MLB Lines – Blue Jays vs Reds
The Blue Jays’ previously atomic offense has turned anemic; the Reds have always had trouble scratching runs across, but often tread water with on-base robot (and Canadian, if we want to be topical!) Joey Votto.
It could make for an interesting series in southern Ohio.
Date/Time: Friday, June 20 2014, 7:10 pm EST
Venue: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati OH
Toronto, Cincinnati (no odds listed, Jays starter R.A. Dickey was pulled from this start in favor of Liam Hendriks and listed odds were for a Dickey start)
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Pitching Match-up: Liam Hendriks (1-0, 2.31 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP)
The pitching duel for Friday night’s game in Cincy took a turn into unknown territory when Blue Jays (41-33) skipper John Gibbons decided to give veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey some extra rest and skipped his turn in the rotation.
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Aussie import and Triple A call-up Liam Hendriks takes his place.
Countering for the Reds (35-36) is Mat Latos, a well-accomplished hurler in the bigs but one bouncing back from forearm injury. He has made only one start in 2014 (which was a flawless six innings) and if he’s back on form, the Jays’ sputtering offense could be in trouble.
Toronto bats could do no wrong in the month of May, but things have taken a vastly different turn recently. The 180-degree shift in performance is very indicative of the peaks and troughs of baseball.
First baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion was a Mickey Mantle-esque one-man wrecking crew in May; he hit a two-run jack last night against the Yankees but apart from that, he’s cooled right off.
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That reality, along with a team-wide inability to cash in runners on base in the past 10-15 days has whittled away the comfortable lead the Jays had built up in the AL East division.
Toronto hopes that Hendriks can duplicate his one excellent spot start he had earlier in the year, and the bats will wake up in homer-happy Great American Ballpark.
For Cincinnati, the return of Latos could be key for helping it climb back in the NL Central discussion. Team ace Johnny Cueto has been outstanding this season; a dialled-in Latos would be the perfect complement to form one of the league’s elite starting pitcher duos.
It’s the lineup that’s more troubling for the Reds. As a team, the Reds are in the bottom half of the league in every offensive metric and when your best hitter is .279-hittng 3B Todd Frazier, that’s not a ringing endorsement.
Reported slugging OF Jay Bruce is having a miserable season at the plate, 2B Brandon Phillips is over the crest of his prime and even Votto is having a down year. Outfielder Billy Hamilton brings game-changing speed, but he’s rather flimsy with the bat as well.
Baseball experts were impressed with Cincy’s pitching rotation but concerned with their batting order going into the 2014 campaign, and that’s proven pretty accurate a couple of months into the season. Frazier is having a great year and that paired with Cueto and some other strong pitching performances is solely responsible for the Reds being close to .500.
It appears like the Jays are an easy target lately though, so the Reds must be licking their chops at home – especially with career ERA of 5.80-Liam Hendriks taking the bump.
Due to Latos’s strong career track record compared to the Australian’s journeyman status, you have to like the Reds at home in this series-opening contest.
Cincinnati 6, Toronto 4
