Blue Jays (13-11) vs Royals (14-10)
After an embarrassing loss last night, the Blue Jays hop right back into their series against the Royals tonight, playing the third game of this four game series. Gametime is once again set for 7:40 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
The electric Yariel Rodríguez will make his third start of the year, still looking for his first professional win, but only because he’s not stretched out enough to go the required 5 innings yet. Because he has certainly been good enough, with just 2 runs on solo home runs allowed over 7.2 innings. Aside from those two bad pitches, he has allowed just 5 other hits and 3 walks, striking out an impressive 13 batters along the way.
Royals’ Starter
The Royals will counter with 25 year old sophomore Alec Marsh, making his fifth start of the season. Marsh’s second campaign is off to a much better start than his rookie year, when he went 3-9 with a 5.69 ERA and a matching 5.70 FIP. This year he is 3-0 with a 3.22 ERA and a 3.11 FIP. He isn’t getting the strikeouts like he did last year or in the Minors, instead opting for more control and weaker contact. If this profile continues, it’ll be an interesting shift to follow.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
Kevin Kiermaier came out of the game yesterday with hip flexor discomfort. It’s tough to speculate without any more information than that, but this is the same hip that ended his 2022 campaign in July of that year. I would imagine at the moment he is day to day and will undergo short term treatment and this is nothing more than a precautionary move for a guy who is very aware of his hip.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played probably his worst game of the year yesterday. Not only did he have the horrible error that led to 3 unearned runs, but he also put up an 0-5 with 2 strikeouts and a first inning double play. He was showing some positive signs a week ago, and he did have one promising at bat with a very solid flyout, but he’s still so far from being the prince that was promised.
You can be forgiven if you’ve forgotten that Daniel Vogelbach is on this team. The hulking left handed batter hasn’t seen the sun since an April 17 pinch hit opportunity, despite being on the team solely for him to pinch hit for the weaker right handed bats against a right handed reliever late in a game – such as last night when Isiah Kiner-Falefa came up with a runner on first base down 1 in the 8th inning. Joey Votto has recently resumed running, so he’s still a ways off from taking Vogelbach’s place on the pine. But at this point the Jays might as well just add a young kid into the playing time mix like an Addison Barger or Orelvis Martinez.
Royals’ Lineup
The Blue Jays gave Bobby Witt Jr. an opportunity to shine yesterday and he took it. With a free out in hand, he gave the Royals a pair of runs to take the lead and eventual win in what was just another highlight night for the young star. He also picked up a pair of singles and his 5th stolen base of the season. He’s the star of this show, and it shows.
Nelson Velázquez and Hunter Renfroe both had the night off yesterday and they’ll probably be back in the lineup tonight.
MJ Melendez came up as a catcher, but with Salvador Perez entrenched behind the plate and Melendez being a horrible defensive catcher, he slowly began a transition to the outfield to keep his big bat in the lineup. He is now fully an outfielder, taking his final rep as a catcher on April 30 of last year.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Mike Tauchman and Riley Greene both went 2-3 with a pair of home runs and a walk, but Tauchman collected 4 RBI to Greene’s 3, making Tauchman our Monster Bat award winner. Tauchman led the way in his Cubs’ 7-2 win over the Astros.
Greene didn’t go home empty handed though. Thanks to a third inning home run that gave the Tigers an early lead and an 8th inning home run that gave them Tigers a late lead, Greene is the WPA King for the day. His .568 WPA on the day helped his Tigers to the 4-2 win over the Rays, pushing them back below .500 for the first time since April 8.
There were a lot of good pitching performances last night, with 6 different pitchers going more than 6 innings without allowing more than 1 earned run. The best of the night was Max Fried, who went the distance on the league’s fourth shutout of the year to take home the Pitcher of the Day award. Fried held the Marlins to just 3 hits and no walks while striking out 6, taking home the win in the Braves’ 5-0 victory.
Find the Link
Find the link between Alec Marsh and Dae-jin Lee.