Game #92 Preview: Sanchez vs Germán

The Blue Jays head to the Bronx to take on the Yankees as we return to our regularly scheduled baseball lives and fire up the second half of the season. Today’s game gets underway at 7:05 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

The Jays will send the struggling Aaron Sanchez to the mound, looking to pick up his first win since April 27 and end his streak of 11 losses since then, having also earned the loss in each of his last 8 starts. Sanchez hasn’t had an official quality start since May 22, and he has just 3 such outings this year in total. All of that adds up to a 3-12 record with a 6.16 ERA, and a nearly as bad 5.56 FIP.

Sanchez faced off against the Yankees back on June 24 in New York as well, and that start didn’t end well for him. The first 4 innings went alright, as he worked around 3 walks and a few hits but managed to keep the Yankees off the board. The 5th inning didn’t work out as well, as Aaron Hicks hit him up for a 3-run home run. Then came the 6th inning, and after giving up 4 hits to the first 5 batters, his night was done and he had yet another ugly line - 7 runs on 9 hits, 3 walks and just 4 strikeouts over 5.1 innings.

Yankees’ Starter

The Yankees will go with young right hander Domingo Germán, who is currently in the midst of a pretty good breakout season. The 26 year old Germán is 10-2 with a 3.67 ERA, although the FIP is a little bit higher at 4.03. Germán is striking out more than a batter per inning, while walking one every 4. It’s the home runs, 13 in 76 innings, that are hurting him this year. But when you make half of your starts in Yankee Stadium, you’re bound to give up your share of home runs.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will look to use the momentum of his very impressive showing at the Home Run Derby and turn it into a strong second half. Hopefully he can use the success he had there to start to bring up his team low launch angle of just 6.3 degrees.

Danny Jansen, who is hitting a very awesome .286/.341/.595 (143 wRC+) in 91 plate appearances since the start of June, will hopefully be able to build off that success as the season continues. His 13 extra base hits in that timeframe are also more than double his output from his first 114 PA.

First half offensive juggernauts Eric Sogard (124 wRC+) and Freddy Galvis (102 wRC+) will continue their auditions for playoff teams, hoping to grab a piece of a playoff bound bench in the coming weeks. Both of them should be good targets for teams looking to bolster their middle infield depth, and there really is no reason for the Jays to try and keep either of them around.

Yankees’ Lineup

The Yankees were nearly back to full strength at the end of June when these two teams met, and with the exception of Giancarlo Stanton, that is still the case. Stanton, who went down on June 25 with a knee contusion from a play at 3B in which he got tangled up in Clayton Richard, has given the team just 38 PA thus far, and doesn’t seem likely to return until sometime in August at the earliest.

Not that the Yankees really need Stanton anyway. They’re currently tied with the Twins (yes the Twins) sitting atop the league with a 5.72 runs per game average. In Stanton’s place in the outfield, Brett Gardner will get a lot more playing time, and the DH option is no longer available now that the Yankees have gone out and added Edwin Encarnacion. So I’m sure the Yankees will give Stanton all the time he needs to get back to 100% and be ready to go for the playoffs.

Yesterday’s Heroes

There was only 1 game on the docket yesterday, in which the Rangers beat the Astros 5-0. 2019 surprise story Lance Lynn went 7 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, so he can have the Pitcher of the Day award, and his .239 WPA earns him the WPA King title too. Rougned Odor hit a pair of doubles and drove in 2, so he can have the Monster Bat award, despite my disgust with having him linked in an article I’m writing.

Find the Link

Find the link between Germán and Russell Martin.