Game #142 Preview: Plutko vs Reid-Foley

The Blue Jays will look to replicate the excitement of last night’s win today in game 3 of 4 against the visitors from Cleveland. The game gets underway at 4:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Fresh off his first Major League win, Sean Reid-Foley looks to make it back to back great starts. Reid-Foley threw 7 innings of 1 run ball, allowing 4 hits and walking 1 against the Marlins. The really impressive part was that he struck out 10, finally finding his knockout pitch after so many 2 strike balls in play in his first 2 starts.

Cleveland Starter

Right hander Adam Plutko is making his 11th start for the big league club this season. Through his first 10, plus 3 relief appearances, Plutko is 4-5 with a 5.04 ERA. He has had tremendous difficulties with the home run, allowing 16 in 64.1 inning - a rate of 1 every 4 innings. However, as a pitcher with a 54.4% fly ball rate, he is bound to allow home runs. He does also get a good amount of popups, but not enough to make such an extreme fly ball profile work.

Plutko faced the Jays in his first career start back at the beginning May. As it seems with many guys making their debuts against the Jays*, he went 7.1 innings allowing 3 runs and earned the win. He struck out 6 and walked none, but he did allow 3 home runs - solo shots to Josh Donaldson, Yangervis Solarte and Aledmys Diaz.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

I was hoping the lineups were going to be posted before I was finished here, but over 4 hours before gametime I guess is a bit too optimistic.

I really don’t know what to expect from the Jays in this one. Rowdy Tellez has been a treat to watch, and I’m hoping he keeps playing. Billy McKinney and Danny Jansen also fall in that same vein.

Russell Martin hasn’t caught a game in over a week. I would imagine he’s fine watching the rookies get their feet wet, but I would imagine he’s going to be back behind the plate at some point.

Cleveland Lineup

Michael Brantley has missed the first 2 games of this series dealing with a foot injury. I’m sure Cleveland is in no rush to force him back into the lineup when the games mean so little. Better to get him 100% and ready for the postseason.

I don’t think Jose Ramirez has enjoyed his stay in Canada yet. The MVP candidate is 2-10 with a pair of singles and a walk, while also committing a rare error at 3B last night and misplaying another.

Francisco Lindor, after destroying the Jays on Thursday, was held quiet last night, going 0-5 with a walk, although he did show off his speed, easily stealing second base.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Reds’ outfielder Phillip Ervin went 3-3 with a pair of home runs and a walk, driving in 4 runs in the Reds’ 12-6 win over the Padres, earning Ervin the Monster Bat award.

Kevin Pillar’s walkoff home run last night was worth .415 WPA of his .521 WPA King total, just barely edging out Lewis Brinson for the honours. In case you wanted to watch that golf shot last night, which is apparently the lowest ball hit for a home run by a Blue Jay in at least 10 years, here you go.

A lot of good pitchers turned in good pitching performances last night, as there were 12 quality starts around the league. The best one, however, belonged to Masahiro Tanaka, who helped his Yankees to the 4-0 win over Seattle to win the Pitcher of the Day honours. Tanaka went 8 shutout innings, scattering 2 singles and a double, while striking out 10.

Find the Link

Find the link between Plutko and old friend Rob Refsnyder.

* completely unsubstantiated bias.