Game #7 Preview: Gausman vs Severino

The Blue Jays wrap up their series in the Bronx as they look to take three games of this four game series against the Yankees. The game gets underway at the same 7:05 ET start time tonight as it has the previous three nights.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Kevin Gausman will head to the mound for his second start of the season. Gausman had flashes of dominance in his first outing, striking out 5 over 5 innings while keeping the ball in the yard and not allowing a home run. However, he also got knocked around a bit, with a double and seven singles given up as well, so it certainly wasn’t all good. But the splitter looked as sharp as ever, and it is a thing of beauty when it’s working well.

Yankees’ Starter

The Yankees will send out one of their biggest wishing stones for 2022 in Luis Severino. A former Cy Young contender, Severino made just 3 starts from 2019 through 2021 thanks to a Tommy John Surgery and groin strain. The Yankees are relying on him to be the pitcher he was in 2017 and 2018 to partner up with Cole and give them one of the best 1-2 punches in the game.

Severino’s first start was a bit shorter than he was likely expecting, going just 3 innings back on Saturday. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, including a home run, but didn’t walk anyone and struck out 5. When he’s on, he’ll rack up the strikeouts, and he didn’t have a problem making a lot of Red Sox batters look foolish.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a lot of fun to watch last night. Hopefully the finger injury won’t have lingering effects. It obviously didn’t last night, but it’s going to be there on his hand for a bit.

Something that will have a lingering effect is Teoscar Hernández’s side injury. He goes for an MRI this morning, after which he’ll undoubtedly be placed on the IL. My guess is that means the Jays recall Gosuke Katoh, and we see a bunch of starts in RF for Cavan Biggio. Bradley Zimmer likely sees more playing time as well.

What that means for the top of the lineup is a different question. I don’t think they simply just move everyone up a spot, and have Gurriel and Chapman behind Vladdy. I think they move Vladdy up to the 2 spot and let Bichette and Gurriel hit behind him. But even if they do start to stack guys behind Vladdy, he’s still going to start seeing a lot fewer pitches in the zone after showing last night that he’s hot and ready to go.

Yankees’ Lineup

The Yankees continued their benching carousel last night, with Giancarlo Stanton starting the game on the bench. He did still manage to get into the game and give us all heart palpitations in the bottom of the 8th inning, but that was thankfully only once. He’ll be back in the lineup today, with maybe either Anthony Rizzo or Aaron Judge getting their first game on the bench.

Expect to see Jose Trevino behind the plate, as Kyle Higashioka has caught the first three games of this series and is likely scheduled a day off.

Yesterday’s Heroes

After going a few days of having weaker performances as the winners for these awards, we’ve got a couple performances that will be remembered long after this season is done as today’s winners.

Vladdy Jr. unquestionably gets the Monster Bat award with his massive game, launching 3 home runs and chipping in a double as well (the most impressive of the 4 hits in my mind). But he also gets the WPA King trophy for that outing with a .464 WPA.

Clayton Kershaw’s game will be remembered not only for the dominance, but also the questionable decision to take him out. Kershaw threw 7 perfect innings with 13 strikeouts on just 80 pitches. However, that was a lot more pitches than he had already thrown thanks to a shortened Spring Training, and for the sake of his health (which has been shaky for years), they opted to take him out, and his perfect game was broken up shortly thereafter. But Kershaw gets the Pitcher of the Day honours in the Dodgers’ 7-0 win over the Twins.

Find the Link

Find the link between Jose Trevino and Brian McCann.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant