The Jays head to KC without Ryan Goins. Goins likely would not have improved his numbers in KC, the Jays face two left handed pitchers plus Yordano Ventura. Meanwhile Chris Getz gets to face two lefties right away, it could get him off to a hot start.
The Jays throw Dustin McGowan, Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle against the Royals. I believe I heard, or read, that McGowan might use an insulin pump in this start. McGowan is a diabetic and the loss of blood sugar could explain his difficulty once he gets 90 minutes into the game. I also believe that Brandon Morrow uses an insulin pump when he pitches. All eyes will be on McGowan tonight.
Your matchups are:
Tuesday: Dustin McGowan (6.88 ERA) vs Jason Vargas (1.54 ERA). Just based on ERA this looks like advantage Royals.
Wednesday: Drew Hutchison (3.46 ERA) vs Bruce Chen (7.45 ERA). Advantage Toronto. Chen has been hit around over his last three starts. There are some comments in the KC press that manager Ned Yost was considering skipping Chen due to the Royals off-day on Monday.
Thursday: Mark Buehrle (2.16 ERA) vs Yordano Ventura (1.80 ERA). This is the game of the series, 84 mph fastball vs 100 mph fastball (Ventura's average FB velocity is 96 mph). Ventura has 27 K's in 25 IP.
I assume Gibby will slip Getz into Goins spot at the bottom of the order. Otherwise we are waiting for the Jays offense to fire on all cylinders. Jose Reyes returns to the scene of his 2013 ankle injury but he hasn't found his hitting form yet. Brett Lawrie has been up and down with his hitting, with more down until he had a good game on Sunday. Colby Rasmus has also been inconsistent.
The Royals offense has been struggling, they are 13th in the league in wOBA. Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler have combined for zero home runs. Mike Moustakos has Brett Lawrie style offensive numbers.
All games are 8pm starts.
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