The Blue Jays aim for a sweep of their AL East rivals after slamming eight home runs on Saturday afternoon.
Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays
Tampa Bay has lost a season-worst four games in a row and is facing being swept for the first time since May 24-26. The Rays fell 17-11 in Saturday’s defeat, but manager Joe Maddon found some positive things to take away from the loss. “I really love the way we stayed with it all the way through,” he said. “I really appreciated our guys’ effort today.” Despite dropping the first two games of this series, the club still has 33-20 record on the road (+960), which is the best mark in baseball. Tampa is also a solid 21-12 during the day (+600) and the total is 14-18 O/U in those contests. The Rays are 6-5 on the season against the Blue Jays and 2-3 at the Rogers Centre.
Toronto has captured the first two games of this series and the offense has managed to generate eight runs in each contest. “We’re doing a good job offensively,” Jose Bautista said. “We’re coming up with big hits when we need them and solo shots here and there.” He hit his MLB-best 33rd home run last night in the ninth inning, as the Blue Jays have hit 23 of their 167 home runs during their current 8-3 stretch. The pitching staff has held its own recently, ranking second in the American League with a 3.05 ERA since the All-Star break. The team is now 5-3 against the Yankees this season and have won eight of their last 13 meetings dating back to last year. Toronto stands at 22-16 versus division opponents (+1,010) and the total is 17-20 O/U in those contests.
Toronto dropped its final two games of a series against Cleveland over the weekend and now turn their focus to the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox in the next three series. The Blue Jays are 3-3 against the Yankees this season, as the teams have 12 more meetings in 2010. The club is 12-0 against the Baltimore Orioles this season, but are 8-16 against the rest of the American League East division. “We’re going to go through some tough times with it,” said manager Cito Gaston of the AL East. “People talk about being the West or being in the Central, but you’ve still got to pass through the East to get where you need to go.” The Blue Jays are 83-97 against the division over the last three years (-1,370) and the total is 81-94 O/U in those meetings.
Boston continues a seven-day, six-game road trip with the second of three games, after clobbering the Toronto Blue Jays 14-3 at the Rogers Centre. The team now comes in carrying a 6-1 series advantage, after compiling an 11-7 series win in 2009. The Red Sox have now won seven straight games at the venue and broke a four-game losing streak in which the team scored just 12 runs. “We kind of needed that,” said manager Terry Francona. At 50-36, the club is tied for the fourth-best record in baseball, behind only the Yankees, Rays and Braves. The Red Sox hope to improve upon their 7-12 daytime record this year (-870), as the team is 7-3 on artificial turf (+480). The team hasn’t always been successful on the face stuff, going 25-33 the last three years (-880).
Toronto suffered one of its worst defeats of the year on Saturday afternoon, giving up an 11-run third inning to ultimately fall 11-3 at Yankee Stadium. The 11 runs for the Yankees equaled a franchise-record for the most runs the Blue Jays have surrendered in a single inning. “Everything happened in that inning that you could imagine,” manager Cito Gaston said. Overall, the Jays have won six of their last 10 contests against the Yankees. Toronto is now 8-12 at Yankee Stadium dating back to the 2008 season, with an even 4-4 mark the last eight meetings. The team’s current road trip has been a forgettable one, being outscored 49-23 in nine games. Toronto has lost both games as a road underdog of +175 to +200 in 2010, while posting a 3-11 record in this spot the past three years (-530).
