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GDB 10.0: Toronto Blue Jays face uphill battle to salvage series with Yankees

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It’s going to be a tough task for the Toronto Blue Jays to salvage their series with the Yankees on Sunday afternoon.

After winning game one of the three-game set Friday, playing spoiler in the Bronx Bombers’ home opener, they exacted their revenge Saturday ending Kevin Gausman’s day after just one and one-third innings. The Yankees racked up nine runs by the end of the day to secure the win, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Jays.

They managed to put up an eight spot of their own, scoring three in the top of the ninth to make it a tighter game than it should’ve been. In and of itself, that’s undoubtedly some good the club can pull into Sunday’s rubber match.

It’s not going to be an easy feat, as Bowden Francis will take the mound for the Jays coming off a game against the Houston Astros in which he dotted them for seven strikeouts, but also gave up seven earned runs across five and one-third innings. His control wasn’t the issue, walking just one batter in that start, but rather that his fastball wasn’t where it needed to be.

He utilized his four-seamer on 41.8 percent of his pitches, allowing a .545 batting average off it in which he gave up six hits and two home runs. He threw more sliders and curveballs in that start than last year on average, so it will be curious to see his utilization today.

If Francis’ first start struggles carry over, the offence will need to find a dig deeper against the Yankees Luis Gil, who they send to the mound for his second start of the year. Gil was dominant against the red-hot Diamondbacks in his first start of the year, allowing one earned run across four and two-third innings.

First pitch: 1:35 p.m. EST. TV & Radio: Sportsnet.

Weather: “Winds left to right at 10mph.” – Kevin Roth, Rotogrinders.

Odds via Betano:

Moneyline: TOR +147; NYY -175.
Spread: TOR +1.5 +154; NYY -1.5 +125.
Over/Under: o7.5 -133; u7.5 +102.

*Odds available at the time of writing. Odds subject to change.

Starting pitchers:

Name Team GS

 W

 L

 IP

 ERA

 xERA

 ERA-

 FIP

 WHIP

 K/9

 BB/9
Bowden Francis TOR 1 0 1 5.1 11.81 5.57 335 8.45 2.06 11.81 1.69
Luis Gil NYY 1 0 0 4.2 1.93 1.32 55 2.56 0.86 11.57 5.79

Lineups:

TORONTO:

  1. G Springer (R) DH
  2. V Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
  3. B Bichette (R) SS
  4. A Kirk (R) C
  5. C Biggio (L) RF
  6. E Clement (R) 3B
  7. D Varsho (L) LF
  8. I Kiner-Falefa (R) 2B
  9. K Kiermaier (L) CF
NEW YORK:
  1. G Torres (R) 2B
  2. J Soto (L) RF
  3. A Judge (R) CF
  4. A Rizzo (L) 1B
  5. G Stanton (R) DH
  6. A Verdugo (L) LF
  7. A Volpe (R) SS
  8. A Wells (L) C
  9. O Cabrera (S) 3B

Need to bide the time until first pitch?

Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks about all the happenings in Toronto and beyond.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO