Game #67 Preview: Berríos vs Lynn

After salvaging their homestand with an amazing win yesterday, the Blue Jays hit the road on a high note. They kick off a six game road trip tonight, with the opener of a three game set in Chicago taking on the White Sox. Since the Blue Jays have found their way to the Central Time Zone, the games this week are an hour later, set to get started at 8:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

José Berríos goes for the Blue Jays, looking to continue the recent good results that he has found. He has pitched into the 7th inning at least in five of his last six starts, with the stinker in Anaheim being the lone exception. But even when you take that outing into consideration, over his last six starts he is 3-0 with a 3.58 ERA and a 3.82 FIP while averaging over 6 innings per start. Not quite Ace numbers, but still very solid and the innings he’s chewing up are very much needed.

White Sox’ Starter

The White Sox will send out veteran righty Lance Lynn. Lynn will be making just his second start of the season after missing the first two months after going for surgery at the end of Spring Training to repair a tear in his knee. He made his season debut last Monday, and got knocked around for 3 runs on 10 hits over 4.1 innings against the Tigers.

The White Sox are still quite happy to have Lynn back with the club. Acquired prior to last year, Lynn put up a fantastic season last year, culminating in a third place finish in the Cy Young voting. Over his 28 starts and 157 innings, he went 11-6 with a 2.69 ERA and a 3.32 FIP. That was his third straight year finishing in the top 6 in AL Cy Young voting, so he’s certainly been good for a while now.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Yesterday’s game was a lot of fun, and helped erase the previous three games of pain. It was great to see that they are still capable of outhitting teams, even on days when the pitching is struggling and the opponent is good.

It wasn’t a good homestand for the trio of middle infielders. Over the seven games against the Orioles and Yankees, Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal and Bo Bichette combined to go just 11-67 resulting in a line of .164/.200/.209 (11 wRC+). Considering how evenly spaced throughout the lineup they have been recently, their collective struggles, along with George Springer (70 wRC+ on the homestand) made it difficult to string together some rallies.

Gabriel Moreno will likely be back behind the plate today after having a pair of games off following his 3 hit night on Friday. Moreno has looked great so far, and it’s unfortunate that we don’t get the opportunity to see more of him.

White Sox’ Lineup

Since the Blue Jays last saw the White Sox, they have certainly turned things up on the offensive side. In the 15 games since they last faced the Jays, the White Sox as a team are hitting .294/.354/.427 (127 wRC+) and averaging just under 6 runs per game. The power still hasn’t shown up for them, with just 12 home runs in that span, but otherwise they’re dominating games with their bats.

Tim Anderson, who was out with a strained groin and didn’t make the trip to Toronto, is back with the team. He is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s game.

Starting catcher Yasmani Grandal was placed on the IL a little over a week ago with back spasms. His first date eligible for return is Wednesday, and he may make it back for then. In his stead, Seby Zavala was called up and has hit pretty well. Former Blue Jay Reese McGuire is also getting a fair bit of work behind the plate, but comes into play today with just a 71 wRC+ on the season.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Pirates’ rookie Jack Suwinski went 3-3 with a trio of solo home runs, earning himself the Monster Bat award. Suwinski’s homers came in the 4th, 7th and 9th innings, with the 9th inning one being a walkoff. As a result, Suwinski also gets the WPA King trophy, with a fantastic .733 mark. His Pirates beat the Giants 4-3.

Sandy Alcantara added another gem to his dominant 2022 season, pitching 8 strong innings and getting himself the Pitcher of the Day award. He allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk, striking out 8 batters. He also earned the win, as his Marlins beat the Mets 6-2.

Find the Link

Find the link between Tim Anderson, Frank Thomas and Luke Appling.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant