Blue Jays at Orioles
Curtis Granderson picked an opportune time to hit his first home run with the Toronto Blue Jays, delivering a tiebreaking blast in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Winners of three in a row and eight of 10 since opening the season with back-to-back losses, the visiting Blue Jays go for a three-game sweep of the Orioles on Wednesday night.
Toronto has been reliant on its offense for much of the early going, cranking out 18 homers on the season and scoring at least seven runs in five of nine games in April. However, the pitching has surrendered only two runs in the series, including seven innings of no-hit ball by Aaron Sanchez on Tuesday. Baltimore, which bunched all its three hits in one inning Tuesday, has lost four straight at home since a season-opening win and scored just four runs in that stretch. "Sanchez is a good pitcher. He’s really good," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said after the latest setback. "But we need to be better offensively. I think everybody knows that.”
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, Sportsnet1 (Toronto), MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Marco Estrada (1-0, 2.77 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Kevin Gausman (0-1, 8.00)
The only bugaboo for Estrada has been the long ball, which was an issue last season when he was taken deep 31 times. He gave up three runs on two homers over seven innings in a no-decision against the New York Yankees before surrendering a solo shot among five hits in six innings to win at Texas last time out. Unbeaten in five starts (3-0, 3.23 ERA) versus the Orioles in 2017, Estrada has held Manny Machado to 4-for-28 with 10 strikeouts.
Gausman was rocked in his season opener, serving up three homers and yielding six runs in seven innings versus Minnesota, but rebounded with five innings of two-run ball in a no-decision at the Yankees on Friday. He dominated Toronto in six starts last season, posting a 3-0 record with a 1.51 ERA while striking out 30 in 35 2/3 innings. Kevin Pillar is 11-for-25 and Granderson has two homers in four at-bats against Gausman.
WALK-OFFS
1. Blue Jays RHP Roberto Osuna, 23, became the youngest pitcher in history to reach 100 saves.
2. Orioles 1B Chris Davis is 0-for-10 in his last three games and 3-for-37 on the season.
3. Toronto placed DH Kendrys Morales (hamstring) on the 10-day disabled list.