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June 17 Gameday: Braydon Fisher leads bullpen game as Blue Jays seek series victory over Red Sox

Photo credit: © Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

By Tristan Morgan

Jun 17, 2026, 18:15 EDTUpdated: Jun 17, 2026, 18:50 EDT

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Fresh off a 6-1 win that pushed them closer to the .500 mark, the Toronto Blue Jays play the second of three against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday evening.

The Jays are looking to lock down a series win against the division rival Boston Red Sox. A 35-38 record has the Jays sitting third in the AL East, while Boston sit fifth with a 29-41 record. The Red Sox continue to scuffle through a season complicated by a lengthy injured list. Both clubs have been streaky of late, with the Jays going 5-4 over their last nine and the Red Sox winners of just two of their previous eight, but Tuesday’s series opener definitely turned heads.

Before the game, the Blue Jays pitching plans took an unexpected turn. Expected starter Max Scherzer was placed on the 15-day injured list due to back spasm. Though unexpected, this is the second time he’s been on the injured list, and the 41-year-old starter hasn’t pitched over 100 innings in a season since 2023.

Right-hander Chad Dallas was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo as a corresponding move for Scherzer and is active for Wednesday’s game, while Braydon Fisher will get the call to begin things on the mound. It is familiar territory for Fisher, who has worked as Toronto’s primary opener for much of the season, posting a sharp 2.62 ERA and 0.93 WHIP across 34.1 innings. Look for him to work an inning or two before handing things to the bullpen.

From there, look for Simeon Woods Richardson to follow Fisher out of the bullpen. The right-hander hasn’t pitched since his Blue Jays debut on June 8, when he tossed four scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing just one hit while striking out three without issuing a walk. That extended rest, paired with how sharp he looked in that outing, makes him a likely option to soak up multiple innings tonight, with Spencer Miles also expected to be available behind him if needed.

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Four scoreless innings for Simeon Woods Richardson in his Blue Jays debut 🙌

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1:23 AM · Jun 9, 2026

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Woods Richardson hasn’t had a miraculous season, to say the least. A 7.74 ERA and 1.88 WHIP were bad enough to be designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins. However, his Blue Jays debut was certainly a glimmer of hope for the 25-year-old, who not too long ago was a consensus top 100 prospect for Toronto. If the results come again tonight, he may work his way back to starting games in 2026.

On the other side of the diamond, Boston’s Jake Bennett, a 24-year-old rookie southpaw, opened his career with back-to-back starts against the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing four earned runs in five innings each time, with tonight marking his fourth career start and first ever against the Blue Jays.

Bennett’s 5.28 ERA looks rough on the surface, but his 3.88 FIP, as well as a .333 BABIP, suggests some bad luck is mixed in. The bigger concern for the Red Sox is his lack of swing-and-miss, with only eight strikeouts and a 12.3 percent strikeout rate so far. However, he is able to make up for the lack of stuff a bit, posting a 57.7 percent groundball rate that has kept the long ball mostly in check with just 0.59 HR/9.

If there is one Red Sox hitter that should worry the Blue Jays more than any other on Wednesday, it is Willson Contreras. The veteran first baseman has been nothing short of scorching over the past month as he strengthens a potential All-Star campaign, slashing .379/.449/.724 with 14 extra-base hits, seven of them home runs, and 18 RBIs.

Contreras piled up seven hits and three homers against the Texas Rangers over the last weekend alone and is hitting .331 at Fenway this season. Contreras, this season, has a tendency to chase, sitting at a 33.5 percent chase rate, which leads me to believe he won’t see many hittable pitches in this one.

Looking at Toronto’s offence, nobody on the Blue Jays roster loves hitting in Fenway Park quite like Davis Schneider. Schneider made his major league debut at Fenway on August 4th, 2023, and turned his first career at-bat into a home run, which sailed out left field and onto Lansdowne Street, part of a stretch that saw him collect nine hits in his first three big-league games, the best start by OPS in modern MLB history.

Schneider has continued to pepper the Green Monster ever since. He entered this series, hitting .357 with an OPS north of 1.000 across 28 career at-bats in Boston, and once again, he delivered yesterday in the series opener, going 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBIs. Since being recalled on June 12th, he has two homers in three days, with the trip to Buffalo seemingly paying dividends as Schneider looks to keep riding the wave tonight.

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DAVIS SCHNEIDER LOVES PLAYING IN BOSTON 💥

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12:12 AM · Jun 17, 2026

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George Springer’s blast over the Monster on Tuesday, his 300th of his career, and his seventh of the season at 438 feet, was another encouraging sign for the leadoff man who has drawn six walks over his last four games and appears to be finding his timing again. Springer, like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is a firecracker for the offence. If one gets hot, sit back and watch the rest follow.

It’s fun to look back on the successes of yesterday, but tonight brings a different challenge entirely. With Scherzer’s spot suddenly vacant and a patchwork bullpen game on tap, Toronto will need its offence to do some heavy lifting early and stake Fisher and company a cushion. A series win tonight, even with the rotation shuffled on short notice, would be a significant step toward steadying the ship and trying for a sweep Thursday night.

Location: Boston, MA (Fenway Park)

First Pitch: 6:45 PM ET

Watch/Listen: Sportsnet One, SN590