The Toronto Blue Jays will meet up with their four deadline acquisitions on Thursday in Minnesota before starting a four-game series against the new-look Twins.
Relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop, infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield and right-hander Mitch White are expected to join the team after being acquired in deals on Tuesday.
With outfielder George Springer battling a lingering elbow injury and right-hander Ross Stripling placed on the IL with a glute/hip strain on Wednesday, Merrifield and White figure to be needed this weekend.
Bass and Pop, meanwhile, should help a Blue Jays bullpen that is short on high-leverage arms.
Much of the pre-game attention will be on Merrifield, who is sure to be asked about his vaccination status after he missed a trip to Toronto with the Kansas City Royals last month.
Here’s a look at the Blue Jays-Twins series.
Probable pitchers
Thursday, 7:40 p.m. ET / 4:40 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Alek Manoah (11-5, 2.43 ERA) vs. Minnesota RHP Sonny Gray (6-3, 3.41 ERA)
Friday, 8:10 p.m. ET / 5:10 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (8-4, 4.96 ERA) vs. Minnesota TBD
Saturday, 7:10 p.m. ET / 4:10 p.m. PT: Toronto TBD vs. Minnesota RHP Dylan Bundy (6-5, 5.04 ERA)
Sunday, 2:10 p.m. ET / 11:10 a.m. PT: Toronto TBD vs. Minnesota RHP Chris Archer (2-5, 4.05 ERA)
The Blue Jays (58-46) settled for a split of a mini-series at Tampa after a 3-2 loss to the Rays on Wednesday.
Yusei Kikuchi, in his second start back from a stint on the IL, looked good at first before the Rays got to the inconsistent lefty for one run in the third and another in the fourth. That was enough for Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider, who gave Kikuchi the hook after 74 pitches.
Offensively, the Blue Jays managed just four hits. Teoscar Hernandez was the bright spot with a solo home run and RBI double.
Before the game, Schneider said White, acquired from the Dodgers, is a candidate to start on Saturday in Stripling’s place.
Kevin Gausman would be in line to start Sunday’s game, though Toronto hasn’t named a starter yet. He pitched a gem on Tuesday, allowing just one hit and no runs in eight innings as Toronto won 3-1.
Toronto is in the first wild-card spot, two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
The AL Central-leading Twins (55-49) were buyers at the deadline, and three of their new players made an immediate impact on Wednesday.
Jorge Lopez, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, nailed down his 20th save of the year in his Twins debut as Minnesota beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1.
Fellow reliever Michael Fulmer, acquired from Detroit, pitched a scoreless sixth against his old team, while catcher Sandy Leon, acquired from the Cleveland Guardians, had a two-run double as Minnesota won the series 2-1.
Minnesota is one game ahead of Cleveland for top spot in the AL Central. The Guardians and the Chicago White Sox, who are two games back of Minnesota, weren’t nearly as active as the Twins at the deadline.
The other new guy
The Twins also upgraded their starting rotation at the deadline, acquiring Tyler Mahle from the Cincinnati Reds.
The right-hander is 5-7 with a 4.40 ERA this season.
The Twins haven’t named a starter for Friday and Mahle hasn’t pitched since July 30, so that is the likely spot for his Minnesota debut. It would be an intriguing pitching matchup with ex-Twin Jose Berrios lined up to start for Toronto.
With their team ERA 19th in the majors, pitching was a priority for the Twins, who haven’t won a playoff game since 2004. By picking up Mahle, Fulmer and Lopez, they have improved on the mound and should be poised to make their third post-season appearance in four years.
Mahle did not make the trip to Toronto with the Reds in May because of vaccination status, so his status for any games at Rogers Centre in the playoffs could be in question.
The Twins won two of three in Toronto in June, hammering Blue Jays pitchers for 20 combined runs.
Gausman didn’t get out of the fourth inning in an 8-6 loss in the series finale, while Kikuchi (who doesn’t pitch this series) was roughed up in the opener (a 9-3 loss).
Berrios got the win against his old team in the second game, striking out 13 in seven innings in a 12-3 victory.
Up next
The Blue Jays are in Baltimore for three games against an Orioles team that was a seller at the trade deadline, despite being in wild-card contention.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
