The Blue Jays had won five of six after taking Friday's series opener. In the AL East, stretches like that are necessary for survival. Toronto enters this game hoping that Chris Bassitt can build off his last start. It was his second consecutive outing with more than six innings pitched and only one run allowed. Bassitt has been strong at home, whereas on the road, he's given up nine runs across 9.1 innings pitched.
Will this be another road dud, or does Bassitt have momentum now? That'll be the key, independently of a bullpen that's 29th in FIP and WAR.At the plate, this team has scored four or more runs in eight of their past 10 games. The bad news is that they didn't exceed five runs in any of those contests, win or lose. Toronto is 22nd in runs per game at 3.9. Some strengths include MLB's third-highest walk percentage, ninth-lowest strikeout percentage, and 12th-highest OBP. The Blue Jays have 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts. However, Toronto is 20th in batting average and 21st in slugging percentage, which is why their scoring output is limited. Let's see if something awakens this weekend.