On Thursday night, the Toronto Blue Jays will face off against the Boston Red Sox in game 2 of the series at Fenway Park following an off day on Wednesday. The Blue Jays are 4-8 on the season, and the Red Sox are off to a miserable start at 3-9. The Blue Jays took game 1 of the series 7-5.
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Shoemaker Looks Promising
Matt Shoemaker had a solid start in game 1 of the series, going 5.2 innings and giving up just 2 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks versus 4 strikeouts. He improved his record to 3-0 on the young season. The bullpen was solid and went 3 1/3 innings of 1 run baseball and allowed just 3 hits. The offense was the key in this one as they knocked around one of the best pitchers in baseball in Chris Sale. Freddy Galvis went 2 for 5 with a double and had 2 RBI’s. Randal Grichuk went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a 2-hit game as well with a double, a run scored, and an RBI.
Chris Sale has not been good this season, and that was the case in this one. Sale gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and struck out just 3 in 4 innings of work as his record fell to 0-3 on the season with a 9.00 ERA. The bullpen was not bad, as they gave up just 2 runs over 5 innings. The offense struggled to find the big hit all day. Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland each hit solo home runs, but that was the only hits they had. Rafael Devers was the only Red Sox player with more than 1 hit, and Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4 in his 1st game back in over a year.
Aaron Sanchez Starts
Aaron Sanchez will get the start in this one. He is 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA in 2 starts this season. Last year, Sanchez went 4-6 with a 4.89 ERA in 105 innings. He struck out 86 batters but walked 58 and gave up 11 home runs. The Blue Jays have very little experience against Eovaldi in his career. The entire roster has taken just 14 at-bats against him and have recorded just 1 hit off the bat off catcher Danny Jansen.
Nathan Eovaldi will start for Boston and will look for his second straight quality start. He surrendered 6 runs in 4 innings in his 1st start but bounced back with a 5 inning start, allowing 3 runs. Last season, Eovaldi went 6-7 with a 3.81 ERA in 22 appearances. He recorded 101 strikeouts versus just 20 walks all season, and he has 6 walks already in 2019. Jackie Bradley Jr. is the only Red Sock with success against Sanchez, going 5 for 16 in his career. Andrew Benintendi is 3 for 13, Mookie Betts is 7 for 26, Xander Bogaerts is 7 for 29, and JD Martinez is 5 for 18.
Take Toronto
The Red Sox come in at -200. Boston has struggled mightily early this season. While the Blue Jays have not been much better, they have at least had some solid starting pitching. Aaron Sanchez has been successful against the Red Sox in the past, and I can see that continuing here. Eovaldi hasn’t been great in his first 2 starts and has not faced the Blue Jays hitters much in his career. I think Sanchez will shut down the Red Sox lineup and the Blue Jays will get to Eovaldi early, and the World Series hangover will continue for Boston early in this 2019 campaign. Take Toronto +170.
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