Game #159 Preview: Wacha vs Gausman

Oct 2, 2022 - 4:04 PM

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The Blue Jays wrap up the home portion of their regular season schedule, looking to sweep the visiting Red Sox. Tune in this afternoon for a 1:37 ET first pitch.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Kevin Gausman will make his last start of the season, his first in Toronto. After coming over on a massive free agent deal, I think the Jays and the fans got everything they could have hoped for out of him in his first season. He enters play today with a 12-10 record and a 3.30 ERA. His 2.42 FIP and 5.5 fWAR are far and away the best he has ever put up in his career, and still sit among the best in the American League. He has been great this year, and he’s set up to be a big piece going into the playoffs as well.

This will remarkably be the sixth time he has faced the Red Sox this year. Of the first five, he had two rougher outings in Boston plus one dominant one there, and then in Toronto he has had two really good outings - in 13 innings in Rogers Centre, he has not allowed an earned run. Overall across 31 innings, he is 3-0 with a 2.32 ERA against Boston this year. He did give up two home runs, both in the 28-5 game, and both of them to players who are no longer in the Red Sox’ organization - Christian Vázquez and Jackie Bradley Jr..

Red Sox’ Starter

Veteran right hander Michael Wacha will go for the Sox, making his 23rd start of the season and setting himself up for a decent foray back into Free Agency. He is just 3.1 innings short of putting up his busiest season since 2017, and his overall numbers are as good as they have been since his heydays with the Cardinals. Through 123.1 innings, he is 11-1 with a 3.06 ERA and a 3.90 FIP, cutting back on his walks and home runs, although there has been a noticeable reduction in strikeouts as well.

This will be Wacha’s third start against the Jays this year, and all three have been in Toronto. He had a good start back in April, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings. His next trip in didn’t go as well, as he gave up 4 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings. Between the two outings, he struck out 7 while walking 5, and kept the ball in the ballpark.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Red Sox’ Lineup

Yesterday’s Heroes

Teoscar Hernández is the Monster Bat winner after his work yesterday, going 4-5 with a home run and a pair of doubles, scoring 4 times and driving in 2. His big day helped the Jays to the 10-0 win, but also moved Teo up into second place on the team in slugging percentage behind Danny Jansen, although Jano has a lot fewer plate appearances.

Nathaniel Lowe hit a big 2-run home run in the top of the 7th, getting his Rangers on the board and giving them a brief 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for him, he plays for the Rangers and they still lost 3-2 to the Angels, with Lowe’s hit being the one of just two the Rangers had. But Lowe still gets the WPA King trophy as consolation, putting up a .343 mark on the day.

Nestor Cortes walked all over the Orioles yesterday, holding them to just 1 hit and 2 walks over 7.1 innings, striking out 12 batters along the way. As a result, he’s the Pitcher of the Day, and also took home the win as the Yankees had the second best shutout of the day, beating the Orioles 8-0.

Find the Link

Find the link between Michael Wacha and Yairo Muñoz.

Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant