Blue Jays (16-19) vs Phillies (25-11)
After yet another bad series loss in Washington, the Blue Jays head to Philadelphia to open a brief two game series against the host Phillies. First pitch tonight is scheduled for 6:40 ET.
Blue Jays’ Starter
José Berríos looks to get back into the win column after a pair of losses to the Royals in his last two starts, although both starts were still quite good. The biggest concern in those outings was a lack of strikeouts, as he struck out just 4 Royals over his 12 innings, although 5 of them were in some very tough conditions in a rainy Kansas City. After the Jays endured a couple more wet days in Washington as well, it’s back to upper-20s temperatures and hopefully mostly sunshine in the forecast for Philadelphia, something I’m sure Berríos will be happy to see as well.
Berríos will bring his 4-2 record and MLB-best 1.44 ERA into play tonight. With each passing game his FIP climbs a bit more, now up to 4.01, which is a bit concerning going forward compared to his sparkling ERA. He finished last season with a 3.99 FIP, and his career mark is 4.04, so he’s very much still in line with what he has been. If he can bump up the strikeouts while keeping his home runs where they’re at, he’s going to be just fine.
Phillies’ Starter
The Phillies will send out left hander Cristopher Sánchez, a former swingman and AAA-shuttle rider who has finally earned his place in the rotation and is doing quite well. He is just 1-3, but his 3.68 ERA and even better 2.94 FIP tell a bit of a different story. He has had some up and down starts this year, but in general he’s about league average for getting strikeouts, a touch worse than league average in giving up walks, and he just gave up his first home run of the year in his last start.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
The offense scored more than 6 runs for the first time in pretty much a month in their final game in Washington. Unfortunately for them, they are now just 2-2 when scoring 8 runs as the pitching once again struggled in that one. But the bottom half of the lineup looked great, as Davis Schneider got on base 4 times, Isiah Kiner-Falefa had a couple big hits and 3 RBI, and Alejandro Kirk picked up a big double. The bottom half of the lineup continues to do relatively well, but it’s the top that just isn’t doing it and continues to sink the Jays.
With a lefty on the mound, the Jays are likely to play with a very similar lineup to what they had on Sunday. The only lefty in that lineup was Daulton Varsho, who after hitting second on Saturday, was bumped down to sixth in the lineup. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kevin Kiermaier in the lineup today, but I’d guess that would be it for lefties.
Phillies’ Lineup
The Phillies are off to an incredible start to the season, coming into play with an MLB-best 25-11 record, and the offense has been a big part of that. As a group they are hitting .256/.332/.414 (113 wRC+), tied for the third most home runs with 44 and the fifth most stolen bases with 41.
They’re coming into this series not quite at full strength, as superstar shortstop Trea Turner went down last week with a strained hamstring that could keep him out until the all star break.
Outside of Turner, this is a fully healthy squad with a bunch of superstars playing well. Alec Bohm is enjoying an early breakout season, hitting .349/.418/.558 (175 wRC+). Bryce Harper is hurting a little bit on the batting average side of things, but he’s still doing typical Bryce Harper things hitting .243/.371/.496 (143 wRC+). Brandon Marsh (119 wRC+), J.T. Realmuto (115 wRC+), Kyle Schwarber (110 wRC+) and Bryson Stott (105 wRC+) are all having above league average seasons.
Old fried Whit Merrifield is having a decent time in Philly with a bit of limited playing time, although that’s likely to pick up a bit with the injury to Turner. Merrifield is hitting .250/.304/.404 (102 wRC+) in 57 PA. He’s going up against a very familiar foe tonight, as he has faced Berríos 51 times in his career. He has had a fair bit of success in those matchups as well, posting a .935 OPS with 5 doubles and a home run.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Edward Olivares went 2-4 with a home run and a double, driving in 4 runs on the way to his Monster Bat award. He was the entirety of the offense for his Pirates, as they beat the Angels 4-1.
Corey Seager hit a 2-out 3-run home run in the top of the 8th inning, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. That was the big blow for the Rangers, as they ended up beating the Athletics 4-2. Seager gets the WPA King trophy for his efforts, putting up a .521 WPA on the day.
Mitch Keller went the distance for the Pirates, allowing a solo home run and not much else to take home the Pitcher of the Day award. He allowed 5 total hits and a walk while striking out 5, taking the win in the aforementioned Pirates’ 4-1 win over the Angels.
Find the Link
Find the link between Alec Bohm and Devin Williams.