The Cleveland Guardians will aim for a series victory, and also a winning road trip, when they meet the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.
The Guardians took the opener of the three-game series against the Blue Jays 3-1 on Friday night. They are 4-2 on their eight-game trip, which ends Sunday.
Cleveland held Toronto to three hits on Friday, all allowed by starter Logan Allen in his five-plus innings. He walked three. The bullpen held Toronto to one walk while striking out five in four innings.
The lack of offense has been an ongoing problem for the Blue Jays despite recent tinkering with the lineup and the roster.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts on Friday, and he is in an 0-for-17 funk.
Will Brennan led the Guardians’ offense with a solo home run, his sixth of the season, a double and two runs.
“(Brennan is) staying in the zone,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said after the game. “He’s swinging at the right pitches, and tonight he squared a couple balls up. He jumped on the first fastball he saw. When Will’s on the fastball, he’s a really good hitter, and that limits the chase, and you start to see the hard contact.”
The Guardians are scheduled to start right-hander Carlos Carrasco (2-5, 5.50 ERA) on Saturday. He is 4-1 with a 4.66 ERA in nine career games (eight starts) against Toronto, though he hasn’t faced the Blue Jays since 2019.
Toronto had not announced its starter into the early hours Saturday.
In their latest roster tinkering, the Blue Jays recalled utility player Addison Barger from Triple-A Buffalo before the series opener and designated DH Daniel Vogelbach for assignment. Barger did not play on Friday.
In Barger’s first stint with Toronto this season, he went 1-for-18 in five games from April 24-May 1. In 50 games with Buffalo, he hit .256/.380/.467 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs.
“You’ll see him in the outfield, you’ll see him at third,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Hopefully there’s a pretty good runway for him to be in there against right-handed pitching.”
Vogelbach batted .186/.278/.300 with one home run and eight RBIs in 79 plate appearances across 31 games this year.
It was Toronto’s second roster change in the past week. Spencer Horwitz was recalled from Buffalo last weekend, and Cavan Biggio was designated for assignment and then traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Horwitz has seen some time in the leadoff spot as the Blue Jays try different things to stimulate the offense — even if it means sitting some veteran players on occasion.
“Yeah, that’s how it works,” Schneider said. “It’s a good problem to have if everyone’s performing, and that includes Spence, that includes Barge. And then if you look at it, for the time being, if everyone’s performing well, you pick and choose your spots.
“If it means an extra day off for (Davis) Schneider, for Izzy (Isiah Kiner-Falefa), for K.K. (Kevin Kiermaier), George (Springer), whoever it may be, you kind of do that, as long as everyone else is performing. But it’s a fine line. You’re not trying to force guys in, but you’re watching how they perform as they are in there.
“So, initially, we’re just trying to put them in good spots and see how they go. But yeah, there are going to be certain days where someone’s going to not be in the starting lineup.”
–Field Level Media
