Athletics 4 - 8 Blue Jays
Final
  for this game

Jays unveil Alvarez in tilt with A's

Aug 10, 2011 - 3:10 PM

Video

(Sports Network) - After debuting one top prospect at home in last night's series opener versus the Athletics, the Blue Jays are ready to give another youngster a shot on the Rogers Centre mound.

Henderson Alvarez gets the call for Toronto this evening and will try to even this three-game series against Oakland in his major league debut.

A converted third baseman, the 21-year-old Alvarez went 8-7 with a 4.33 earned run average in 23 games at Class-A Dunedin a year ago. However, the undrafted native of Venezuela has had a breakout year with Double-A New Hampshire this season, going 8-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 15 games.

One thing that makes the right-hander so attractive is his control. Alvarez has walked just 17 batters over 88 innings despite still trying to develop a third pitch to go with his fastball and changeup.

"His slider has come along," Toronto manager John Farrell told his club's website of Alvarez's progression. "It has given him a defined third pitch in addition to his fastball and his changeup.

"He has continued to show strides in his overall command and overall performance coming out of Spring Training ... We've got a young, very good looking pitching prospect. [We] felt like it was time to get his feet wet up here."

That is exactly what prized prospect Brett Lawrie has been doing since joining Toronto last week in Baltimore. The 21-year-old British Columbia native went 5-for-11 in the three games versus the Orioles with a homer and two RBI before going 0-for-3 in his home debut last night with a pair of strikeouts in a 4-1 loss to Oakland.

Lawrie got a standing ovation when he came to bat in the second inning against another BC native in A's starter Rich Harden, who worked seven strong innings to match his longest outing of the year. Harden gave up a run and five hits, striking out eight.

"I finished stronger than when I started," Harden said

Josh Willingham hit a go-ahead two-run homer and Kurt Suzuki also went deep for Oakland, which has won three straight following a four-game slide. Willingham has homered in two straight and three of his past five games.

Speedy outfielder Coco Crisp missed his second straight game with a strained right calf and could sit out this series versus the Blue Jays, who got a solo homer from Edwin Encarnacion in last night's loss.

Brett Cecil (4-5) was touched in defeat, Toronto's fourth in six games, after yielding three runs on four hits over seven frames.

"Brett threw the ball well enough to put us in a position to win," Farrell said.

The A's hope that early-season success story Gio Gonzalez can get back on track tonight.

The left-hander has given up 16 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings of work over a three-start losing streak, pushing his season ERA from 2.33 to 3.10 in that span. He was tagged for six runs on 10 hits and four walks over 6 1/3 frames of a loss in Seattle last Wednesday, striking out nine.

Gonzalez is 9-9 in 22 starts this year, going 2-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 10 outings on the road. The 25-year-old is 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA in three lifetime meetings with the Blue Jays.

Toronto won two of three over Oakland at home back in April and has still taken 18 of the past 26 meetings in this series.






Related News