Game #129 Preview: Berríos vs Boyd

The Blue Jays wrap up their 3 game series in Detroit, looking to win the series, and also earn a season series split against a team that they needed to have a lot more success against. The game gets underway shortly, starting at 1:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

José Berríos will look to once again get his season back on track. He has had three straight starts now where things have not gone well for him, although this last one was more about getting hit solidly by a team that knew him well as opposed to walking a bunch of guys. Still, over his last three outings, he has allowed 13 run (12 earned) over 12.1 innings, striking out 12 against 7 walks. Those three bad outings have boosted his season ERA from 3.23 to 3.70.

Being an import from the AL Central, Berríos has a fair bit of experience against the Tigers. The first 7 guys in the lineup have at least 37 career plate appearances against him, with Jonathan Schoop’s 70 topping the list. This year, Berríos has faced the Tigers twice, earning a pair of no decisions, despite pitching deep into each game. In total, he has thrown 13 innings, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits, with 9 strikeouts and a home run. He has also inexplicably walked 9 batters in their head to head matchups, so that definitely needs to be improved upon.

Tigers’ Starter

Former Blue Jay Matt Boyd will go for the Tigers, making his return from the Injured List with left triceps tendonitis. He last made a start in the Majors on June 14, and then has made three rehab assignments over the last couple weeks in AAA. He was pretty dominant in his rehab outings, so he’s probably healthy on that front. He worked his way up from 2 to 3 to 4.1 innings, so I would imagine the Tigers would be happy if they can give him 5 innings today.

Through 13 starts on the season, Boyd is 3-6 with a 3.44 ERA. He was doing a good job at limiting walks (2.42 per 9 innings) and home runs (0.76 per 9 innings), both numbers registering as career lows. But his strikeout rate of 7.13 per 9 innings would also register as a career low. But overall, when he was healthy, he was having a great season.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Tigers’ Lineup

Yesterday’s Heroes

Kevin Pillar went 2-3 with a pair of home runs, earning the Monster Bat award. He helped his Mets to the 5-3 win over the Nationals.

Alec Mills threw a gem yesterday, allowing no runs over 8.1 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3 and taking home the Pitcher of the Day award. He also got the win, as the Cubs beat the White Sox 7-0.

Jordan Romano, with his great 9th and 10th innings for the Jays last night, gets the WPA King award with a .603 mark. He also got the win in the Jays’ 3-2 victory over the Tigers.

Find the Link

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Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant