Game #25 Preview: Pomeranz vs Buchholz

The Blue Jays look to rebound against the Giants this afternoon, before bidding them farewell from their short visit to Canada. Today’s game is an earlier one, with first pitch scheduled for 4:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

The Blue Jays turn to all of a sudden one of their more important members of the rotation, Clay Buchholz. The importance of getting a lot of quality innings out of Buchholz has been amplified in the wake of Shoemaker’s season ending injury and Sanchez’ re-emerging finger problems.

Thankfully, it seems Buchholz may be up to the challenge, at least the quality part. After putting up a 2.01 ERA in 16 starts last year, Buchholz has given the Jays a good start and a so-so start so far this year. In total over 10.2 innings, he has allowed 4 runs on 12 hits, but has limited opponents to just 3 walks. The 6 strikeouts are a bit lower than you’d like to see, and about 2 per 9 innings lower than his career average. So there’s a good chance that that will rebound as well.

There is a concerning side to Buchholz’ season as well. Through his first 10.2 innings, his average fastball velocity has dropped about 2.5 mph since last season, currently sitting at about 88 mph, 6 mph down from his prime in Boston. A gradual decrease as pitchers get older is expected, but this is a fairly significant dip, and Buchholz is getting into dangerous territory as mid-to-upper-80s fastballs don’t really play well, especially for those without amazing control. This is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.

Giants’ Starter

The Giants go with a familiar face in lefty Drew Pomeranz. The former Red Sox (and Rockies and Athletics and Padres) pitcher signed in the offseason with the Giants, after a brutal year with the Red Sox, although any brutal year that ends with a World Series ring on your finger can’t be that bad.

After putting up a 6.08 ERA in 74 innings last season, Pomeranz is off to a bit better start this season. Through his first 18.2 innings in 4 games, Pomeranz is 0-2 with a 4.82 ERA. He has allowed 22 hits, with 4 leaving the yard, plus another 8 walks and a hit by pitch. He has limited the damage a bit by striking out 23, but his FIP is right in line with his ERA at 4.88.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Rowdy Tellez has earned a start today against the lefty after his grand slam off lefty Tony Watson last night, so hopefully we see him in the starting lineup.

While Freddy Galvis didn’t get the start last night, Charlie Montoyo made sure that he still got in the game, pinch hitting for Luke Maile. He likely wasn’t good enough to stick around and field, which would explain why he wasn’t in there pinch hitting for Eric Sogard. I’m not sure I like a manager who manages for player’s personal milestones, but I’m sure the players appreciate it a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Galvis not start today either, and then use the off day tomorrow to get healed up even more, but I can pretty much assure you that he’ll at least pinch hit.

Giants’ Lineup

Joe Panik obviously loved the maple filled air last night, turning into an offensive monster that Giants fans haven’t even seen glimpses of for a few years. That was just the second game since the start of last season (467 PA in 123 games) that Panik had multiple extra base hits in a game, as well as his first home run since June 30.

Pablo Sandoval also hit his first home run of 2019, and had 3 hits total on the night. That was his first home run since July 20, although he didn’t play any after the end of July.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Travis Shaw, Franmil Reyes and Luke Voit all went 2-4 with a pair of home runs, but Voit also chipped in a walk, so I’ll give him the Monster Bat award. Voit helped his Yankees (who I think should have to wear names on the back of their Jerseys for the next month at least) to the 7-5 win over the Angels.

It was a pretty boring day on the WPA side of things, as Ronny Rodriguez gets the WPA King title with a fairly low .394 mark, especially considering he played a double header. In the first game, Rodriguez hit a go ahead home run in the 6th, and then pushed the go ahead run to 3rd with an 8th inning double (his second double of the game). In game two, he went 1-4, scored a run and didn’t really do anything of note. But he gets the WPA King title, and more importantly the Tigers swept the double header in Boston against the Red Sox 7-4 and 4-2.

See, good things do happen in Boston.

Pitcher of the Day goes to Zack Wheeler, who threw 7 shutout innings, allowing just 5 hits while walking none and striking out 11. He also hit a home run, and became the first pitcher this year to throw a ball at least 100 mph and hit a ball at least 100 mph, because that’s something we’re tracking now. Anyway, the Mets won 9-0 over the Phillies, which is a good thing.

Find the Link

Find the link between Pomeranz and Manny Machado.

Stats are courtesy of Fangraphs