Game #18 Preview: Chirinos vs Shoemaker

The Blue Jays and Rays get to play two part games today, making up for the rain shortened game from last night, provided the rain doesn’t destroy all hopes of that today. The resumed game is scheduled to get underway at 1:07 EDT, with the official Sunday game (the one I’m going to be previewing here mostly) scheduled for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first one. That game will only be 7 innings, because this is 2020, and everything is weird.

First, where are we?

We’ll join the first game in the bottom of the 4th, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leading off the inning against a new pitcher. That’s good news for the Jays, as that means Yarbrough’s night ended prematurely. The lefty, who has a career 2.14 ERA in 42 innings against Toronto, had held the Jays off the board through 3 innings, and seemed to be poised to continue to shut down the Jays’ bats.

The Rays are currently up 1-0, thanks to an Austin Meadows home run. Thomas Hatch will start the top of the 5th inning on the mound for the Blue Jays.

Now, for that second game...

Blue Jays’ Starter

Matt Shoemaker will make his 4th start of the season, and he’ll likely be eyeing that shorter game and have the potential for the Jays’ first complete game of the season. Shoemaker has thrown 6 innings in 2 of his 3 starts so far, but he’ll need to be a lot more effective than he was in his last two starts to be able to go the distance.

After allowing just 1 run over 6 innings in his first start, Shoemaker was knocked around a bit by the Braves and Red Sox. Over 10.2 innings, he allowed 8 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, with the biggest culprit being 5 home runs.

Rays’ Starter

Yonny Chirinos returns to the Rays’ rotation today after missing about 2 weeks due to a strained triceps. He’ll be making his 3rd start of the season today, and I would imagine he’ll be held back a little bit from going too deep into the game.

In his first two games, Chirinos totaled 8.2 innings, where he allowed 1 earned run and 1 unearned run on 9 hits and 4 walks, striking out 7. Last season, he split his time between starting games and coming in as the bulk guy, and saw half of his appearances go longer than 5 innings, so his first two starts this year were shorter due to limits put on him, which I’m sure he’ll face again today just coming back from injury.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

With Reese McGuire finishing up the first game of the day, I fully expect Danny Jansen to catch the second half of today’s mini double header.

I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Joe Panik in the game somewhere, giving someone a break. I’m just not really sure where he’ll find his way in.

I’d like to see Anthony Alford get some more opportunities too, but unfortunately I think the book on his time in Toronto is almost finished. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him on his way out the door when Derek Fisher returns.

Rays’ Lineup

Both Joey Wendle and Yoshi Tsutsugo are on the bench in the first game, but they’ll be back out there for the second one. I would imagine Michael Perez makes his way out behind the plate as well, giving Mike Zunino the opportunity to rest after finishing the first game.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Nelson Cruz went 3-6 with a pair of home runs and a double to pick up the Monster Bat award. He drove in 3 and scored 3 over a double header of his own, as the Royals and Twins split the two games by a score of 4-2 each time.

Shane Bieber and Aaron Nola are the co-winners of the Pitcher of the Day award, both picking up the win in their games as well thanks to throwing 7 shutout innings. Both allowed 3 hits, while Nola walked 2 and struck out 8 and Bieber walked 1, struck out 11 and threw a pair of wild pitches. Nola helped his Phillies to the 6-2 win over the Mets, while Cleveland beat the Tigers 3-1.

Mark Canha hit a 2-out, 3-run home run in the top of the 9th, turning a 6-4 score into a 7-6 lead for his Athletics. They held on to for the win over the Giants, and Canha picks up the WPA King trophy with a .754 mark.

Find the Link

Find the link of the combo of Joey Wendle with Ryan Yarbrough and Miguel Andujar with Gleyber Torres.