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The Blue Jays will look to right their ship this evening after falling last night, looking to even the series back up against the Orioles. Tonight’s game is set to get underway at 7:05 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
Hyun Jin Ryu heads back to the mound for his final pre-All Star break start, looking to put together a strong outing to close out the first half of the season. Through 16 starts so far, Ryu is 7-5 with a 3.65 ERA, falling short of expectations for the last month or so after starting the season very strong. His numbers since the start of June have been particularly bad, as he has a 5.35 ERA over 35.1 innings across 6 starts. He has somehow only walked 16 in that timeframe, with 13 walks and 8 home runs. All of those rates are exceptionally far from what is normally expected of Ryu, and hopefully they can figure out what is causing his struggles.
This will be Ryu’s 3rd start against the Orioles, all coming in a 4 start span. Ryu’s first start against the Orioles was one of his best of the season, going 7 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits, a walk and a home run. He only struck out 4 in that game though. The second game was a bit rougher, although all of the runs he allowed came in the 7th inning, when the team was up 12-0. In 6.2 innings in that one, he allowed 4 runs (2 of which scored after he was out of the game) on 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out just 3 batters.
Orioles’ Starter
Matt Harvey will go for the Orioles, and he is having the type of season that one would expect from a bad veteran on a terrible team. Through 17 starts, he has suffered through 72.1 innings, pitching to a 7.34 ERA. He has allowed 99 hits and 25 walks, striking out 58. The one saving grace for him this year is that he has allowed just 12 home runs, which puts him just above a league average rate.
Like Ryu, Harvey has had this matchup twice already, with those game happening in 2 of his last 3 starts. Harvey took a loss and a no decision, combining for 7 runs allowed over 10 innings. He has allowed 15 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6 batters. He also allowed 2 home runs - 1 to George Springer, and 1 to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
The decision for catcher will be interesting. Before his injury, Jansen caught every one of Ryu’s starts. This doesn’t quite line up with Ryu’s struggles, as Jansen’s last game catching Ryu was Ryu’s first real clunker of the season. McGuire has caught Ryu’s last 3 starts, and with the righty on the mound, the Jays could want to go with McGuire again. But I think it’ll be Jansen behind the plate, and the Jays will see if Jansen can help correct Ryu’s season.
Previous Ryu starts have meant Santiago Espinal starting at 3B. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen again, with Cavan Biggio heading elsewhere. I originally thought he would go to the outfield, but it has been a week since Vladdy has been the DH, so I could see Biggio getting the start at 1B today.
Orioles’ Lineup
Maikel Franco was originally slated to be in the lineup yesterday, but ended up being a late scratch. His ankle is very close to allowing him to come back. But considering he has now missed 4 games over 5 days, I really don’t understand why they don’t just send him on a 10 day IL stint and let him rest up for another 5 days.
The Orioles had a very balanced attack last night, jumping on a tiring Matz and an increasingly terrible Thornton in the middle innings. All 9 starters had a hit yesterday, and they got well timed home runs from Cedric Mullins in the leadoff spot, Anthony Santander in the 5 hole, and Pedro Severino in the 7 spot. A very balanced attack, and something that they can pull off from time to time.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Fangraphs once again does not have yesterday’s data uploaded, so I’ll have to wing it again.
Yordan Alvarez went 3-3 with a pair of home runs, driving in 5 runs, and that’s good enough for me to anoint him the Monster Bat. He helped carry his Astros to the 9-6 win over the Athletics.
The WPA King race was tight, but it appears Nicky Lopez pulled out the win with a .482 mark. He had just 1 hit, but it was a huge one, a 2-run single to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th. His Royals, who started the 8th down 6-1, pulled out the 7-6 walkoff win.
Future Blue Jays José Berríos gets the Pitcher of the Day award, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on just 1 hit over 7 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 10, but because he still is pitching for the Twins, he took the loss as the White Sox won 4-1.
Find the Link
Find the link between Maikel Franco and Carlos Correa.