The red-hot Toronto Blue Jays offence ran into a brick wall Friday night, failing to get a single run past Minnesota Twins pitchers Pablo Lopez, Jax Griffin, nor Johan Duran as they fell 2-0.
Despite seven hits, none of which for extra bases, they stranded four runners in scoring position, something they’ll look to change Saturday night for Game 2 of the weekend series. To do so, the Blue Jays will have to connect against rookie Zebby Matthews, who is set to make his fourth major league start tonight.
Since being called up earlier this month, he’s started three games against the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals where across 15 innings — five per game — he’s posted a 3.00 ERA, giving up five earned runs, allowing 13 hits, walking a pair and striking out 13.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, will send Jose Berrios to the mound, whose been one of the hottest pitchers in the game over the last few weeks. Tonight will be his sixth career start against the Twins, having posted a 4.03 ERA across 29 prior innings pitched.
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. EST.
TV & Radio: Sportsnet, SN590.
Odds via Bet365:
Moneyline: TOR +120; MIN -140.
Spread: TOR +1.5 -165; MIN -1.5 +140.
Over/Under: o9 -110; u9 -110.
*Odds at the time of publishing. Odds subject to change.
Starting pitchers:
| Name | Team | GS
|
W
|
L
|
IP
|
ERA
|
xERA
|
ERA-
|
FIP
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Berríos | TOR | 27 | 13 | 9 | 164.1 | 3.72 | 5.08 | 93 | 4.89 | 1.17 | 7.06 | 2.52 |
| Zebby Matthews | MIN | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15.0 | 3.00 | 3.53 | 74 | 3.77 | 1.00 | 7.80 | 1.20 |
Lineups:
BLUE JAYS:
- G Springer (R) RF
- D Varsho (L) CF
- V Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- S Horwitz (L) DH
- A Barger (L) 3B
- A Kirk (R) C
- W Wagner (L) 2B
- N Lukes (L) LF
- L Jiménez (R) SS
Need to bide the time until first pitch?
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Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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Title: GDB 138.0: Can the Blue Jays bats bounce back against the Twins?
Author: Zach Laing
