Game #81 Preview: McClanahan vs Stripling

The Blue Jays and Rays continue their series this afternoon, playing game 2 of their 3 game weekend set. The game is set to get underway at 3:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Ross Stripling will make his 14th appearance for the Jays, coming into play with a 3-4 record and a 4.27 ERA. He continues to show that he is a completely different pitcher after refining his game, and has now thrown 7 straight games of great baseball. In those 7 games, he has thrown 40.1 innings, allowing 12 runs (11 earned) on 27 hits and 10 walks, striking out 39. Whenever the strikeouts are greater than the hits plus walks, that’s a good sign.

Stripling’s run of dominance started against the Rays, in his only appearance against them this season. He came on as a follower, and threw 7 shutout innings. In those 7 innings, he allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 batters. It was his best outing of 2021.

Rays’ Starter

Rookie left hander Shane McClanahan will make his 12th start of the season for the Rays. He enters play with a 3-2 record and a 4.09 ERA. He has a great ability to generate strikeouts, coming into play with 61 in 50.2 innings, thanks to a great combination of his fastball and curveball. His walk rate (2.84 per 9 innings) comes in a bit better than the league average rate (3.41 per 9 innings) while his and home run rate (1.42 per 9 innings) is higher than league average (1.22 per 9 innings). All told, with his great strikeout rate, he comes into play with a very respectable 3.75 FIP.

McClanahan has faced the Jays once this season, making a start back on May 22. In that one, he went 5 strong innings, allowing a run on 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out just 4 in that start, one of just two starts for him this year that he didn’t have more strikeouts than innings pitched.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Rays’ Lineup

Yesterday’s Heroes

Shohei Ohtani once again hit a pair of home runs last night, making him the first Major Leaguer to reach the 30 home run plateau. He earns the Monster Bat award, and the Angles walked off the Orioles 8-7.

Luis Torrens hit a game tying home run in the bottom of the 8th, then took a walk in the 10th to help his Mariners to the 5-4 walkoff win over the Rangers. Torrens earns the WPA King total with a .523 mark.

Zack Wheeler threw 7.2 shutout innings, narrowly edging out Alek Manoah for the Pitcher of Day award. Wheeler allowed 4 hits and no walks, striking out 9 batters. Wheeler got the no-decision though, as it took the Phillies 10 innings to earn the win, beating the Padres 4-3.

Find the Link

Find the link between McClanahan and Jahmai Jones.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant