Game #117 Preview: Matz vs Gilbert

After a pair of rough losses, the Blue Jays will try to escape Seattle with a win before heading back east. Today’s game will get underway at 4:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

The Blue Jays will send out their third left hander this series in Steven Matz. Matz was the default winner in the competition with Ross Stripling on who would stay in the rotation, as Stripling ended up on the Injured List with a strained oblique. Matz is definitely deserving of his spot in the rotation though, as he enters play with a 9-7 record and a 4.28 ERA. By FIP, he has been even better this year, coming into play with a 3.81 mark thanks to better-than-career-average marks in K/9 (9.27), BB/9 (2.58) and HR/9 (1.22). As a result, he’s putting up his best season since he finished 6th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2016.

Matz faced off against the Mariners back on June 30, and had one of his worst starts of the season. He went just 2.2 innings in that one, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. His first two innings were good, but he ran into trouble in the 3rd inning with 3 straight hits allowed before getting a pair of outs, but a Kyle Seager home run knocked him out of the game after just 48 pitches.

Mariners’ Starter

Rookie right hander Logan Gilbert will get the start for the Mariners, his 16th of the season. Through 73.1 innings, Gilbert is 5-3 with a 4.05 ERA, but a much nicer 3.29 FIP. That’s thanks to 84 strikeouts against just 18 walks and 8 home runs.

Gilbert entered the season as one of the Mariners’ top prospects, and a top 50 overall prospect at both Fangraphs and MLB.com. He has a very good 4 pitch mix, lead by a mid-90s 4-seam fastball that he’ll throw nearly 2/3rds of the time. Working off that devastating pitch is his is his slider, which he’ll throw just under a quarter of the time, and then he’ll mix in a curveball and changeup to keep hitters off balance. But he’s very much a “this is my excellent fastball, I’ll throw it wherever and whenever I want” kind of pitcher.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Mariners’ Lineup

Yesterday’s Heroes

Dansby Swanson went 3-5 with a pair of home runs, driving in 6 runs to pick up the Monster Bat award. He accounted for half his team’s RBI as the Braves beat the Nationals 12-2.

Brian Anderson had a pair of big at bats yesterday, hitting a 3-run home run in the 6th to give his Marlins the 3-1 lead, then tied things back up at 4 in the bottom of the 8th thanks to an error on the groundball. Those two plate appearances helped him get the WPA King trophy with a .591 mark, narrowly edging out José Abreu’s .583 mark in a big game in the White Sox’ loss to the Yankees. But Anderson’s big day did help his Marlins to the 5-4 win over the Cubs.

It was an historic night in Arizona, as Tyler Gilbert, making his first big league start and just 4th appearance, threw a no-hitter and obviously takes home the Pitcher of the Day award. He allowed 3 walks and struck out 5, facing just 1 batter over the minimum thanks to a pair of double plays hit into by Adam Frazier. The Diamondbacks beat the Padres 7-0.

Find the Link

Find the link between Logan Gilbert, Edwar Colina and Clarke Schmidt.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant