as the opener for the Rays. Through his first 9 plus 31 relief appearances, Castillo is 3-2 with a 3.14 ERA, right in line with his 3.11 FIP. He has done a fabulous job keeping the ball in the ballpark, allowing just 4 home runs over 51.2 innings.

Castillo is likely to go 2 innings against the Jays, something that he has done on 3 occasions already this season. In total, he has thrown 7.2 innings, allowing just 3 hits and a walk, striking out 9 and keeping the Jays off the board.

After Castillo is out of the game, we’re likely to see some combination of Jalen Beeks, Chaz Roe and Jose Alvarado, among others.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Richard Ureña got the start at second base last night, but I would imagine that Devon Travis will be back out there tonight.

Despite hitting the walk-off home run last night, it is probably Justin Smoak’s turn to sit to allow Rowdy Tellez to get another start.

I would imagine Danny Jansen will be catching Sean Reid-Foley.

Rays’ Lineup

Yesterday’s heartbreaking loss, coupled with the Athletics’ annihilation of the Angels, has pushed the Rays to 6.5 games back of that second Wild Card spot with 10 games to go. Their elimination number is down to 4, which means that the Rays would have to win every game from here on out while the A’s only win 3.

I would imagine they are going to fight for every game they can still, so look for the majority of their regulars back in the lineup tonight.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Mookie Betts went 4-5 with a home run and a pair of doubles to earn the Monster Bat award. His offensive prowess helped the Red Sox take down the Yankees 11-6, finally clinching the AL East Division Title. I’m happy they did it in Yankee stadium.

While Gurriel (0.44) and Smoak (0.42) led the way on the batters’ side for WPA King, it was Hector Santiago, relief pitcher for the White Sox, who is our WPA King winner from yesterday. Santiago pitched a clean 9th, 10th and 11th inning, picking up the win as the White Sox took the lead in the top of the 11th. Santiago got to go back out there and finish the job after getting the lead, not something you usually see, especially with the deep bullpens. But he held the lead as the White Sox took down Cleveland 5-4. Castillo’s WPA on the day was .510.

Cody Reed threw 6 shutout innings, scattering 5 hits and striking out 6 to earn the Pitcher of the Day award. His Reds took down the Marlins 4-2.

Find the Link

Find the link between Castillo and Pasqual Matos.