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The Blue Jays and Orioles play the rubber match of their 3 game set this evening in Baltimore. Gametime is set for 7:05 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
Alek Manoah will get the ball for the Jays, looking to build off his fantastic start his last time out. Against the Rays last Friday, Manoah worked 7 shutout innings, allowing just 3 hits and a walk while striking out 10. It was the best start of his young career, but hopefully that’s a mark that won’t last for long.
Manoah has faced the Orioles twice so far this season, and has had one bad start and one good start. In the bad start, he didn’t make it out of the 4th inning (although the ump helped there), surrendering 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk, striking out 6. All 4 hits were home runs, with 2 to Mountcastle, 1 to Mullins and 1 to Stewart. He was immediately thrown back into the fire facing the Orioles in his next start, but fared much better. He threw 6 innings his second try, allowing just an unearned run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.
Orioles’ Starter
Left hander Keegan Akin will make his 8th start and 12th appearance overall for the Orioles today. Through 41.0 innings, Akin is 0-4 with a 7.46 ERA. He has allowed 53 hits and 16 walks, while striking out 38. The home runs have been a bit of a struggle for him as well, surrendering 8 in his short time.
This will be Akin’s second start against the Jays this year, and the first one probably didn’t go as he hoped. He surrendered 6 runs on 7 hits over 4.1 innings, walking 1 and striking out 3. The Jays managed a pair of home runs against him, back to back shots from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
With the lefty going for the Orioles, Danny Jansen should be behind the plate again. Reese McGuire has caught all of Manoah’s starts so far, but he also struggles tremendously against lefties, so I think the Jays will go with Jansen.
If the Jays ever felt like giving Jonathan Davis or Santiago Espinal the occasional start, today might be the day with a soft tossing lefty on the mound. With everyone else healthy though, I’m not sure they will see starting time. They both did get some action last night as late game replacements in the blowout.
Orioles’ Lineup
The Orioles finally made a decision on Maikel Franco’s injury, and placed him on the IL before yesterday’s game. Replacing him on the roster is Kelvin Gutiérrez, a recent acquisition from the Royals. Gutiérrez, who came into yesterday’s game and earned a walk in his only plate appearance, doesn’t figure to feature prominently in the Orioles’ lineup much going forward.
With the Jays going with a righty for the first time this series, we’ll probably see DJ Stewart for the first time this series as well. Stewart has started both games against Manoah so far, and is 2-5 with the home run.
Anthony Santander and Pedro Severino had the night off last night. Expect both of them to be back in the lineup today.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Garrett Cooper went 3-3 with a pair of home runs, good enough to bring home the Monster Bat award. His bat helped his Marlins take down the visiting Dodgers 9-6.
Jesús Aguilar also had a big game for the Marlins. He hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 3rd, then followed that up by hitting a walkoff home run in the 9th, taking home the WPA King trophy. His WPA on the day was .462.
Alex Wood threw 7 strong innings, allowing just a run on 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6. He earned the win to go along with his Pitcher of the Day award, helping his Giants to the 5-2 win over the Cardinals. The Giants have run their Major League best record to 54-32.
Find the Link
Find the link between Kelvin Gutiérrez and Sherten Apostle.