Blue Jays host Diamondbacks for two: Full preview and pitching matchups

Game 1:  Tuesday, June 21st  –  7:07 p.m. ET

Marco Estrada (5-2, 2.58 ERA) vs.
Patrick Corbin (3-6, 4.76)

Marco Estrada has quickly overtaken Marcus Stroman as the top arm in the Blue Jays rotation, and has easily been their most consistent one. In fact, there’s a real conversation to be had regarding Estrada’s Cy Young candidacy if he can continue his recent dominance on a winning Toronto team.

With his last start, Estrada tied an MLB record with his tenth consecutive start of at least six innings pitched with five or fewer hits allowed. He’s also been striking out opposing hitters at a strong rate, with five strikeouts or more in eight of those ten.

After a pair of back-to-back eight-inning starts against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, Estrada picked up another quality start against the Orioles on June 10th. That capped off a stretch of six starts where Estrada walked three or more batters five times, so he’ll need to avoid nibbling if he hopes to keep his pitch count down.

The Diamondbacks will send a lefty to the mound in Patrick Corbin, which could present a rather favourable matchup for the Blue Jays bats.

His last time out against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Corbin allowed three earned runs on seven hits over six and a third innings.

Toronto won’t need to expect anything terribly complicated from Corbin, as he is primarily a fastball and slider pitcher, relying on his heater (which averages 91.5 MPH) almost 65% of the time. He’s done better than his career averages when it comes to keeping the ball on the ground, however, with a ground ball rate of 52.3%.

Next: Game 2 Preview: Happ takes on Ray