The up-and-down season for the Toronto Blue Jays continued on Tuesday on the up as a tremendous Yusei Kikuchi start kept the game tight and allowed the bats to heat up.

John Schneider utilized some pinch hitters in the eighth, namely Santiago Espinal and Ernie Clement, who each got a hit with the latter driving in the game-winning run.

Today, the Jays will look to close the series out with a victory as Kevin Gausman takes the mound. His stuff continues to be tremendous this year and has himself entrenched in the Cy Young conversation, even if MLB.com voters didn’t have him there the other week. We’ll forgive them and give them a chance to get it right next time.

First pitch: 12:10 p.m. EST

Toronto Blue Jays: 40-35, 10.5 GB, 1.0 WCGB, +6 DIFF.

Miami Marlins: 42-32, 5.5 GB, +1.5 WCGB, -15 DIFF.

Moneyline: TOR -133; MIA +115.

TOR: Kevin Gausman RHP — 6-3, 15 GS, 92.2 IP. 3.01 ERA, 2.740 FIP, 1.133 WHIP, 11.8 K/9, 1.7 bWAR.

MIA: Sandy Alcantara RHP — 2-5, 14 GS, 88.2 IP. 4.97 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 1.218 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 0.3 bWAR.

Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks about the Jays’ latest series against the Texas Rangers.

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.

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