TORONTO BLUE JAYS NOTES:
THE LATEST: The Blue Jays had their four-game winning streak snapped last night in Cleveland, dropping a 1-0 contest…Were shut out for the 6th time this season…
Have held opponents to one run or fewer on 32 occasions this year, seven more than any other MLB club (2nd: TB – 25). Toronto has still won 10 of its last 16 games, 19 of its last 30, and is 38-26 over its last 64 contests…Its .594 win% over that span (since May 26) is the highest mark in the AL (3rd in MLB)…Is currently holding the 3rd Wild Card spot, 1.5 games back of Houston (65-49) for the 2nd spot, and 2.0 games up on Seattle.
YUSEI KEY-KUCHI: Yusei Kikuchi took the hard-luck loss last night, surrendering a single run over 7.0 frames with three hits, a walk, and six strikeouts…Marked his 8th quality start of the year, doing so in each of his last three outings…Since the All-Star Break, his 1.24 ERA is the best mark in the Majors (min. 20IP).
The 32-year-old has allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of his last 13 starts, pitching to a 2.79 ERA (22 ER/71.0 IP) and a 1.13 WHIP while holding hitters to a .223 average with 21 walks and 77 strikeouts…His 2.79 ERA since May 30th ranks 5th among AL pitchers.
THREE-HIT WHIT: Whit Merrifield singled in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th innings on Tuesday…Went 3-for-4 on the night, his 32nd multi-hit and 6th three-hit effort of the season…His 31 hits since the All-Star Break are tied with Gleyber Torres for the most among AL hitters (T-5th in MLB). The three-time All-Star has reached base safely in 25 of his last 28 contests with a plate appearance while hitting .336 (39-for-116) with three doubles, eight home runs, and 22 RBI for a .932 OPS with 14 multihit efforts…Is now batting .298 on the season, good for 6th among AL hitters (11th in MLB), while his 21 stolen bases are 10th most.
A VLAD, VLAD MAN: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the 3rd and 8th frames as part of a 2-for-4 night…Was his 31st multi-hit game of the season…Has recorded an AL-leading 194 hard-hit balls (95+ MPH) this season, 20 more than the next closest batter (Kyle Tucker – 174)…His 54.0 hard-hit percentage ranks 8th in the Junior Circuit.
IT’S SHO TIME: Daulton Varsho led off the 9th inning on Tuesday with a bunt single, part of a 1-for-4 night…Stole his 13th base of the season two pitches later…Has racked up an AL-high nine bunt hits this season, trailing only TJ Friedl (11) for the most in the Majors, and equaling his total from last season.
The outfielder has batted .256 (55-for-215) on the road this season, notching 10 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, and 31 RBI…His .758 road OPS is 253 points better than his home OPS this year (.505).
BY GEORGE!: George Springer went 1-for-4 last night…Since snapping a career-long 0-for-35 hitless streak on Aug. 2 vs. BAL, has gone 10-for-25 (.400) with three doubles, four RBI, and four walks.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Blue Jays are on a seven-game, seven-day road trip (4-1 so far)…Own a 34-27 road record this season for a .557 win%, 3rd best in the AL…Have won 14 of their last 19 road games, the best road record in the Majors since June 20th (.737%)…After this four-game set in Cleveland, will head to Rogers Centre for a five-game homestand against the Cubs (59-55) and Phillies (62-52). Blue Jays hitters sit 2nd among MLB clubs with a .266 road AVG, while ranking 2nd in the AL in road OBP (.333), 3rd in road SLG (.431), and 3rd in road OPS (.764)…The pitching staff ranks 6th in the AL in road ERA (4.05), 10th in road WHIP (1.30), and 13th in road opponents’ AVG (.254).
WHAT A START: Génesis Cabrera threw a clean 8th inning last night, retiring all three batters he faced on nine pitches (1.0IP, K)…Has made nine appearances in a Blue Jays uniform since being acquired from the Cardinals on July 21, posting a 2.89 ERA (3 ER/9.1 IP) and a 0.64 WHIP with five hits, a walk, nine punchouts, and a .152 opponent’s average…Eight of those nine outings have been scoreless.
PITCHING IN: Toronto pitchers have combined for a 3.75 ERA this season, the best mark among all MLB teams… Are 4th in MLB with 1,084 strikeouts (MIN – 1,101; MIA – 1,089; CWS – 1,086)…Rank 7th in the AL in opponents’ average (.242) and 6th in WHIP (1.26)… The rotation has 54 quality starts, 3rd most in MLB.
HITTING IT: Toronto batters have notched 1,031 hits this season, 2nd most in MLB (1st: TEX – 1,080)…Are currently 2nd in the AL in team OBP (.331), 3rd in AVG (.261), 5th in OPS (.750), 6th in SLG (.419), and 7th in extra-base hits (349).
