Yankees (12-6) vs Blue Jays (10-8)
The Blue Jays wrap up their series with the Yankees this afternoon, looking to sweep the Yankees out of town. Get your brooms and excuses to get out of commitments ready early today, as the game is set to start at 3:07 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
Kevin Gausman will once again look to find any semblance of success in his early season. Through three starts now, he has thrown just 9.1 innings, facing a bit of an innings limit due to a severely limited spring training, but also getting knocked out early due to ineffectiveness and high pitch counts.
Some of Gausman’s numbers do look good over his 9.1 innings. He has 10 strikeouts to just 2 walks, both numbers that fit right in with a normal stretch for Gausman. The biggest numbers of concern thus far are probably the 16 hits he has allowed thanks to some harder than normal contact, and the 3 home runs allowed.
Gausman will be facing the Yankees for the second time this year, and the first outing resulted in arguably the worst start of his long career. Over just 1.1 innings, he surrendered 6 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks, giving up 2 home runs and not registering a single strikeout. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton touched him up for home runs as well.
Yankees’ Starter
The Yankees will counter with former Blue Jay Marcus Stroman. Stroman will be making his fourth start with his new club, and things have been going quite well for the 32 year old. Through 17 innings, he is 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA, and his 3.42 FIP is a pretty solid supporting number. He is sitting on a career high strikeout rate of 24.6%, but also a career high walk rate of 10.1%. Neither number is significantly out of line with his past numbers, but he has always been a pitch to contact kind of guy.
Like Gausman, this will be a repeat opponent for Stroman. He faced the Jays back in New York and had his best start of the season. He went 6 shutout innings, allowing just 3 hits and a walk, striking out 6. He didn’t get a decision in that one though, as that was Yusei Kikuchi matched Stroman all game, then Ernie Clement gave the Jays the lead in the 7th and the Jays would go on to win 3-0.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
The top of the order had their best game of the season yesterday, with George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette combining to go 4-10 with 5 walks and 3 RBI. They also saw a lot of pitches and in general had some really good looking at bats. Once those three get going on a consistent basis, a lot of concerns will be lifted from the fanbase.
With a righty back on the mound, the lefties that got the day off are likely back in the starting lineup. So expect to see Cavan Biggio at second base and Kevin Kiermaier back in CF while Daulton Varsho slides over to LF.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone else get some DH reps with the day game today. It would also give them the opportunity to get a little extra rest with the off day tomorrow for some good recovery. I’d guess that Springer is the biggest candidate for that, having started every game in RF on the turf in this homestand.
Yankees’ Lineup
The Blue Jays’ pitchers have found success this series against this lineup, and it all starts at the top. Anthony Volpe (1-8), Juan Soto (1-7), Aaron Judge (0-8) and Anthony Rizzo (0-8) have all been held down quite well by the Jays’ pitchers. Combined they are 2-23 with just 2 singles plus a walk, no runs or RBI and 11 strikeouts.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yankees use a bench bat or two for this game as they wrap up their road trip and play their final game on turf for a month or so. Jahmai Jones and former Blue Jay Kevin Smith have not seen any action yet this series, while Trent Grisham got the start on Monday in CF.
The Yankees seem to be on a fairly strict platoon behind the plate at the moment, so with a righty back on the mound for the Jays, Austin Wells likely does the catching after Jose Trevino took those duties last night.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Ian Happ went 3-5 yesterday, falling a triple short of the cycle while scoring 3 times and driving in 4, picking up the Monster Bat award along the way. His output wasn’t quite enough though, as his Cubs lost a back and forth game to the Diamondbacks 12-11 in 10 innings.
Happ finished second in the WPA King race in that game as well thanks to his 7th inning grand slam, but he was edged out by the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, whose 9th inning home run with 2 outs tied the game and sent it to extras. Marte gets the award with a .631 mark, just ahead of Happ’s .609.
Ranger Suárez had one of the best starts of the year last night, going the distance on MLB’s second shutout of the 2024 season. He held the Rockies to 7 hits and a walk, striking out 8 and taking the Pitcher of the Day award. He obviously also got the win, as his Phillies beat the Rockies 5-0.
Find the Link
Find the link between Marcus Stroman and Jordan Hicks.