Blue Jays Series Preview: A’s landing hot at the Dome

The Toronto Blue Jays welcome the 9-7 Oakland Athletics to the Rogers Centre for a three-game series beginning Friday night, but the timing isn’t ideal.

Oakland enters the series red-hot after winning their last five games, including a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees by a combined score of 15-7. Their 7-3 win in the finale represented just the second time the A’s have eclipsed five runs scored in a game scored, however, as they’ve been riding one of the league’s strongest pitching staff through the first three weeks.

Toronto is coming off a 3-4 road trip that included a series split in Boston and a pair of deflating losses to wrap up their series in Baltimore. Both of those losses can effectively be put on passed balls, and the inability of Toronto’s offence to string together offensive bursts is holding back a surprisingly steady rotation.

Aaron Sanchez will get the ball in game one and face A’s ace Sonny Gray, who has opened the season 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA. Left-hander J.A. Happ and Toronto ace Marcus Stroman will follow in the two weekend matinees.

Across the Diamond: Oakland A’s

This is shaping up to be a battle of strengths versus (apparent) weaknesses. Oakland’s staff versus Toronto’s scuffling offence. The Jays’ pitchers against the A’s bats.

Among Oakland batters with 20 at-bats or more, Stephen Vogt leads the pack in terms of OPS with a mark of .787 (.280 AVG). Former Jay Danny Valencia leads the team in batting average at .296, but has just been placed on the 15-day Disabled List with a left hamstring strain. That’s good news for Happ, as Valencia is notoriously strong against southpaws.

Marcus Semien (4 HR) and Josh Reddick (3) have provided most of Oakland’s power up to this point, and Reddick is tied with Jed Lowrie for the team lead in RBIs with 10. As a team, the A’s rank 26th in the league with 52 runs scored and 28th with a team OBP of .283.

As a rotation, Oakland pitchers have a cumulative ERA of 2.69 that puts them fourth in baseball. They’ve also allowed an opponent’s batting average of just .231, ranking them 7th.

Next: Game 1: Sanchez looks to remain hot in opener

Game 1:  Friday, April 22nd  –  7:07 p.m. ET

Aaron Sanchez (1-0, 1.35 ERA) vs.
Sonny Gray (2-1, 2.33 ERA)

Friday’s series opener features the ace of the A’s and the current best starter on the Toronto Blue Jays staff.

Sonny Gray has been one of baseball’s best over the past few years. The 26-year-old is coming off a 2015 season where he posted a 14-7 record with a 2.73 ERA, earning him an all-star appearance and a third-place finish in Cy Young voting.

This season, Gray has put two very strong starts on either side of a lesser one. He opened the season with a seven-inning win over the Chicago White Sox, but allowed three runs in six and a third innings his next time out against the Angels. What stood out from those two starts (13.1 IP) was his K:BB ratio of 11:7, but he reeled in his control for a recent win over the Royals.

Sanchez is not entirely dissimilar, allowing three and four walks over his last two outings. He’s managed those base runners brilliantly, however, and has given up just one earned run in each of his three starts (totalling 20.0 inning).

Most impressive are Sanchez’s strikeout numbers, averaging one per inning. This was curiously an issue for him last season, even in his bullpen role, as his relatively low strikeout totals did not match the raw talent held in his arsenal.

In his last time out, Sanchez allowed just two hits in seven innings while striking out seven in a win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Next: Game 2: Don't hassle the Happ

Game 2:  Saturday, April 23rd  –  1:07 p.m. ET

J.A. Happ (2-0, 1.89 ERA) vs.
Chris Bassitt (0-0, 2.79 ERA)

Speaking of pleasant surprises in the bullpen, J.A. Happ has been excellent through his first three starts. After signing a three-year, $36 million contract early in free agency, Toronto hoped that they were signing the Pittsburgh version of Happ, not the Seattle version from earlier in 2015. So far, the results are encouraging.

The lanky lefty is coming off back-to-back wins against the Red Sox and Yankees. In his most recent start at Fenway, Happ lasted 7.0 strong innings while allowing just one earned run on four hits while striking out four.

His ability to pitch 20.0 innings through his first three outings, all of which have been quality starts, is a welcome sight to the Blue Jays. Throughout his career, Happ’s inability to work deep into games has been a primary weakness.

Facing Happ will be Chris Bassitt, who made his Major League debut in 2014 with the Chicago White Sox before coming over to Oakland as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade.

He’s pitched well in 2016, outside of his opening start at home against those same White Sox. On April 5th, Bassitt lasted 5.1 innings while allowing four earned runs on eight hits.

Next time out, Bassitt managed to spin seven shutout innings in Seattle against the Mariners despite walking five batters. His most recent outing against the Kansas City Royals saw Bassitt allow two earned runs on five hits while striking out five.

Bassitt is forcing ground balls at a higher rate this season, nearly 55%, and will top out around 94 MPH with his fastball.

Next: Game 3: The Stro Show in the finale