Series Preview: Back out to the West Coast once again

The Blue Jays have surprisingly already been out to the west coast two different times so far this season. Historically the Blue Jays haven’t had to make a trip across the continent until late-May or early-June. But for some reason the schedulers wanted to makes this team feel jet-lagged during the first two months of the season.

This team is heading to the beautiful city of San Francisco for a two-game series, and the Blue Jays are hoping to avoid getting swept by the Giants for the second-straight time this season. Another sweep from the Giants would make this recent stretch by the Blue Jays even more distasteful than it already is, as they have lost ten of their last twelve games. The Blue Jays also currently own the 3rd-worst record in the AL. So as bad as it is right now, it could be even worse.

So it’s pretty safe to say that Trent Thornton’s last start against the Twins was as bad as Socrates Brito attempting to hit a baseball. The 25-year-old was pulled after just two innings following the seven runs, five hits, two home runs and two walks that he surrendered. However, this start against the Giants should go a lot smother for Thornton if he can be more effective with the location of his pitches.

The Giants are currently the 2nd-worst team in the NL in OBP and SLG percentage. They also rank 3rd-worst in total runs scored so far this season. Which means there shouldn’t be any excuses for this not to be one of Thornton’s best-games so far in his rookie season.

The opener strategy is finally making its way to San Francisco. Nick Vincent will get the start in game one of this series, making this the first-time that the Giants have started a game with an opener. Vincent will pitch just the first inning of this game, but he’s been pitching lights-out through 14 appearances so far this season. The right-hander currently owns a 2.25 ERA, 1.125 WHIP along with allowing just six walks and creating 25 strikeouts through his 24 innings pitched.

Derek Holland was just recently demoted to the bullpen following his horrendous outings so far this season. The 32-year-old is expected to pitch multiple innings out of the pen following Vincent’s inning of work. Holland’s season so far has been as ugly as Donald Trump’s poor excuse of hair style. The lefty currently owns a 6.75 ERA along with a 8.6 H9 and a 5.2 BB9 in 34.2 innings of work.

Neither team has officially named a starter for game two of this series. However, the Blue Jays are expected to make MLB-history in this game. Newly acquired, Edwin Jackson will make history when he makes this start for his 14th different team in the major leagues. I can’t imagine how clustered his closet is with all those different jerseys. This is actually the second-time Jackson has been in the Blue Jays system.

He was acquired in a trade by the Blue Jays from the White Sox back during the 2011 season, but was only apart of this franchise for about an hour. Jackson was then traded to the Cardinals in a deal that sent Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays. So with all the pitching injuries the Blue Jays have sustained this season, Jackson will likely get multiple starts before he could potentially be moving onto his 15th different franchise.

Derek Rodriguez will likely be getting the ball in the finale of this series for the Giants. He last pitched on Friday against the Rockies and showed exactly why the Blue Jays can be successful against him in this game. The 26-year-old pitched five innings and gave up five hits, four runs, four walks along with just a pair of strikeouts.

The Blue Jays will need to be patient against Rodriguez to be successful. Which could prove to be difficult for them as they rank top-3 in the AL for the most-strikeouts and the fewest-walks. But who knows, anything can happen when you have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on your team.