Game #13 Preview: Gausman vs Houck

The Blue Jays and Red Sox play the rubber match of their three game series at Fenway Park, having split the first two games of the series. It’s Getaway Day, so they’re playing afternoon baseball, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Kevin Gausman will make his third start of the season, and while things haven’t been amazing, he has certainly had some high notes in his first season with the Jays. Through 10.2 innings, he has allowed 5 runs on 14 hits, but has also yet to allow a walk, hit by pitch or home run, and has struck out 14. As a result, he sports a 4.22 ERA, but a miniscule 0.45 FIP. That FIP is the lowest in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 10 innings so far. So definitely some positives going for him early on.

Red Sox’ Starter

Local Loser Tanner Houck will take the mound for the Red Sox, his last start before an extended break due to not caring about his team and sitting out the trip to Toronto. This will be Houck’s third start of the season, and despite the brevity of the first one especially, his season is going well. Through 9 innings, he has allowed 3 runs on 8 hits with 7 strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed a home run yet, but he has surrendered 6 walks, the lone blemish on an otherwise strong looking stat sheet.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Zack Collins is expected to get the start behind the plate in this one. I’m not sure if that moves Alejandro Kirk, who is 7 for his last 16 with 5 walks and no strikeouts, to the bench or DH is anyone’s guess.

Raimel Tapia probably bought himself another day in the outfield after his good showing yesterday. It could very well be in CF, as the Jays maybe will look to give George Springer a bit of a rest after taking a ball off the forearm in last night’s game.

Cavan Biggio, who finally picked up his first hit of the season yesterday, probably finds himself on the bench again today against the hard throwing Houck.

Red Sox’ Lineup

Christian Vázquez was reactivated from the COVID-IL yesterday, and while he didn’t get into last night’s game, expect to see him today.

Travis Shaw hasn’t made a start in this series yet, but today could be that day. Edit: with JD Martinez being removed from last night’s game, it seems probable that Shaw does get the start today, and Martinez gets a rest day.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Johan Camargo went 4-5 with a home run and 3 RBI to pick up the Monster Bat award. His Phillies avoided the sweep in Colorado beating the Rockies 9-6.

Sandy Alcantara threw 8 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 6, giving him the Pitcher of the Day award. Unfortunately for him, his offense didn’t score, and the Cardinals put up a 2 spot in the top of the 9th after Alcantara was out of the game, and the Marlins lost 2-0. But since Alcantara threw 8 shutout innings in a scoreless game, he put up a very impressive .506 WPA and gets the WPA King trophy as a consolation prize.

Find the Link

Find the link between Tanner Houck and Jordan Romano.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant