Game #158 Preview: Bello vs Stripling

Oct 1, 2022 - 6:19 PM

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After another dismantling of the Red Sox last night, the Blue Jays will play the second game of their three game series, the final one of the regular season at Rogers Centre. Gametime today is set for 3:07 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Ross Stripling will make his final start of the season today, one of the best seasons of his career. His 9 wins is a career high, his 128.1 innings is a career high, and his current 3.16 FIP is a career low. His matching 3.16 ERA is bested by his standout 2018 season when he put up a 3.02 ERA, but otherwise this is premier Stripling, and he has set himself up well for his first career playoff start, and then eventually down the line, his first foray into free agency.

This will be Stripling’s fifth start against the Red Sox, with the first four going well. Over a combined 20 innings, he allowed 6 runs on 21 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 17 and allowed just 1 home run, a home run to Trevor Story who is now on the IL.

Red Sox’ Starter

Rookie Brayan Bello will get the start for the Red Sox, making his 11th start and pitching in his 13th game overall. He has combined for 53.1 innings, over which he has gone 2-7 with a 4.39 ERA, although a much better 2.97 FIP. He has allowed just 1 home run this year, which is what is really helping drive that low FIP. He otherwise has a lot of walks and a below average strikeout rate.

Bello has a bit of experience against the Jays this year, pitching in a pair of games at Fenway. He combined to throw 9 innings, surrendering 7 runs on 15 hits and 3 walks, striking out 9. None of the Jays touched him up for a home run, but the Jays’ batters did hit a combined .375/.419/.475 off him.

Lineups

Sorry for the bad tweet for this one. The Jays didn’t seem to post the lineup today.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Evan Longoria went 2-4 with a pair of home runs and 5 RBI, earning himself the Monster Bat award. The 36 year old’s big day helped the Giants to the 10-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

Corbin Burnes outdueled Sandy Alcantara in one of the best pitching matchups of the year. Both went 8 innings, but Alcantara blinked and allowed a run while Burnes did not. As a result, Burnes got the win in the game, and is a double award winner here as well with the Pitcher of the Day award and the WPA King trophy, putting up a .568 WPA in the Brewers’ 1-0 win over the Marlins.

Find the Link

Find the link between Brayan Bello and Nestor Cortes (they combined to do something in one game that has only happened 35 times in total this year).

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant