Red Sox-Blue Jays Preview
It's taken longer than many expected for the Toronto Blue Jays to start playing like the club that made a run to the ALCS last year. The reigning MVP might finally be heating up, too. Toronto sends Marcus Stroman to the mound looking to win a fourth straight game when it hosts the Boston Red Sox on Saturday. The Blue Jays (25-25) have won six of their last eight to get back to .500 for the first time in two weeks, but that hardly seems like an accomplishment for a team expected to play deep into October again. And while that's obviously still possible, few figured it would take them this long to get on any sort of a hot streak. Josh Donaldson homered twice and finished with five RBIs to help Toronto snap a five-game home losing streak with Friday's 7-5 win over Boston (29-19). Donaldson, who won the AL MVP while batting .297 with 41 homers and 123 RBIs in 2015, had been going through his struggles recently as well. He finally had a big night after hitting .181 with two homers and three RBIs over his previous 22. Stroman (5-1, 3.89 ERA) also got himself back on track in his last outing. He allowed one run and three hits in 7 2/3 innings in Sunday's 3-1 win over the Twins one start after giving up career highs of seven runs and 13 hits in a loss to Tampa Bay. "It felt great," Stroman said. "It felt like I was commanding it all day and I was able to get that depth from it early on and just really used it and tried to locate it as best I could all game." The right-hander had trouble locating against Boston last month, though. Stroman allowed five runs and walked a season-high three in 5 1/3 innings and got a no-decision in Toronto's 8-7 loss April 8 in his shortest outing of the season. He won each of his previous four starts with a 1.26 ERA against the Red Sox, who have dropped two in a row following a four-game winning streak. Xander Bogaerts was 1 for 4 on Friday, extending his career-best hitting streak to 20 games - the longest active run in the majors. It's the second-longest in the majors this year behind teammate Jackie Bradley Jr., whose 29-game streak ended Thursday. Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak against the Blue Jays to 21 as David Ortiz got the night off. Rick Porcello will be on the mound looking for his third win of the season over Toronto. Porcello (7-2, 3.47) gave up two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings of Sunday's 5-2 win over Cleveland, bouncing back a season-high five runs allowed in his previous start. The right-hander's first two starts of the season came against the Blue Jays, and he won both while allowing seven runs and striking out 15 over 12 1/3 innings. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista each homered twice off Porcello over those contests. Encarnacion is hitting .375 with three homers and Bautista is batting .433 while also walking six times in matchups against Porcello. Bautista is expected to be back in the lineup after serving a one-game suspension Friday. |