Guardians play the Blue Jays in first of 3-game series

Toronto Blue Jays (35-39, fifth in the AL East) vs. Cleveland Guardians (46-26, first in the AL Central)

Cleveland; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: TBD; Guardians: Carlos Carrasco (2-6, 5.80 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 44 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians host the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday to open a three-game series.

Cleveland is 23-9 at home and 46-26 overall. Guardians hitters have a collective .403 slugging percentage to rank seventh in the AL.

Toronto has a 17-20 record on the road and a 35-39 record overall. The Blue Jays have a 14-4 record in games when they did not give up a home run.

Friday's game is the fourth meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Steven Kwan has 11 doubles, two triples and five home runs for the Guardians. Josh Naylor is 13-for-39 with a double and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 12 doubles and seven home runs while hitting .278 for the Blue Jays. Davis Schneider is 5-for-33 with a double and two home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Guardians: 6-4, .278 batting average, 3.52 ERA, outscored opponents by 15 runs

Blue Jays: 4-6, .231 batting average, 3.64 ERA, outscored by three runs

INJURIES: Guardians: Nick Sandlin: 15-Day IL (back), Eli Morgan: 15-Day IL (elbow), Gavin Williams: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane Bieber: 60-Day IL (elbow), Trevor Stephan: 60-Day IL (elbow), James Karinchak: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Blue Jays: Bo Bichette: 10-Day IL (calf), Yimi Garcia: 15-Day IL (elbow), Jordan Romano: 15-Day IL (elbow), Alek Manoah: 15-Day IL (elbow), Yariel Rodriguez: 15-Day IL (spine)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.