Will Rays’ Archer pin down Blue Jays?
Tampa Bay bombarded Toronto in last night’s series opener, but can Kevin Cash’s club do the same against the Blue Jays’ ace?
Round two between the AL East rivals unfolds this evening, with a 7:07 p.m. ET first pitch up North. Oddsmakers at online sports book Bovada.lv like the host team to bounce back, while the Rays enter as +140 underdogs. The over/under total holds steady at eight runs.
Desmond Jennings, Tim Beckham, Steve Pearce and Curt Casali all smashed homers in Monday’s 13-2 triumph for the visitors, who recorded season highs in runs and hits (17). They’ll deal with a different kind of beast, though, in the form of Marcus Stroman (4-0, 3.54 ERA). John Gibbons’ No. 1 man in the rotation has already defeated Tampa Bay twice in 2016, logging eight innings in each outing. Including a pair of meetings last season, Stroman is 3-1 with a 3.67 ERA vs. the Rays (17-19).
Cash counters with his own top-level hurler, even though Chris Archer (2-4, 4.57) remains in the process of ironing out some command issues. Tampa Bay’s righty yielded three runs and five base knocks to the Blue Jays (19-21) in the season opener before twirling six one-hit frames in a 4-3 victory on April 30. Most recently, he took a no-decision vs. AL West-leading Seattle.
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Toronto’s big boppers such as Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion rarely enjoy much success off Archer, so the defending division champion’s search for offensive consistency could be delayed even further. There are very few secrets between these two clubs anymore, meaning that one errant delivery may shift the balance of the contest. Bank on a lower-scoring affair.
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