Game #9 Preview: Blackburn vs Ryu

After a successful game yesterday, the Blue Jays will play game two of their three game set at home against the Athletics. Today’s game is set to get underway at 3:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Hyun Jin Ryu will get the ball for the Jays, getting to work on extra rest. Last year in general, he posted a 4.37 ERA with an opponents OPS of .733. But when he was working on that extra day of rest, his numbers improved to a 3.23 ERA with a .657 OPS against in 11 starts, so there is for sure some merit to giving him that extra day.

In his first start, Ryu was quite solid for the first three innings. He allowed a solo home run and a walk, but otherwise got 4 strikeouts and a good amount of weak contact. Things fell apart on him in the 4th though, and he never made it out of that inning. But the first three innings were fun to watch, including a noticeable increase in his curveball usage, which was fairly effective. Look to see that curveball featured a bit more in his arsenal again today.

Athletics’ Starter

The Athletics will counter with right hander Paul Blackburn. This will be Blackburn’s second start of the season, as well as his 16th start and 36th appearance in the Majors, a career spanning parts of six seasons now. He has consistently found himself shuttling back and forth to the Minors/Majors/IL. But the A’s are relying on him as a backend starter this year, and he’s going to get the opportunity to see what he can do.

He was quite impressive against the Rays his first time out, throwing 5 shutout innings while allowing just 3 hits and a walk, striking out 7. He generated a lot of whiffs while keeping hitters off balance, mixing in his five pitches quite evenly. Generally speaking, each individual pitch isn’t that good, but grouped together they can be effective.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Maybe the lineup will be posted soon. Expect to see Kirk back behind the plate, Vladdy back at 1B, and some other player at DH.

Athletics’ Lineup

I’ll try to get this one up as well when it comes out, but with the lefty Ryu on the mound, expect to see Drew Jackson and Chad Pinder in the lineup, likely in place of Billy McKinney and probably Tony Kemp.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Francisco Lindor went 2-3 with a pair of home runs, a pair of walks and a stolen base, all on his way to taking home the Monster Bat award. All of that was helpful as the best-record-in-baseball Mets beat the lowly Diamondbacks 10-3.

Spencer Torkelson murdered a baseball in the top of the 7th for a 2-run home run, the only runs his Tigers would score in their 2-1 victory over Royals. His act of ballicide nets him the WPA King trophy with a .371 WPA.

Marco Gonzales threw 7 strong innings, allowing 1 run 4 hits and no walks, striking out 6 batters along the way. He gets the Pitcher of the Day award after shutting down the Astros in the Mariners’ 11-1 victory.

Find the Link

Find the link between Sean Murphy and Adam Lind.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant