After a strong performance last night, manager Kevin Cash slides Beckham into the lead-off spot.
With seven home runs and a .338/.371/.708 slash line over his last 17 games, Tim Beckham finds himself in the leadoff spot on Friday night. His six home runs this year are more than his total (5) from last season.
Rays Pregame:
Chris Archer faces the Blue Jays for the second consecutive start on Friday night. The Rays ace has faced Toronto more than any other team in baseball. This will be his 22nd start against the Blue Jays. In his previous seven outings against the Jays, two this season, Archer has given up two runs or less.
After rejoining the team in a DH-role last night, Evan Longoria returns to third base tonight. He hasn’t played third since last Sunday in Toronto. He enters tonight’s contest looking for RBI number 100 against the Blue Jays – In his career, Longoria has 24 HR and 99 RBI against them.
Tonight’s Lineup: #Rays #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/wuIoDSLnYB
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Blue Jays Pregame:
The success of Francisco Liriano may depend solely on the movement of his sinker. If the 33-year-old is going to have success against this Rays lineup, he needs to keep his sinker out of the strike zone and utilize his fastball off of that.
He has virtually no difference in the average velocity of each pitch (Sinker 92.5 mph, Fastball 92.3 mph) but given his pitch usage, the fastball can be a secret weapon for him. 42% of his pitches are sinkers, as opposed to only 5% fastballs, so you can see just how important the pitch is to him. An elevated sinker can be a pitchers worst enemy.
Batting Woes
As a unit, the Blue Jays have a .240 average this season – only .174 with runners in scoring position.
The only member of the Blue Jays lineup batting higher than .267 against Archer is newcomer Kendrys Morales. Without the services of Josh Donaldson (calf) and Troy Tulowitzki (hamstring), it’s going to be up to Jose Bautista and Russell Martin to provide some offense.
Bautista v Archer: .191 BA in 47 at-bats
Martin v Archer: .130 BA in 23 at-bats
Pregame Notes:
- After being DFA’d on Tuesday afternoon, Shane Peterson cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Double-A Durham.
- Congratulations to Erasmo Ramirez on the birth of his first child. The right-hander is currently on the Paternity List. Before the game Cash said he was going to give him some time before reaching out to congratulate him. He doesn’t ‘have’ to join the team until Sunday afternoon.
