News and Notes as the Blue Jays host the struggling Red Sox

After earning a huge split in their four-game series with the Rays at The House of Horrors, the Blue Jays are rolling what, on paper, is a soft part of their schedule with a 14-13 record.

The Jays will host the Red Sox for three games and then Baltimore will head to Buffalo for a four-game set. After that, the Jays will head to Miami for a couple of games with the Marlins and then they’ll play a four-game set with the Sox at Fenway.

This is a prime stretch for the Jays to pile up some wins and create some distance between them and the pile of junk behind them in the standings. It’s really crucial they capitalize here given the fact they’ll be playing the Yankees 10 times in September.

We got a handful of injury updates, most of which were positive. Randal Grichuk, who left Monday’s game in Tampa, hasn’t been placed on the Injured List and will be in the lineup as the DH. Bo Bichette hopes to return to action this weekend, Nate Pearson will start throwing bullpens this weekend, and Ken Giles was throwing today. The only bad news was Trent Thornton, who *gulp* will be seeing Dr. James Andrews.

Here’s our first Ken Giles sighting in what feels like ages…

Another interesting note from the Rays series that shows just how impressive Toronto’s split in Tampa Bay was…

Chase Anderson will make his fourth start of the season in the series-opener on Tuesday. He’s allowed just three earned runs so far this year, which is nice, but he also hasn’t yet made it out of the fourth inning. Given the injuries to Toronto’s rotation and how taxed the bullpen is, the Jays really need Anderson to five them at least five innings.

The Red Sox will trot out rookie Kyle Hart, who’s making the third start of his career. Hart got his ass handed to him by the Rays in his debut a couple of weeks ago as he allowed five earned runs over just two innings. His next outing was a bit better as he worked two-and-two-thirds against the Phillies, scattering two earned runs.

We don’t yet know who will start on Thursday for the Jays in what should be Matt Shoemaker’s spot. Shoemaker, of course, is on the Injured List, so we could see Anthony Kay or Thomas Hatch start and throw a few innings with the bullpen doing some heavy lifting afterwards. This is why it’s key that Anderson logs some innings on Tuesday.

Well, nevermind! It turns out Eovaldi is scratched from Wednesday’s start, so it’s a big ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for the Sox this week.

The series finale will feature Hyun Jin Ryu going up against what looks like a bullpen day for Boston. Ryu, of course, has been excellent in his last few starts.

For Boston, I, uh, have no idea who they’ll toss out there. I really just don’t know where the Sox’ pitching staff is at right now. I’m not sure they do, either.

One final note…

Apparently, Patrick Murphy is one of the names from the Alternate Training Site that the Blue Jays are considering to come up and make a spot start. I’d have thought that Sean Reid-Foley or T.J. Zeuch would be higher on the depth chart. The more young arms, the merrier!