Royals (17-13) vs Blue Jays (15-15)
The Blue Jays and Royals continue their series this evening, playing the second of this three game set at the Rogers Centre. First pitch tonight is once again set for 7:07 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
José Berríos will look for retribution against these same Royals, as a rain soaked and shortened outing resulted in his first loss of the season. Despite the horrible conditions to pitch in, Berríos did alright last week. He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, although he did fight through 3 walks while striking out just 1. The 2 runs came on a first inning home run off the bat of Salvador Perez, but Berríos cruised after that right up until the rain-induced early ending of the game. He was at just 67 pitches, so he still had a few innings left in him, but he was saddled with the 5 inning complete game loss.
Despite taking his first loss of the year, Berríos’ numbers still look great. He is 4-1 with a 1.23 ERA. He still leads the AL with 4 wins, and that 1.23 ERA is the best in baseball among qualified pitchers. His 3.84 FIP is a lot higher and probably closer to where he finishes the year, but it’s also a bit inflated thanks to his start last week.
Royals’ Starter
The Royals are also going with their starter that pitched a 5 inning complete game last week, although Cole Ragans was able to walk away with the win in the 2-1 Royals’ victory. It was his first win of the year, and like Berríos’, Ragans also struggled a bit in the rain. His 3 walks allowed matched a season high on the year, while his 4 strikeouts matched a season low. But he didn’t give up the home run that Berríos’ did, and that was the difference in the short game.
Despite just finally getting his first win of the year, Ragans is having a strong season. In his 30 innings, he is 1-2 with a 3.90 ERA, but he has the fifth best FIP in the game at 2.22. He has done a great job in all three categories of FIP, with the third highest K/9, a better than league average BB/9 and one of the lowest HR/9 rates.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
THEY SCORED MORE THAN 5 RUNS YESTERDAY!!!! For the first time since April 6, a ridiculous stretch of 20 games, they scored more than 5 runs. It also marked the first time in 7 games that they scored more than 3 runs, also a horrible run. But absolutely great to see!
Another “great to see” moment with this team is the production from the catcher position. In the 14 games since Danny Jansen’s activation on April 15, Jansen and Alejandro Kirk have combined to hit .286/.392/.595 (179 wRC+) with 3 home runs and 4 doubles. They have scored 6 times, driven in 5 and have a remarkable 8:5 BB:K rate. After getting just a 26 wRC+ from the position in the first 16 games prior to that, Jansen has completely turned value of the position around.
Addison Barger collected his first career hit yesterday, a 106.2 mph single in the 6th inning. He also scored his first run, but also made his second error of the season. Second seems low though, as he has also had a few misplays that have not been ruled actual errors. His defense is rough, and unless the bat continues to wake up, he’s probably not going to be around much longer. But the hard hit single was a huge step in keeping his spot.
Speaking of hard hit balls, Vladdy had the two hardest hit ones last night at 112.2 for his single and 113.8 for his double. Perhaps more importantly with those hit was that they were off the ground, both registering in the double digits for launch angle. It was just the third time this season that he put two balls in play in a game with triple digit exit velo and a positive double digit launch angle. The other two games, March 28 and April 10, he had a home run and a long flyout.
Royals’ Lineup
Salvador Perez was a late scratch from the lineup yesterday with back tightness. Freddy Fermin got the start in his place last night and hit his first home run of the season, as well as a single and a walk. It was his best game of the season, and if it turns into another start, I don’t think the Royals would be too upset.
Adam Frazier had his first day off since April 22 last night, although he did come in for a pinch hitting opportunity. He’s currently mired in a 1-14 spell and has just a .393 OPS in 14 PA against Berríos’, so he or Royals’ fans might not be too excited at the prospect of him being back in the lineup tonight.
Bobby Witt Jr. picked up his 9th stolen base of the season last night, tying him with José Caballero of the Rays for the AL lead. He continues to have a very strong all around season, coming into play with a 1.7 fWAR, which is 4th best in the AL.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Justin Turner’s 2 home runs and 3 RBI were tops in all of baseball yesterday, earning him the Monster Bat award. It was nice to see some pop again from him, as those were his first home runs in 10 days. And the Jays needed them both, beating the Royals 6-5.
Mitch Garver hit a walkoff two run home run last night, giving his Mariners the 2-1 win over the Braves. As a result, Garver gets the WPA King trophy with a very solid .670 showing.
Hits were very hard to come by last night, as the 5 best outings combined to allow 8 total hits over 35.1 innings, but only one of them picked up a win. Nick Lodolo got the win, and he faced the Padres, so we’ll give him the Pitcher of the Day award. He allowed 1 run on 1 hit over 7 innings, walking 2 and striking out 11. He got the win as his Reds beat the Padres 5-2.
Find the Link
Find the link between Adam Frazier, Teoscar Hernández and Jesse Winker.
Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant