Red Sox, Blue Jays struggling through dry spells (Aug 28, 2017)
TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays can take no hope from the recent struggles of the Boston Red Sox, who lead the American League East.
That is because the Blue Jays are experiencing their own problems, playing themselves out of any reasonable chance of contending for a postseason spot.
While the Red Sox were swept in three games by the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, the Blue Jays lost two of three to the visiting Minnesota Twins.
Boston, which lost 2-1 to the Orioles on Sunday, will take a four-game losing into the opener of a three-game series on Monday at the Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays have lost seven of their past nine games after dropping a 7-2 decision to the Twins on Sunday.
The Red Sox's lead in the AL East has dwindled to 2 1/2 games over the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays are 12 games out and last in the division.
"We're in a little bit of a dry patch," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "You look at the last four games, early leads given up to the opposition.
"But you take away that the turn of this last game in this four-game stretch ... we played a solid game, and yet a two-out base hit was elusive."
The Red Sox will start left-hander Drew Pomeranz (13-4, 3.18 ERA) on Monday against Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (11-6, 3.17).
Pomeranz is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in his past five starts. He has not allowed an earned run in his past 11 1/3 innings. He also has won a career-best seven consecutive decisions.
Pomeranz is 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA against Toronto this year. He pitched 6 2/3 innings in his most recent outing against the Blue Jays on July 19 at Fenway Park, giving up just one run, which was unearned.
In six career appearances (four starts) against Toronto, he is 2-1 with a 2.11 ERA.
Before Sunday, when Doug Fister pitched well, the Red Sox had allowed 36 runs in the previous three losses.
"To be quite frank with you, our team is built to have the starter keep the game under control early," Farrell said. "We're not a big swing-of-the-bat type of lineup, so to play catch-up, that's a little bit more difficult (with) the way we're constructed."
With Pomeranz going Monday and Chris Sale starting Tuesday, the Red Sox should expect some quality from their rotation in Toronto.
The Blue Jays, who have had problems with their starting staff, have received mostly quality starts from Stroman. He has a 2.92 ERA in his past eight starts but has only a 2-1 record to show for it. The team is 5-3 in those starts.
Stroman is coming off a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, when he allowed eight hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He served up three homers in a game Toronto won 7-6.
"Balls are flying out these days," Stroman said after that outing. "Just is what it is. I didn't make particularly good pitches."
Stroman is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two starts this season against the Red Sox and is 4-2 with a 4.47 ERA in nine career starts against them.
The Blue Jays are 3-7 against the Red Sox this season and 1-5 at the Rogers Centre, where Boston has outscored Toronto 41-17. The Jays will have two series against the Red Sox in September, both at Fenway Park.
Toronto gave both center fielder Kevin Pillar and right fielder Jose Bautista the day off Sunday.
The Blue Jays continued to fiddle with their rotation Sunday when they recalled Joe Biagini from Triple-A Buffalo to face the Twins. Biagini, making his 12th start for Toronto and his first since July 2, took the loss after allowing nine hits, three walks and five runs in 3 2/3 innings.
"It was a tough day for him, obviously," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "I thought he may have been overthrowing a little bit because his ball was definitely up in the zone. They barreled it pretty good."
