Game #137 Preview: Chirinos (?) vs Stroman

After taking the series in Miami, the Jays head home to open a 7 game homestand, starting with a 3 game set against the Rays beginning tonight. First pitch is at 7:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Marcus Stroman returns from the DL to make the start for the Jays. Stroman last pitched on August 17, but went on the DL after a blister he fought with for several days just wouldn’t go away (if for whatever reason you would like to see the blister, here you go). Stroman understandably struggled in the August 17 start against the Yankees, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits over 4 innings. His 2 starts before that were much better, and really go to show the frustrations of Stroman’s 2018 season - just when you think he’s putting it together, something happens and he has a stinker of a start.

Rays’ Starter

MLB.com doesn’t have a starter for the Rays listed yet. But places like Fangraphs and Roster Resource say that the Rays will be starting Yonny Chirinos. Chirinos has made 7 starts and 6 long relief outings for Rays in his rookie season. Thus far, he is 2-5 with a 4.04 ERA. He is averaging just short of 5 innings per game, but for the most part has gotten above 5 innings for his last several appearances. If he’s not starting in this one, I would imagine that there will be an opener and we will see Chirinos after the first couple innings.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Today is the last day in the Buffalo Bisons’ lost season, so after today there is likely to be an influx of Minor Leaguers to fill the bench. I don’t imagine many will be taking starts away from today’s starters over the next few weeks though.

Players like Lourdes Gurriel, Billy McKinney, Randal Grichuk, Danny Jansen and Teoscar Hernandez, players that figure to be here for a while, will likely still draw most starts. Long term vets like Kevin Pillar, Justin Smoak, Russell Martin and Kendrys Morales will also likely still draw a lot of starts as well. The guys that are likely to see playing time reduced with more guys up from the Minors are Aledmys Diaz and Devon Travis, although I’ll stop pretending I know what John Gibbons plans are now.

Rays’ Lineup

Outfielder Mallex Smith returns to the Rays after being away for a couple weeks with a viral infection. He’ll probably be in the lineup tonight.

Sophomore Daniel Robertson, who was in the midst of a fabulous breakout season, has been on the DL since the beginning of August after undergoing thumb surgery. He hopes to make it back this season still, but certainly not in this series.

Top prospect Willy Adames, who was struggling coming into the series the last time the Jays saw the Rays, has really catapulted his season starting with that series 3.5 weeks ago. Since the start of that series he is hitting .338/.438/.515 (163 wRC+) over 81 PA.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Nomar Mazara had a big game for Texas yesterday, going 3-5 with a pair of homers and a double to earn the Monster Bat award. His bat, plus a few others, really helped the Rangers lay into the Twins by a score of 18-4.

Noah Syndergaard looked like the Ace of old yesterday, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and a walk, striking out 11 in a complete game. His Pitcher of the Day efforts led the Mets to the 4-1 win over the Giants, and was also worth a WPA King total of .458.

Find the Link

Find the link between Chirinos and the Blue Jays’ 9th round selection in the 2007 draft.