News and Notes as the Blue Jays host the Marlins in Buffalo

Home sweet alternate home!

After a two-and-a-half week slog on the road, the Blue Jays have finally been able to settle down at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. Tuesday night will be the team’s long-awaited home opener, and it’ll also be the first big-league game played in Buffalo in well over a century.

The cardboard cutouts in attendance will be getting one hell of a treat in this two-game series as the Jays are sending Hyun Jin Ryu and Nate Pearson to the mound to christen the newly-renovated Sahlen Field. Facing the Blue Jays will the Miami Marlins, who, for some reason, own a sparkling 7-3 record this season.

I really can’t explain why the Marlins have gotten off to such a hot start. Looking up and down their lineup, nobody is really tearing the cover off the ball, and their rotation isn’t particularly hot either. Who knows. This sport makes no sense at the best of times. The Marlins winning the World Series would be an extremely fitting thing to happen in 2020.

 

Here are the expected pitching match-ups this week…

While the Jays are sending their top two pitchers to the mound, the Marlins will be countering with the back of their starting rotation.

First, it’ll be Elieser Hernandez getting the start against Hyun Jin Ryu. Hernandez has made just one start this season, in which he shut out the Baltimore Orioles over four-and-one-thirds innings of work. He spent the first two seasons of his career in 2018 and 2019 flipping from being used as a starter to a reliever, posting a 5.11 ERA over the course of 148 innings.

For the Blue Jays, it’ll be Ryu making his fourth start. Ryu’s most recent outing in Atlanta was his best of the season so far as he held the Braves to just one hit over five shutout innings. His velocity was back up after the dip that we saw in his ugly start in Washington, which is a positive sign. The one issue that remains, though, is his command, as he walked three batters in that win against Washington.

Jordan Yamamoto will start Wednesday’s game. Like Hernandez, it’ll be just his second start of the season, but, unlike Hernandez, his first outing didn’t go all that well. Yamamoto tossed four innings against the Orioles and got tagged for four earned runs on six hits while also allowing a couple of homers. He had a 4.46 ERA in his rookie season last year and walks (4.1 BB/9) were a big issue.

Nate Pearson will make his third start of his big-league career on Wednesday. His second start was strong, but it was much more of a grind than his first outing was. Pearson battled with some command issues against Atlanta but still managed to scatter just three earned runs over five innings of work. The thing to watch in his start against Miami is if he can manage his command better than last time out.