The Toronto Blue Jays aim to continue playing the way that put them in first place in the American League East when they host the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
The Blue Jays return from the All-Star break with a six-game homestand starting with three against the Giants. The homestand concludes with a three-game series against the second-place New York Yankees, who are two games behind in the AL East.
Toronto surged into first place with a 39-21 record since May 8. However, the Blue Jays stumbled entering the break by losing three of four to complete a 3-3 road trip against the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics.
The team is anticipating continued success when play resumes.
“Excited is an understatement,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “We can’t wait to be back.”
Toronto has 55 wins, the most in franchise history before the All-Star break. That came after 96 games for a .573 winning percentage. The 1992 Blue Jays won 53 games in 87 games before the break, a .609 winning percentage.
Toronto is scheduled to call on Chris Bassitt (9-4, 4.12 ERA) in the opener. The right-hander is 3-2 with a 4.54 ERA in 39 2/3 innings over seven career starts against the Giants. He worked a perfect inning in relief on Sunday in a 6-3 loss to the Athletics.
San Francisco is expected to start right-hander Justin Verlander (0-7, 4.70), who after 15 starts is still chasing his first win of the season. Despite pitching two no-hitters against the Blue Jays (2011 with Detroit, 2019 with Houston), his career record against them is 4-7 with a 4.13 in 16 starts.
The Giants are third in the National League West, six games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and a half-game behind the San Diego Padres.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where, starting in the second half, our objective and where we want to go is still attainable,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said.
The Toronto series opens a six-game trip for the Giants.
Toronto must contend with an old nemesis in Rafael Devers, who started the season with the division rival Boston Red Sox. The Giants acquired the three-time All-Star in a surprising trade on June 15.
Devers has yet to reach his top form with his new club. In his first 25 games with the Giants, he is batting .202 with two home runs, 10 RBIs, a .330 on-base percentage and a .326 slugging percentage.
Hitting has been a team weakness for the Giants, but Melvin holds out hope.
“We are going to be better offensively,” Melvin said. “I believe that. We have some guys that are coming around a little bit. We have some guys that will come around a little bit more. We have some guys in the middle of the lineup, they’re going to do more damage. I think our offense is going to be better in the second half.”
In 105 games against Toronto, Devers is hitting .307/.368/.569 with 24 homers and 74 RBIs.
The Blue Jays have been successful with contributions from several players, particularly George Springer.
They have yet to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at his best, however. He was good enough to start at first base in the All-Star Game on Tuesday by batting .277/.384/.434 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs in the first half. Toronto is hoping he breaks out in the latter part of the season like he did last year.
“At some point in time, he’s going to get on a heater and he’ll end up carrying us for a while,” Schneider said.
–Field Level Media
