"Over three games at Tropicana Field, the Blue Jays mustered just four runs, falling 5-1 last Monday, 4-3 on Tuesday, and 3-0 on Wednesday. A week later, the Blue Jays are looking to have a better series. That series loss to the Rays is their lone series loss in the last six. Since April 19th, the Blue Jays are playing .500 baseball, going 11-10, with four of those losses coming consecutively."
"Simply put, the Jays can't be swept again. Both the New York Yankees and Rays have a signficant cushion over the Jays. Enter Monday, the Jays are 8.5 games behind the division-leading Rays, and seven and a half games back of the Yankees. They have to string together some wins."
"In fact, the four runs that the Rays' pitching staff surrendered on Thursday were the most since giving up 12 on April 21st. Since April 22nd, the Rays have given up just 24 runs, 26 fewer runs given up than the Milwaukee Brewers. The saving grace is their offence hasn't been terrific in that stretch. Since April 22nd, the Rays have scored just 61 runs, tied for the fourth-fewest in Major League Baseball."
"The Rays' starters have a 3.11 ERA (third-lowest) and a 3.71 FIP (sixth-lowest). Their bullpen sits in the middle of the pack in both those categories, so that may be the best way for the Blue Jays to score runs. On the hitting side of things, the Rays have a 97 wRC+, tied for 11th-worst this season in MLB."
The Blue Jays scored four runs across three games at Tropicana Field, losing 5-1, 4-3, and 3-0. The series loss to the Rays was their only series defeat in the previous six, but their overall record has been around .500 since April 19. They enter Monday 18-22 through 40 games, trailing the Rays by 8.5 games and the Yankees by 7.5 games, making additional wins necessary. The Rays were affected by a rainout at Fenway but still took two of three from the Red Sox while allowing only seven runs. Since April 22, Rays pitching has been stingy, with a low run allowance and strong starter metrics, while their offense has produced relatively few runs and ranks near the lower end in wRC+.
Read at BlueJaysNation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]