Blue Jays and Rockies meet in Tulowitzki’s homecoming: Full series preview

The Toronto Blue Jays are heading to Coors Field. This should be fun.

The Colorado Rockies currently sit 36-39, well back of the San Francisco Giants in the NL Central division but keeping pace with 41-36 Dodgers. Not surprisingly, the Rockies’ bats have been the story in 2016.

Colorado’s 397 runs ranks second in baseball behind only the Boston Red Sox. Their 102 home runs put them fifth, just behind the Blue Jays who sit third with 110, and they rank in the top four when it comes to batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

All of this without Troy Tulowitzki anchoring the lineup, who will be making his first trip back to Coors after the 2015 trade. Tulowitzki had spent his entire career with the Rockies, and ranks highly on many of the club’s all-time leaderboards.

Career WAR:  3rd  (39.1)
Batting AVG:  8th  (.299)
On-Base %:  8th  (.371)
Games Played:  4th  (1048)
Hits:  5th  (1165)
Home Runs:  T-5th  (188)

Impressive numbers considering that Todd Helton and Larry Walker make up the few names ahead of him in many of those stats.

Not surprisingly, Colorado’s pitching has left much to be desired. Their 5.07 team ERA is the third-highest in baseball and their opponent’s batting average of .278 is the second worst league-wide behind only the Minnesota Twins.

Across the Diamond: Chicago White Sox

If Nolan Arenado played in New York, he’d be the toast of baseball. The third-baseman boasts a .963 OPS with 21 home runs, working in tandem with the incredible Trevor Story who has sent 19 balls over the wall.

Second-baseman DJ LeMahieu is as solid as they come, batting .327 with some pop and an on-base percentage of .395. Both Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez are enjoying excellent seasons at the plate, too, with 12 and 16 home runs respectively.

When it comes to the Rockies’ bullpen, they’ve been searching for answers all year long. With Jake McGee still on the disabled list, Carlos Estevez has taken over the closer’s role but sports an ERA of 4.28.

Now, on to the game-by-game pitching matchups. On the surface, they should favour Toronto.

Next: Game 1: Staff ace takes on Colorado's young gun

Game 2:  Tuesday, June 28th  –  8:40 p.m. ET

J.A. Happ (9-3, 3.42 ERA)  vs.
Eddie Butler (2-4, 6.71 ERA)

Eddie Butler has been rocked at home this season. And, well, in general.

The right-hander has allowed 11 home runs in just 51.0 innings pitched, and without dominant strikeout numbers (6.0 K/9) or ground ball rates (45%) to back that up, this is looking like an ideal matchup for the Blue Jays bats.

His past four outings have been especially rough, and it’s surprising that he’s stuck in the starting rotation for this start. His last time out against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Butler allowed six runs on eleven hits over 5.0 innings pitched. The start prior, six runs crossed on just nine hits over three and a third.

Expect to see Butler feature a 92-93 MPH fastball about 60% of the time with a slider as his go-to secondary pitch. He’ll also throws a curveball and changeup, but typically only turns to those a handful of times each game.

In Happ, the Blue Jays are also turning to an arm that is prone to the odd home run. He’s allowed 12 deep flies in 94.2 innings this season, but on the whole, has proven to be an excellent offseason addition that is not only eating up more innings than expected, but he’s making them count.

Happ is coming off three wins in three starts, but did struggle with control in his last outing which limited it to just five innings. Regardless, he managed to limit the Diamondbacks to just two runs by striking out eight. In his start prior, Happ pitched seven innings of shutout ball against the Phillies, allowing just three hits.

He’ll have the opportunity to be the first Blue Jays starter to 10 wins.

Next: Game 3: Can Sanchez prove to be the anti-Coors

Game 3:  Wednesday, June 29th  –  3:10 p.m. ET

Aaron Sanchez (7-1, 3.33 ERA)  vs.
Tyler Anderson (0-1, 2.55 ERA)

Rookie left-hander Tyler Anderson has been a pleasant surprise for the Rockies, looking strong in all three of his starts. The 2011 first round pick took a slower road than most to the major leagues, but at this point, he’s more than enough for the Rockies.

The key to Anderson’s success thus far has been forcing ground balls at a rate of 62%, something he’ll hope to do against the powerful Blue Jays bats at Coors Field. His last time out against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Anderson did allow eight hits over five and two-thirds innings, but he limited the damage to just a pair of runs by striking out eight. Across his 17.2 MLB innings so far, he’s fanned 18.

Anderson tops out around 91 MPH with his fastball but has mixed his pitches very evenly so far. His fastball, changeup, and slider usage all sit above 30%, so especially given that he’s a fresh face to the Jays hitters, this could prove to be a difficult one-off matchup (especially the first time or two through the order).

Next: Weekly AL East Recap: Jays struggle, but it's not all bad

Sanchez counters for the Blue Jays and is approaching the mid-season mark with just a single loss to his name. His ground ball rate has remained excellent at 58.1% and he’s already earned an impressive 2.0 fWAR.

The young right-hander has kept his velocity strong and shown no signs of slowing down as talks of his workload limit grow louder. He’s gone six innings with two runs earned in both of his last two starts, and his pitching style should fit ideally in the confines of Coors. Consider this the leading candidate for best pitching matchup of the series.