The Cleveland Guardians and Toronto Blue Jays will continue a crucial three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre. Friday's series opener finished by an 8-0 score in favor of the Guardians, who cashed in as a +142 underdog. Cleveland holds a 1.5 game lead in the AL Central at 60-52, while Toronto is in Wild Card position at 60-51.
These teams met back in early May, with the Guardians taking three of four at home.
A young Guardians team that has shown no signs of slowing down as it continues to exceed expectations, and Cleveland hammered Toronto on Friday for its sixth straight win. Amed Rosario got things started with a two-run single in the top of third before Jose Ramirez added a sac fly and Josh Naylor went deep later in the inning, and Ramirez launched a three-run shot in the fourth for good measure.
Cal Quantrill was terrific in the win, allowing just one hit and no walks over seven scoreless innings, striking out seven.Ramirez had a three-hit game with four RBI, while Nolan Jones also recorded three-hits.
“It’s nice when you’re in the middle of August and a guy looks like his last pitch was as good as his first one,” said manager Terry Francona to MLB.com about Quantrill. “It sure looked like he wasn’t too worried with anything other than pitching.”
Cleveland is up a good amount on the money line for the season while going 59-53 on the run line. Overs are 54-52-6 for the Guardians, and only one of their last eight games has gone over the betting total.
The Guardians are right in the middle of the pact offensively at 4.31 runs per game on a .697 team OPS. Pitching is more of a strength with the Guardians posting a solid 3.85 team ERA including a mark of 3.41 from a strong bullpen.
Ramirez has been one of baseball's best players with 4.8 WAR, posting an .891 OPS with 21 homers, 14 stolen bases and 88 RBI. Andres Gimenez is also a breakout star, batting .304/.367/.482 with 12 homers, 14 stolen bases and 50 driven in.
Triston McKenzie is set to make his 22nd appearance and 21st start of the season, hoping to follow up a brilliant outing against the mighty Houston Astros last Sunday when he tossed eight scoreless frames , allowing two hits and a walk while striking out eight. The 25-year-old is having an impressive season, going 8-8 with a 3.16 ERA over 128 innings of work.
Cleveland is mostly healthy, with only starting pitcher Cody Morris (strained shoulder) and reliever Anthony Gose (strained triceps) on the IL. The bullpen is down one key player however as James Karinchak is on the restricted list due to being unvaccinated.