The Toronto Blue Jays will have a new-look lineup Saturday afternoon against the Washington Nationals.
After weeks of saying he wouldn’t make changes to the top of the order, skipper John Schneider has done just that, dropping Bo Bichette down to fifth in the order, while elevating Daulton Varsho up the lineup to the two spot.
It comes amid a career-worst run for Bichette, whose struggles at the plate have reached a tipping point.
The change is minor in comparison to what could’ve been done, as George Springer remains in the leadoff spot despite looking nothing like a leadoff hitter, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is slowly starting to rebound, hits third.
Varsho’s elevation, meanwhile, is well-deserved and potentially even overdue. He’s been excellent at the plate slashing .227/.318/.485 for a .803 OPS. He’s hit a team-leading six home runs this year, with reverse splits where he’s actually hitting lefties (.941 OPS) better than righties (.766 OPS).
The Jays as a whole, meanwhile, will look to put something — anything — together that resembles a full game against the Nationals. Despite getting an early 3-0 lead in the top of the second during Friday’s game, the Jays squandered the lead as the bullpen imploded, allowing eight combined runs across the seventh and eighth innings.
While much can be said about Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza and Genesis Cabrera coughing up the lead, the truth of the matter is the Jays weren’t able to add any runs of their own after their successful second inning. That’s a major problem, given the Nationals had the ever-struggling Patrick Corbin on the mound.
Hopefully, they will fare better against Jake Irvin on Saturday afternoon.
First pitch:
4:05 p.m. EST. TV & Radio: Sportsnet.
Weather:
14º C, 14 km/h winds from right field in.
“Looks much better now than earlier… still some light showers, but off and on light showers shouldn’t stop the game.”- Kevin Roth, Rotogrinders
Starting pitchers:
| Name | Team | GS | W | L | IP | ERA | xERA | ERA- | FIP | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Gausman | TOR | 6 | 1 | 3 | 28.0 | 4.50 | 5.78 | 120 | 4.10 | 1.36 | 7.39 | 1.93 |
| Jake Irvin | WSN | 6 | 2 | 2 | 33.2 | 4.28 | 4.69 | 105 | 3.37 | 1.19 | 6.95 | 1.87 |
Teams:
– Data via Baseball-Reference
Lineups:
BLUE JAYS:
G Springer (R) RF
D Varsho (L) LF
V Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
J Turner (R) 3B
B Bichette (R) SS
D Vogelbach (L) DH
D Jansen (R) C
C Biggio (L) 2B
K Kiermaier (L) CF
C Abrams (L) SS
N Senzel (R) 3B
L García Jr. (L) 2B
J Meneses (R) DH
J Winker (L) LF
K Ruiz (S) C
E Rosario (L) RF
A Call (R) CF
T Lipscomb (R) 1B
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Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