KEVIN PUTTING IN THE K’S: Kevin Gausman takes the hill for his 23rd start of the year tonight…Struck out six batters over 4.1 frames last Thursday against Baltimore…Leads the AL with 177 strikeouts (2nd: Pablo López – 173), behind only Spencer Strider (211) for the MLB lead…Currently tops the Majors with a 2.77 FIP, leading Sonny Gray by percentage points…Also ranks 1st in the AL in K rate (32.8%) and SO/9 (12.07) while ranking 5th in SO/BB (5.21) and 5th in ERA (3.20).
VS. THE GUARDIANS: All-Time: 218-222-2
2023: 1-1 Road: 101-120-2
Road: 1-1 Progressive Field: 44-68
The Blue Jays are facing the Guardians for the first time this season…Lost two of three at Rogers Centre last year after dropping three of four at Progressive Field last May…Three of their last four losses in Cleveland have been by a single run.
Santiago Espinal hit safely in all six of his games against the Guardians last season, going 8-for-19 (.421) with three doubles, an RBI, and four walks (.522 OBP, 1.101 OPS)…Is a career .333 hitter (11- for-33) vs. CLE, notching four doubles and four RBI for a .905 OPS.
George Springer recorded four hits over his four meetings with the Guardians in 2022, batting .333 (4- for-12) with a pair of doubles and four RBI…Over 38 career games vs. CLE, has hit .273 (38-for-139) with 12 doubles, seven homers, and 20 RBI (.894 OPS).
Whit Merrifield leads all current Blue Jays with 115 career games against his former division rival…Has gone 117-for-457 (.256) over that stretch with 22 doubles, two triples, 10 homers, and 48 RBI.
STARTING PITCHER – Kevin Gausman, RHP #34
TODAY’S GAME: Making his 23rd start of the season and his 12th on the road…Gave up 3 runs over 4.1 innings his last time out, on 8/3 vs. BAL, surrendering 8 hits
and a pair of walks with 6 punchouts. His 177 strikeouts are the most in the AL (2nd: Pablo López – 173), and are the 2nd most ever by a Blue Jay in their first 22 outings of a season (1st: Roger Clemens – 183 in 1997). Owns a 2.79 FIP since the start of the 2020 season, the 2nd-best mark among qualified hurlers by percentage points (1st: Corbin Burnes – 2.79).
2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Picked up his 8th win of the year on 7/28 vs. LAA, throwing 6.0+ innings of one-run ball with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 9 strikeouts. Allowed 4 runs over 6.0 innings on 7/22 at SEA, giving up 5 hits, a career-high tying 4 homers, no walks, and 9 strikeouts. Named an All-Star for the 2nd time in his career (also: 2021). Gave up 2 runs over 6.0 innings on 7/8 at DET, allowing 5 hits and a pair of walks with 7 strikeouts…Marked his 14th quality start of the year. Took a no-decision on 7/2 vs. BOS, giving up 2 runs over 5.0 innings with 5 hits, a walk, and 7 strikeouts. Took the loss on 6/27 vs. SF, tossing 6.0 frames of one-run ball with 3 hits, a walk, and 12 strikeouts…Fanned LaMonte Wade Jr. in the 4th inning to reach 1,500 career strikeouts, becoming the 21st active player to reach the mark…Was his MLB-leading 7th double-digit strikeout game of 2023. Improved to 7-3 on 6/21 at MIA, giving up 3 runs over 6.0 innings (8H, BB, 6K). Pitched 7.0 frames of one-run ball on 6/6 vs. HOU, scattering 4 hits with no walks and a career-high-tying 13 strikeouts (also: 13K on 4/29/23 vs. SEA)…Became the 4th player (8th time) in franchise history to punch out at least 13 batters without any walks in a single game (last: José Berríos on 7/12/22 vs. PHI). Took a no-decision on 5/21 vs. BAL, tossing 8.0 frames of two-run ball on a season-high 115 pitches (6H, 2BB, 4K)…Matched his longest outing of the year (8.0IP on 4/12 vs. DET). Tossed 7.0 shutout innings on 4/29 vs. SEA, giving up 5 hits with a walk and a career-high 13 strikeouts…Threw a then season-high 108 pitches (74 strikes) while inducing a career-high 28 swing-and-misses…Got 20 whiffs on his splitter alone, the most on a single pitch in the Majors this season, and the most on a splitter in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). Took a no-decision on 4/12 vs. DET, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits over a season-high 8.0 innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts, his most as a Blue Jay…Surrendered a solo home run to Nick Maton with one out in the 4th inning, ending his streak of 15.1 innings without allowing an earned run, the longest stretch to begin a season in franchise history (2nd: Matt Shoemaker – 14.0 IP in 2019).
