Game #5 Preview: Hess vs Reid-Foley

The Blue Jays welcome the second place Baltimore Orioles into town for a 3 game series. The first game kicks off tonight at 7:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

In what was originally scheduled to be Clayton Richard’s start, the Blue Jays have sent Richard to the Injured List and have called up righty Sean Reid-Foley.

Reid-Foley will be making his 8th career start, after logging 7 turbulent starts last season. He retains his rookie status, having thrown just 33.1 innings in those 7 starts, putting up a 2-4 record with a 5.13 ERA. Reid-Foley struck out an impressive 42 in his 7 starts, but also walked 21 while allowing 6 home runs. He also beaned a batter and uncorked 3 wild pitches.

If Reid-Foley is going to take that big step forward and lock down a spot in the Major League rotation, he is going to need to find consistency. Consistency obviously in terms of throwing strikes, but he was also very inconsistent from start to start. There were a few starts last season where things seemed to click for him, like his September 2 start against the Marlins where he went 7 innings, allowing just a run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 10. But that was sandwiched by a pair of brutal starts, where he threw a combined 9 innings, allowing 14 runs on 12 hits, striking out 9 while walking 8, and giving up 5 home runs.

Obviously he’s still a rookie, and has a lot to learn. The stuff is there, and he is an exciting pitcher to watch.

Orioles’ Starter

Right hander David Hess makes his first start of the season for the Orioles. He already has gotten into a game in 2019, pitching 2 innings in mopup relief in the opener against the Yankees, throwing a pair of shutout innings.

Hess is in his second season as a member of the Orioles rotation, having made 19 starts for them in 2018. He went 3-10 with a 4.88 ERA, struggling with keeping the ball on the ground and in the yard. He allowed 1.92 home runs per 9 innings, the 4th highest rate among pitchers with at least 100 innings. He struggled getting strikeouts as well, with just 6.45 per 9 innings, while walking exactly half of that, 3.22 per 9 (plus another 8 HBP).

The Jays saw Hess 3 times last year, and naturally he had 3 of his best starts of the season against Toronto. In total, he threw 19 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 9 hits, with 4 walks and 16 strikeouts. He allowed 2 homers, one to Curtis Granderson and one to Kendrys Morales, 2 of the 15 home runs he allowed to lefties on the season.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Freddy Galvis was a late scratch for yesterday’s game, deferring the start to Richard Ureña, and putting his consecutive games played streak at risk. Galvis did make it into the game as a pinch hitter to keep the streak alive, but the overall picture of whether he’s healthy has been clouded. Hopefully the pinch hit appearance indicates it was merely a minor ailment, and he’s back in the lineup today.

Also on the “maybe he’s hurt” watch list, Randal Grichuk was back in the starting lineup yesterday, so thoughts about him being injured have been temporarily lessened.

Orioles’ Lineup

The Orioles surprisingly took 2 games from the Yankees over the past weekend, scoring 12 runs in their 2 wins and shocking Yankee fans at Yankee Stadium.

The offense was paced by Trey Mancini, Joey Rickard, Jesus Sucre, Renato Núñez, and our old friend Dwight Smith Jr.

Chris Davis appeared in just 2 of the 3 games, striking out 3 times in the first game, but drawing a walk and putting the ball in play the other 3 times in yesterday’s game.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Trea Turner had the Monster Bat yesterday, wrapping a pair of homers and knocking in 4, while also chipping in a stolen base, to help his Nationals take down the Mets 6-5. Turner also earns the WPA King title, as his first home run was a 3-run home run to get the Nats on the board early and give them the 3-1 lead, while the second one was of the walkoff variety with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th.

Marlins’ starter Sandy Alcantara has earned the Pitcher of the Day award. He went 8 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and no walks while striking out 6 as Miami blanked the Rockies 3-0.

Find the Link

Find the link between Hess and Matt Duffy.

Stats are courtesy of Fangraphs