After rolling through New York and Boston on an extremely successful road trip, the Blue Jays have returned home to welcome the Angels into town. Today’s game is set to get underway at the normal 7:07 ET start.
Blue Jays’ Starter
Mitch White will go for the Jays, making his 4th start as a Blue Jay. After pitching to a 3.70 ERA and 3.96 FIP over 56 innings for the Dodgers, in his 13.1 innings in Toronto he has dropped those numbers to a 3.38 ERA and an incredible 2.52 FIP. In his time with the Jays, he has 10 strikeouts to 4 walks, and has yet to allow a home run. The 16 hits allowed in 13.1 innings is a bit of a concern, but he has done well limiting the damage. Now the Jays just need to figure out how to get him to at least 5 innings.
Angels’ Starter
Rookie left hander Reid Detmers will go for the Angels, making his 20th start of the season. So far through 98.1 innings, he is 4-4 with a 3.66 ERA. His FIP is a little over half a run higher at 4.21, as he is coming in a little bit higher than league average on all three components of FIP. His 8.60 K/9 is higher than the league average of 8.48, so that’s a good one to be higher. But his 3.29 BB/9 eclipses the league average rate of 3.11, and his 1.19 HR/9 rate is also higher than the league average rate of 1.08. So overall, solid numbers, and I guy you’d be happy to have in your rotation.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
The Jays will have the rare game against a left handed starter today. When they faced off against Nestor Cortes on Sunday, George Springer was still away with a knee injury, so the right handed heavy lineup still consisted of lefty bat Jackie Bradley Jr. in CF. If the Jays want, they can load up 100% with righties tonight. And given how dominating Detmers is against lefties, it’s probably a smart idea.
George Springer picked up another hit as well as a trio of walks yesterday, continuing his amazing play since coming back from the IL. In the 8 games he has appeared in since August 15, he has collected a hit in each one, and has put up a line of .571/.625/.750 while driving in the game winning RBI in the 10th inning in each of the last two nights. He’s a huge part of this offense, and a catalyst for its success.
Angels’ Lineup
As always with the Angels, the excitement of them coming to town is centered on two players - Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. This will be their first trip to Toronto since June 2019. Ohtani wasn’t anywhere near the superstar he is now at that time, and he is definitely a big draw and interest for many fans throughout the league.
Trout missed a little over a month, but returned from the IL a week ago. He has 7 hits already, with home runs in his last 2 games, so he’s fairly quickly getting back on track.
Ohtani, who is scheduled to pitch tomorrow, has had a great second half with the bat. Since the All Star break, he is hitting .274/.371/.575 (157 wRC+), after putting up a 133 wRC+ in the first half. That second half slash line is much closer to the line he put up last year in his MVP season.
Not joining the Angels on this trip are Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh, both of whom have had season ending surgeries.
Yesterday’s Heroes
Paul Goldschmidt went 3-4 with a pair of home runs, driving in 5 runs and walking away with the Monster Bat award. His big day was more than enough, as his Cardinals beat the Cubs 8-3.
Félix Bautista threw a pair of perfect innings in the 10th and 11th innings, stranding the extra innings runner both times, biding enough time for the Orioles to score the winning run in the bottom of the 11th and get Bautista the win. For his part, Bautista is the WPA King, with a .608 mark.
Aaron Nola threw a complete game shutout, pretty much a lock for earning the Pitcher of the Day award. He held the Reds to just 5 hits and a bean ball, as Nola struck out 11 batters on the night. The Phillies took the 4-0 win, pushing their record to 70-55, now going 48-26 since firing Joe Girardi at the start of June.
Find the Link
Find the link between Reid Detmers, Martín Pérez, Patrick Sandoval and Michael Wacha.