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: Set career-best marks in 2021 innings pitched (192.0), wins (14), quality starts (20), ERA (2.81), strikeouts (227), opponents’ AVG (.210), and WHIP (1.04). Named an All-Star for the 1st time in his career in 2021 and finished 6th in NL Cy Young voting…Signed a 5-year deal with Toronto on 12/1/21. Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1st round (4th overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.
VS. THE GUARDIANS: Facing the Guardians for the 8th time in his career (7th start)…Made 2 starts vs. CLE in 2022, giving up 5 runs over 4.2 innings on 8/14 in Toronto, and tossing 6.1 frames of one-run ball on 5/7 at Progressive Field…Has allowed 3 runs or fewer in 7 of his 8 career meetings with the Guardians.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
BIBEE MASTERCLASS LEADS GUARDS TO VICTORY
The Cleveland Guardians received another exemplary pitching effort, hanging on for a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Progressive Field…marked the second 1-0 win of the year for the Guardians (also July 22 vs. Philadelphia)… Cleveland is 2-3 on this a 7-game homestand against Chicago-AL (1-2) & Toronto (1-1, two-to-play)…club has gone 11-7-2 over last 20 series (+3G above .500/34-31 record since May 26). » TANNER BIBEE fired 7.0 scoreless frames to earn his 8th victory of the season (7.0IP, 6H, 0R, 0BB, 6SO, HB, 100 pitches), improving to 6-0 with a 2.03 ERA across his last 9 starts…scattered 6 singles, facing the minimum in 4.0 separate frames…stranded a pair of runners in the 1st and left the bases loaded in the 3rd…on an evening that also saw him make several standout plays in right field, RAMÓN LAUREANO delivered the lone run of the contest in his Cleveland debut with an RBI-double in the 2nd inning to score
OSCAR GONZALEZ, who reached on an infield single to lead off the frame…Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi matched Bibee’s 7.0 frames, but took the tough-luck loss (7.0IP, 3H, 1R-ER, BB, 6SO, 95 pitches)… retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced following the Laureano two-sacker….after a scoreless 8th by TREVOR STEPHAN, EMMANUEL CLASE recorded his 30th save, stranding runners at the corners to end the game.
Cleveland (55-59) sits in 2nd place in AL Central standings, 4.5 games behind 2nd-place Minnesota (60-55) and 4.5 games ahead of 3rd-place Detroit (-9.0G, 50-63)…despite dropping 8 of last 11, Guardians have still won 23 of 44, 30 of 57 and 33 of last 63… have also dropped 53 of last 99 overall since starting year 9-6.
PUT ANOTHER WIN ON THE BIBEE
Following GAVIN WILLIAMS’ stellar performance on Monday (7.0IP, 1H, 0R/ER, 1BB, 12SO), TANNER BIBEE threw 7.0-shutout innings with 6 strikeouts and 0 walks in last night’s contest…the pair became the first duo of Cleveland rookies to throw 7.0-scoreless innings in back-to-back starts since Albie Lopez and Jeff Mutis turned the trick from July 17-18, 1993…he’s the first Cleveland starter to win 6-or-more straight decisions since Jeremy Sowers (6, 2006)…he is also the fourth Cleveland pitcher to win 8 of their first 10 career decisions as a starter, joining Vean Gregg (1911), Luis Tiant (1964) and SHANE BIEBER (2018).
Bibee has struck out 6-or-more batters in 11 of his first 18 career starts…he is T2nd-most such starts in club history with SHANE BIEBER and Danny Salazar, trailing only Herb Score (15) in a pitcher’s first 18 career outings…the rookie is one of 7 pitchers in MLB history with 16-or-more starts of 5.0+ innings and 3-or-fewer runs allowed in the first 18 starts of their career, the first since Steven Matz in 2015-16.
AL ROOKIE bWAR LEADERS
NAME TEAM POS bWAR
Gunnar Henderson BAL SS 3.4
TANNER BIBEE CLE RHP 2.6
Anthony Volpe NYY SS 2.6
Josh Jung TEX 3B 2.4
Yennier Cano BAL RHP 2.4
SO NICE THAT HE DID IT TWICE
In his first at-bat for the Guardians, RAMÓN LAUREANO drove in the game’s sole run with an RBI-double down the third base line…he’s the first player to have the only RBI in a 1-0 win in a team debut since himself in his MLB debut with the Oakland A’s on August 3, 2018 against Detroit.
