Blue Jays at Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays send ace Charlie Morton to the mound in search of his career high-tying 15th victory when they host the struggling Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday for the third of a four-game series between American League East rivals. The Rays used five pitchers to limit Toronto to just two hits as they won for the eighth time in nine games and maintained the top spot in the AL wild-card race with a 5-0 victory Friday.
Austin Meadows continued to punish Blue Jays pitching (26-for-58 this year) with two singles in the win, extending his overall hitting streak to six games (12-for-21, three homers, seven RBIs), and teammate Joey Wendle has also hit safely in six straight (8-for-21). Morton is in the conversation for the AL Cy Young Award and can tie his win total from 2017 with Houston on Saturday while Toronto counters with highly-regarded prospect Anthony Kay, who will be making his major-league debut. The Blue Jays received a triple from Randal Grichuk in the first inning and a single from Anthony Alford in the ninth when they loaded the bases with none out only to come up empty for their 14th loss in the last 17 games and 10th setback in 14 tries against the Rays in 2019. Toronto rookie phenom Bo Bichette went 0-for-3 with a walk Friday but has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games and is batting .322 overall.
TV: 6:10 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Toronto), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays LH Anthony Kay (NR) vs. Rays RH Charlie Morton (14-6, 3.06 ERA)
Kay came to the Blue Jays before the trade deadline in a deal that sent Marcus Stroman to the New York Mets and has been solid with Triple-A Buffalo since. The 24-year-old University of Connecticut product went 2-2 with a 2.50 ERA with the Bisons, striking out 39 with 22 walks across 36 innings, and is 10-8 overall in the minors this year. Kay was a first-round pick of the Mets in 2016 and had Tommy John surgery later that year before missing the 2017 campaign.
Morton ended a three-game winless stretch Sunday, allowing one run on four hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts against Cleveland. The 35-year-old New Jersey native, who had given up nine runs across nine innings in his previous two starts, boasts a career-best 209 strikeouts in 170 1/3 innings - 1 1/3 from matching a career high. Bichette is 2-for-4 with a homer against Morton, who is 0-1 with a 2.31 ERA in two starts versus Toronto in 2019.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rays LF Tommy Pham (elbow, forearm) and C/1B Travis d’Arnaud (neck, shoulder) sat out Friday, while INF Eric Sogard (foot) left in the fourth inning.
2. Toronto C Reese McGuire did not play Friday but is 8-for-13 with a homer and two RBIs in his last five contests.
3. Tampa Bay RHP Cole Sulser made his major-league debut Friday, becoming the franchise-record 55th player to perform for the Rays in 2019.