Blue Jays at Indians
The Toronto Blue Jays give their vastly improved offense a big test when they visit two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians on Sunday afternoon for the finale of a rain-shortened, two-game series. The Blue Jays are fourth in the American League in runs scored after finishing last in 2017 and rallied from an early four-run deficit to take the opener of the series 8-4 on Friday before Saturday’s game was postponed.
Toronto entered Saturday second in AL in homers with 20 and shortstop Aledmys Diaz leads the way with four after a three-run blast Friday, while first baseman Justin Smoak tops the team with five doubles and 10 RBIs. Newcomer Jaime Garcia will take the ball for the Blue Jays to oppose Kluber, who makes his fourth start of the season and struck out 27 in 23 innings over his first three appearances. Cleveland saw its five-game winning streak come to an end Friday after failing to score in its last seven trips to the plate. Two-time All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor is starting the warm up for the Indians, however, collecting seven hits in 14 at-bats with four doubles, a homer, five runs scored and five RBIs in his last three contests.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Toronto), SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays LH Jaime Garcia (1-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. Indians RH Corey Kluber (1-1, 1.57)
Garcia earned his first win with the Blue Jays last Sunday after allowing three runs, five hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings at Texas. The 31-year-old was even better in his season debut against the Chicago White Sox while giving up one run on four hits and striking out seven over six frames in a no-decision before Toronto won 4-2. Jose Ramirez is 3-for-6 with a double versus Garcia, who went 0-2 with a 5.59 ERA last season against the Indians - his first two career matchups with Cleveland.
Kluber boasts three quality starts in three opportunities and produced his best outing Monday against Detroit when he yielded two hits over eight scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts. The two-time All-Star went 0-1 in his first two starts despite surrendering just four runs on nine hits over 15 innings combined while striking out 14 and walking three. Kluber, who is 2-3 with a 4.46 ERA lifetime versus the Blue Jays, will be glad that Josh Donaldson (shoulder) is out of the lineup as he is 7-for-19 with a homer and five RBIs against him.
WALK-OFFS
1. Ramirez is 6-for-17 with two homers and three RBIs during a five-game hitting streak.
2. Toronto CF Kevin Pillar has hit safely in six straight games, going 8-for-22 during that stretch.
3. The Indians allowed nine runs during a 6-1 stretch before giving up eight on Friday night.