LET’S GET IT STARTED
Cleveland’s starting pitching has excelled in the second half, holding opponents to 2-or-fewer earned runs in 20 of the rotation’s 24 outings since July 14… they have lasted 5.0-or-more innings in 19 of their 24 starts since the All-Star Break, with 3 of those 5 outings being XZAVION CURRY’s spot starts…the rotation’s 2.62
ERA (38ER/130.1IP) to start the second half is the lowest in MLB, 46 points lower than the next-best team (Toronto, 3.08)… following the last two games, Cleveland’s second half starter ERA has gone decreased from 2.94 to 2.62… per Elias, the Guards have the 2nd-youngest average age of current MLB starting rotations (25 years, 317 days), behind Cincinnati (25 years, 258 days)…the table above shows how Cleveland’s starting pitching ranks among MLB teams since the All-Star break.
TERRIFIC TITO
Last night, Terry Francona won his 900th as the Manager of the Guardians…through his 11 seasons with Cleveland, he is currently 900-730 (.552), leading the Guardians to 4 AL Central Titles (2016- 18, 2022) and the American League Pennant in 2016…Francona won AL Manager of the Year in 2013, 2016 and 2022.
Francona (1,929) recently passed Hall-of-Famer Casey Stengel (1,926) for 13th-most wins by a manager in MLB history…he is 80 wins away from 12th place, held by Hall-of-Famer Leo Durocher (2,009)…Francona has the 3rd-most wins by an active MLB manager behind Bruce Bochy (2,071) and Dusty Baker (2,158).
TONIGHT’S STARTER – #41 LOGAN ALLEN LHP
ALLEN AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 2-2 4.00 8 8 45.0 49 22 20 15 39
Career 2-2 4.00 8 8 45.0 49 22 20 15 39
ALLEN’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 5-4 3.65 16 16 86.1 86 37 35 32 85
Career 5-4 3.65 16 16 86.1 86 37 35 32 85
TONIGHT’S START
The 24-year-old southpaw is making his 17th career MLB start, ninth at home, in the penultimate contest of this 4-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays…Allen was originally selected by Cleveland in the 2nd round (56th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft out of Florida International University…entered the season as Cleveland’s #8 prospect according to MLB.com…is starting on 4 days’ rest; owns a 1-2 record with a 5.00 ERA (10ER/18.0IP) in 3 career starts on 4 days’ rest.
LAST TIME OUT
Allen’s last start came on Friday in a 4-2 win over the White Sox at home…registered his fifth win of the season after 6.0 innings of work, while allowing 2 runs (earned) on 4 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts…Allen faced the minimum in the first 2 frames before facing trouble in the 3rd…each of the first 5 White Sox hitters reached base in the inning; a Trayce Thompson walk, Óscar Colás single, Elvis Andrus RBI-double, Tim Anderson walk and Andrew Benintendi RBI-walk…he escaped the bases-loaded, no-out 3rdinning jam with a pair of strikeouts and a fielder’s choice…Allen retired 7 of the last 9 hitters he faced to conclude his outing.
SOUTHPAW VS. THE EAST
Allen is making his 3rd career start against the AL East, holding a 1-1 record with a 1.50 ERA (2ER/12.0IP), 18 strikeouts and 4 walks…his most recent start against the division was on May 29 at Baltimore in which he set career-highs in strikeouts (10) and innings pitched (7.0)…after that start, he became the second pitcher in franchise history with 3-or-more games of 8+ strikeouts in their first 7 career outings, joining Herb Score who pulled the trick 5 times…also became the 8th pitcher in club history with a 10+ strikeout game within their first 7 career games, last done by TRISTON McKENZIE in 2020.
THE ALLEN WRENCH
Allen started his MLB career with 8 straight starts of 3-or-fewer runs allowed, becoming the third Cleveland pitcher with 8-or-more such outings to begin a career, joining Aaron Civale (9, 2019) and Cliff Lee (10, 2002-03)…joined Herb Score (1955) as the only 2 pitchers in franchise history with 8+SO in their first 2 career starts… became the third pitcher in Cleveland history with 6.0+IP, 8+SO and one-or-fewer earned runs in an MLB debut, joining McKenzie and Luis Tiant…his 8 strikeouts rank T4th in a Cleveland MLB debut.
RISP-Y BUSINESS
Opposing teams are hitting .189 (14-for-74) against Allen with runners in scoring position, the 2nd-lowest average of any starter on the roster (min 30.0IP) behind XZAVION CURRY (.140)…is also holding hitters to a .100 (3-for-30) average with runners in scoring position and 2 outs…the .100 average with RISP and 2 outs ranks 7th among AL pitchers (min. 30 BF) and his .189 RISP average ranks 8th among AL pitchers (min. 75 BF).
SWEEP AND SLIDE
Allen’s sweeper/slider and changeup has seen success this season…opponents are batting just .210 (33-for-157) with a .280 slugging percentage and 50 strikeouts against the two pitches this season…11 of those pitches have gone for extra bases. » All of Allen’s 10 home runs allowed this have come against his fastballs (four-seamer and cutter)…opponents are hitting .298 (53- for-178) against the rookie’s fastballs with 22 extra-base hits.
