Game #136 Preview: Manoah vs Kremer

The Blue Jays wrap up their four game set in Baltimore, looking to take the series three games to one over the Orioles. Today’s game is once again at the normal time, set to get underway at the standard 7:05 start time.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Alek Manoah goes for the Jays, and the Jays are going to hope to get as much out of him as possible after using six relievers each of the last two days. For Manoah, it’ll be his 27th start of the season, each one forging a new career high in starts and innings pitched. He’s up to 163 innings on the season now, but it doesn’t appear to be slowing him down. He’s undoubtedly ready for the stretch drive and playoffs, and will bring his 13-7 record and 2.48 ERA into today to help push them closer to the playoffs.

This will be Manoah’s fourth start of the year against the Orioles, and he hasn’t done super well against them. Of his 6 non-quality starts this year, two of them have been against the Orioles, although for Manoah, his non-quality starts are still strong outings for most guys. Over 16.2 innings this year, Manoah has allowed 7 runs on 13 hits and 6 walks, striking out an impressive 19 batters. He has given up 2 home runs as well, one each to Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman.

Orioles’ Starter

The Orioles will counter with their best starter in 26 year old right hander Dean Kremer. This will be Kremer’s 17th start of the season, missing time throughout the season with an oblique injury. But when he has been healthy, he has been good. Through 89.1 innings this year, he is 6-4 with a 3.22 ERA, and an equally as good 3.38 FIP. He doesn’t strike many batters out (6.85 K/9), but he is exceptionally stingy when it comes to walks (1.91 BB/9) and home runs (0.71 HR/9). Among the 140 pitchers across baseball with at least 80 innings pitched, both his walk rate and home run rate are in the top 25.

This will just be the second start of the season for Kremer against the Blue Jays, and his first one was pretty good. Matching up against Manoah on August 16 in Toronto, Kremer got the win with 7 strong innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and a walk, striking out 6. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. touched him up for a first inning two run home run right out of the gate, but after that he got into cruise control and shut the Jays down.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

The bats picked up 13 hits yesterday, including 4 each from Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk, who were even back to back in the order, but still ended up losing 9-6. It’s great to see Bichette dominating to such an impressive degree, and it’s also nice that he’s not the only one currently dominating. That’ll lead to the 14-6 stretches that will propel teams to the playoffs.

Cavan Biggio has reached the point that he deserves to be in the lineup against righties every day, and it would appear that the Jays are at least almost thinking the same thing. He has made four straight starts now, and has been doing quite well recently. He did go hitless yesterday to end his modest six game hitting streak, but he did still manage to work a walk in one of his two plate appearances.

Danny Jansen had the day off yesterday, and with Alek Manoah on the mound today, Jansen is highly unlikely to be in the lineup again today. Alejandro Kirk has caught every single one of Manoah’s starts this year, and that’s not going to change today, even if this will be the first time this year Kirk has been behind the plate three straight days.

Orioles’ Lineup

They didn’t really hit their way to victory yesterday, scoring 9 runs on 9 hits, with just 3 of those hits going for extra bases, and none of them being home runs. Well timed hits coupled with some bad Jays’ pitching, and some other factors, got them to their 9 runs.

Don’t be surprised to see the Orioles roll out the same lineup today as they did yesterday. They had all 9 of their regulars in the lineup that would get the start against righties, and that’s what they’re up against again today. With tomorrow’s off day, they’re probably not feeling the need to get Rutschman off his feet, and they’re not a veteran lineup where they need to take advantage of off days to get guys a longer rest. So I’d guess the same lineup from yesterday.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Max Muncy went 3-4 with a pair of home runs and a double, picking up the Monster Bat award for his efforts. His Dodgers won again, beating the Giants 6-3, and dropping their magic number to clinch the AL West to 7.

Jorge Alfaro had a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the 9th, giving him the walkoff hit and his Padres the 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks. For Alfaro, he’s the WPA King with a .623 WPA on the night, and .738 just on that play.

Shane Bieber threw 8 dominant innings yesterday, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 7, and takes home the Pitcher of the Day honours as a result. He also got the win in the game, as his Guardians beat the Royals 4-1 to push their AL Central lead to 1.5 games over the Twins.

Find the Link

Find the link between Dean Kremer and Anthony Bass.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant