Game #35 Preview: Ryu vs Sanchez

The Blue Jays wrap up their brief 2 game series in Miami this evening, looking to avoid the short 2 game sweep at the hands of the Marlins. Today’s game is set to get underway at 6:40 EDT.

Blue Jays’ Starter

The Jays will send their Ace in Hyun-Jin Ryu, and he has been everything the Jays paid for this past offseason. After a rough first couple outings, Ryu has improved his numbers since then, and is now sitting with a 2-1 record and a 2.92 ERA. His FIP is right in line with his ERA as well, currently sitting at 2.93 thanks to a great strikeout rate, keeping the ball in the yard, and dropping his walk rate a lot. Over his last 3 starts, he has walked just 1 batter in 17 innings.

Ryu faced the Marlins back on August 11, and he earned a no-decision in a very good start. In 6 innings, he allowed just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7 batters. He allowed a home run off the bat of Brian Anderson leading off the second, but otherwise was completely dominant.

Marlins’ Starter

The Marlins will go with their young stud Sixto Sanchez, making the 3rd start of his young career. The 22 year old flamethrowing righty is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA so far. Over 12 innings, he has allowed just 3 runs on 12 hits, striking out 14 to just 1 walk. Entering the season, Fangraphs had him ranked as the 47th best prospect in the game, and so far he hasn’t disappointed.

While he does have a fastball that has averaged over 98, it is his changeup that is his best and most used pitch. Thrown mostly to left handed batters, he has finished 20 at bats on it this year, with 2 going for singles and 9 for strikeouts. Sanchez will also throw a sinker, slider and curve ball, but those three are a fair bit behind his bread and butter changeup and fastball.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Jonathan Villar made it through all of the COVID protocols in place during a trade (if there is such a thing), and was in last night’s starting lineup. He immediately got into the action with the bat, driving in the first run of the game last night with a groundout. It seems like the hope from Buck is that he’ll be in the top of the lineup going forward, and until Bo is back, I could see that being the case. He definitely seems like more of a bottom of the order sparkplug at the moment, but I guess we’ll see.

Teoscar Hernandez and Danny Jansen both had the night off last night, but I’m sure both will be in the lineup today. With the continual onslaught of games without an off day, we’re going to see guys not play every day, especially with another double header looming on Friday.

Marlins’ Lineup

Starling Marte made a good first impression on his new team yesterday, hitting the big home run and scoring another in their 3-2 win.

Isan Diaz received permission to return to the Marlins yesterday after opting out of opting out for the season. He last played July 26, so I’m not sure if he’ll be ready to go immediately or not.

Top prospect Jazz Chisholm got his call yesterday, being added to the roster prior to gametime. Fangraphs’ #33 overall prospect made it into the game last night as a defensive replacement, but did not receive an at bat. I’m not sure if the Marlins will put his lefty bat in the starting lineup against Ryu tonight either.

Yesterday’s Heroes

There was an offensive uprising across the league yesterday, with 5 of the 13 games featuring a team scoring double digit runs. There were also 5 players who drove in at least 6 runs yesterday, which feels like it has to be a record, and 3 of them were teammates, which also feels like it has to be a record.

So picking the Monster Bat is a little bit harder, but we’ll give it to Alex Dickerson, who went 5-6 with 3 home runs and 2 doubles, picking up a walk and driving in 6 runs. His Giants were on fire last night, as both Brandon Crawford and Donovan Solano also drove in 6, and the Giants absolutely pummeled the Rockies 23-5 in a game that was probably even a bit ridiculous for Coors Field.

Michael Brantley hit a big 3 run home run in the top of the 7th, giving his Astros the 4-3 lead. However, the Rangers would rally to win the game 6-5 in extra innings, but Brantley’s bat was good enough to pick up the WPA King award with an impressive .614 WPA.

Aaron Nola, the brother that didn’t get traded to the Padres, held the Nationals off the board over 8 solid innings to pick up the Pitcher of the Day award. He allowed just 2 hits and 3 walk while striking out 9 batters in the Phillies’ 6-0 win over the Nats.

Find the Link

Find the link between Jazz Chisholm and Andre Rodgers (go a little further than the easy one - there’s a reason I picked Rodgers over the other options).