The Anthony Alford era begins in Baltimore, where the Jays No. 3 prospect will get a firsthand view of the Trash Birds!

It’s the beginning of the Anthony Alford era! The Jays are so decimated by injuries that they had to dig into Double-A and grab one of their top prospects. He’ll start today in left field, while Zeke Carrera will play centre, for some reason. Anyways.. Hell yeah, Alford!

Great great great quote from Josh Donaldson, the heart and soul of the team. It must be nice to be a rookie coming up to a team with named like Donaldson, Russell Martin, and Troy Tulowitzki, hey? Unfortunately they’re all on the DL right now… but, ya know.

Speaking of those guys, it appears their returns will be pushed back yet again.

And now, the lineups…

Aaron Sanchez: 18 1/3 IP, 2.95 ERA, 7.9 H9, 1.5 HR9, 3.4 BB9, 6.9 SO9

Chris Tillman: 9 1/3 IP, 2.89 ERA, 10.6 H9, 0.0 HR9, 4.8 BB9, 7.7 SO9

Neither Chris Tillman or Aaron Sanchez has seen much game action this season because of injury. A shoulder injury sidelined Tillman through all of spring training and April, while Sanchez has had two separate DL stints due to a wonky finger. So who knows what to expect! The O’s have been scuffling a bit recently, I guess the Jays have been too, unless you look at the bigger picture. I figure this will be a tight, high energy series.