Game #60 Preview: Ryu vs Keuchel

Welcome to game #60. As many games as the Jays played in the regular season last year, which is pretty crazy to think about, considering how early in the season this still feels.

The Blue Jays will wrap up their 3 game set in Chicago against the first place White Sox. They will look to earn the series win after last night’s come from behind victory. The game is once again set for an 8:10 ET start.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Hyun Jin Ryu will start for the Jays, looking for a bounce back outing after a very bad game against the Astros. The Astros touched him up for 7 runs (6 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks, with 2 home runs allowed, while striking out just 1. The walks, home runs and strikeouts are all the worst he has put up in a start this year, leading to concern about an injury or something. But Ryu says that he felt he was rushing his delivery, so hopefully he can get that back under control.

Even with the bad outing, Ryu’s stats on the year are still pretty good. Through 11 starts and 64 innings, Ryu is 5-3 with a 3.23 ERA. He has 59 strikeouts against just 11 walks, and has now allowed 8 home runs.

White Sox’ Starter

For the first time this series, the White Sox are going with a guy who has an ERA above 2.00. Dallas Keuchel gets the start, and while his numbers aren’t elite like Rodón or Lynn, he’s still a very serviceable starter for them. Through 12 starts and 65.2 innings, Keuchel is 4-1 with a 4.25 ERA. His ability to get a strikeout has pretty much disappeared, with just 33 so far this year. However, he is keeping free runners off the bases and the ball on the ground, so that is helping his cause.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

They will likely go with the full on right handed batting order again today, with Riley Adams, Santiago Espinal and Jonathan Davis all likely to be in the lineup in place of Reese McGuire, Joe Panik and Rowdy Tellez. However, this may not be the best offensive strategy. Jonathan Davis has just 1 hit in his last 25 PA, while Espinal has 4 in that same span of 25 PA. With Cavan Biggio coming back, likely tomorrow, I would guess that Espinal would be the one on the way out, but the Jays might also consider their options with Davis’ roster spot as well.

One of the outfielders will likely be at DH today, and it would appear that it is Teoscar Hernández’ turn.

Bo Bichette went 3-5 yesterday, and has run his hitting streak to 8 games. It was also his second straight multi-hit game, and he’s one of the few that probably are upset that this series will end today.

White Sox’ Lineup

After taking a bat thrown by the umpire to the knee last night, José Abreu is probably feeling a bit sore. I doubt it is anything serious, but he probably has a pretty good bruise, and the White Sox might consider giving him the night off.

Yermín Mercedes was on the bench yesterday against the righty, but he’ll be back out there tonight against Ryu. The same can probably be said for Adam Engel, while Danny Mendick is also a probable.

Yasmani Grandal has started each of the first two games at catcher in this series, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a night off his feet. Him moving to DH may be the way the White Sox give Abreu a break for the night.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Kevin Pillar and Billy McKinney get the co-Monster Bat award. Combined, they went 6-9 with 4 home runs and 9 RBI, helping lead the Mets to a 14-1 walloping of the Orioles.

Luke Williams, playing in just his second career game and making his first career start, had a night to remember. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and a runner on, he hit a walk-off home run to give his Phillies the 2-1 win over the Braves. The home run alone was worth .903 WPA, giving him the WPA King trophy with an .870 mark on the night.

Lance Lynn was the Pitcher of the Day yesterday, throwing 7 innings of 1 run ball against the Jays in the White Sox’ loss.

Find the Link

Find the link between Yasmani Grandal, Drew Pomeranz and Chris Sale.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant