The Toronto Blue Jays head to Baltimore this week for a three-game set with the Orioles. While Baltimore led the American League East for most of the season, the Blue Jays have since supplanted them, and come into the series with a three game-lead on the third-place Orioles.
Monday, August 29 — 7:05 pm EST
Marco Estrada vs. Wade Miley
Tuesday, August 30 — 7:05 pm EST
J.A. Happ vs. Ubaldo Jimenez
Wednesday, August 31 — 7:05 pm EST
Aaron Sanchez vs. Yovani Gallardo
Touring the East
This series marks the first of three straight on the road for the Blue Jays, who will continue on to Tampa Bay and New York for more inter-divisional baseball after Thursday’s off-day. In fact, the Blue Jays play their next 15 consecutive games against AL East opponents—and 25 of their remaining 32—as the regular season winds to a close. With Toronto, Boston and Baltimore all bunched up so tightly at the top of the division—and New York not far behind—these games are sure to be intense.
Aaron Sanchez returns
Prodigious young starter Aaron Sanchez will make his return to the Blue Jays rotation on Wednesday, after spending 10 days conditioning in Dunedin, Fla., as part of the club’s plans to limit his innings. Sanchez gave up four runs in four innings his last time out vs. Cleveland, but he still boasts an ERA below 3.00 over his 156.1 innings this season. It’ll be interesting to see how sharp the right-hander is after his extended time off.
Trying to take advantage
The Blue Jays will look to tee off on a pair of starters they’ve had success against in the past in the first two games of the series. Left-hander Wade Miley starts Monday, carrying a 6.04 ERA from his five prior starts against the Blue Jays. Edwin Encarnacion is 5-for-9 in his career against Miley with a pair of home runs and five walks. Troy Tulowitzki is 7-for-19; Kevin Pillar is 4-for-11; and Devon Travis is 3-for-8.
Then, on Tuesday, Ubaldo Jimenez will take the mound for the Orioles. He faced the Blue Jays twice this June and didn’t make it out of the third inning either time, surrendering five runs in each start. As a team, the Blue Jays have made 43 plate appearances against Jimenez this season and are batting .405/.488/.811. Michael Saunders is 7-for-16 against him in his career with three home runs.
The Blue Jays will look to take advantage of those two starters before they face Yovani Gallardo on Wednesday, a pitcher who has historically pitched well against Toronto. While the right-hander has a 5.69 ERA in 18 starts this season, he did make one of his best starts of the year against Toronto in June, limiting the Blue Jays to two earned runs on five hits over five innings.
Trying to keep it rolling
The Blue Jays come into the series with several hitters looking to continue mini hot streaks. After his three-homer performance Sunday, Josh Donaldson is batting .385/.529/.962 over his last seven games with five home runs. Russell Martin has a 1.016 OPS in the month of August, and even Darwin Barney is 11-for-his-last-31 with five doubles and a homer.
Coming and going
The Orioles are already without staff ace Chris Tillman for this series. He’s on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. But they may also be missing centre fielder Adam Jones, who left a game on Friday in New York with a strained left hamstring and hasn’t played since.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays will be adding to their lineup for this series as catcher Dioner Navarro, acquired in a trade with the White Sox on the weekend, will join the team Monday. He caught Marco Estrada to great effect last season, so he may step right into the Blue Jays lineup Monday night.
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