The Blue Jays’ previously atomic offense has turned anemic; the Reds have always had trouble scratching runs across, but often tread water with on-base robot (and Canadian, if we want to be topical!) Joey Votto. <\/p>\n
It could make for an interesting series in southern Ohio.<\/p>\n
Date\/Time: Friday, June 20 2014, 7:10 pm EST<\/strong>
\nVenue: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati OH<\/strong>
\nToronto, Cincinnati (no odds listed, Jays starter R.A. Dickey was pulled from this start in favor of Liam Hendriks and listed odds were for a Dickey start)<\/strong>
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Pitching Match-up: Liam Hendriks (1-0, 2.31 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP)<\/strong><\/p>\n
The pitching duel for Friday night’s game in Cincy took a turn into unknown territory when Blue Jays (41-33) skipper John Gibbons decided to give veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey some extra rest and skipped his turn in the rotation.<\/p>\n
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Aussie import and Triple A call-up Liam Hendriks takes his place.<\/p>\n
Countering for the Reds (35-36) is Mat Latos, a well-accomplished hurler in the bigs but one bouncing back from forearm injury. He has made only one start in 2014 (which was a flawless six innings) and if he’s back on form, the Jays’ sputtering offense could be in trouble.<\/p>\n
Toronto bats could do no wrong in the month of May, but things have taken a vastly different turn recently. The 180-degree shift in performance is very indicative of the peaks and troughs of baseball.<\/p>\n
First baseman\/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion was a Mickey Mantle-esque one-man wrecking crew in May; he hit a two-run jack last night against the Yankees but apart from that, he’s cooled right off.
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\nThat reality, along with a team-wide inability to cash in runners on base in the past 10-15 days has whittled away the comfortable lead the Jays had built up in the AL East division.<\/p>\nToronto hopes that Hendriks can duplicate his one excellent spot start he had earlier in the year, and the bats will wake up in homer-happy Great American Ballpark.<\/p>\n
For Cincinnati, the return of Latos could be key for helping it climb back in the NL Central discussion. Team ace Johnny Cueto has been outstanding this season; a dialled-in Latos would be the perfect complement to form one of the league’s elite starting pitcher duos.<\/p>\n
It’s the lineup that’s more troubling for the Reds. As a team, the Reds are in the bottom half of the league in every offensive metric and when your best hitter is .279-hittng 3B Todd Frazier, that’s not a ringing endorsement.<\/p>\n
Reported slugging OF Jay Bruce is having a miserable season at the plate, 2B Brandon Phillips is over the crest of his prime and even Votto is having a down year. Outfielder Billy Hamilton brings game-changing speed, but he’s rather flimsy with the bat as well.<\/p>\n
Baseball experts were impressed with Cincy’s pitching rotation but concerned with their batting order going into the 2014 campaign, and that’s proven pretty accurate a couple of months into the season. Frazier is having a great year and that paired with Cueto and some other strong pitching performances is solely responsible for the Reds being close to .500.<\/p>\n
It appears like the Jays are an easy target lately though, so the Reds must be licking their chops at home – especially with career ERA of 5.80-Liam Hendriks taking the bump.<\/p>\n
Due to Latos’s strong career track record compared to the Australian’s journeyman status, you have to like the Reds at home in this series-opening contest.<\/p>\n