Sizzling Blue Jays turn to Max Scherzer for visit to Athletics
The hot Toronto Blue Jays haven't lost consecutive games in three weeks.
With their 10-game winning streak over, the Blue Jays will look to avoid a second straight setback when they face the Athletics on Friday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
The Blue Jays, who are in first place in the American League East, fell 2-1 to the host Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. It was their first loss since June 28.
Toronto also is motivated to resume its winning ways during the three-game slate that ends play before the All-Star break.
'You start a new one on Friday,' manager John Schneider told reporters. '... The things that we have been doing, you just continue to do, between pitching, offense, defense, bases. I've said it through this whole thing: There's a lot of sustainable stuff that will allow you to continue to win and be in ballgames.'
The Blue Jays lead the AL East by two games over the New York Yankees and have their sights set on being part of the postseason field for the fourth time in six seasons.
Toronto signed right-hander Max Scherzer in the offseason to help with that quest and hopes the 40-year-old soon will find his form.
Scherzer (0-0, 4.76 ERA) will make his fifth start of the season on Friday after missing nearly three months due to a right thumb injury.
The thumb was acting up during Scherzer's start against the Los Angeles Angels last Saturday. The three-time Cy Young Award winner exited after four innings and allowed two runs and five hits. The Blue Jays won 4-3 in 11 innings.
'I rely on feel,' Scherzer told reporters after the Saturday start. 'I really didn't have that going into this.'
Scherzer is 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 49 innings over nine career starts against the Athletics.
Right-hander Luis Severino (2-10, 5.30), scheduled to start for the A's on Friday, continues to experience a tough campaign during his first season with the team. He has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Athletics' home ballpark, and the results aren't pretty. He is 0-8 with a 7.04 ERA in 11 home starts.
Severino lost at home to the San Francisco Giants last Saturday as he gave up five runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 7-2 setback. Overall, he has dropped four straight starts and has a 9.50 ERA during the span, serving up six homers in 18 innings.
Severino, 31, has seen a lot of the Blue Jays during his career due to spending eight seasons in the same division with the Yankees. He is 6-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 18 appearances (15 starts) against Toronto.
George Springer is 3-for-24 with 12 strikeouts against Severino, but two of the hits are homers. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 4-for-12 with a blast.
The Athletics just took two of three games from the visiting Atlanta Braves and won the finale 5-4 in 11 innings on Thursday after Tyler Soderstrom delivered the walk-off single. Soderstrom hit a three-run homer earlier in the game.
'It means a lot,' Soderstrom said of the walk-off triumph. 'Atlanta is a great team, so to come out with a series win is great. We need to keep this momentum going.'
Nick Kurtz hit a tying homer in the eighth -- his 15th, most among major league rookies. The left-handed slugger hit that blast over the wall in left.
'I think when you can hit the heater that way with authority and then when they spin something, you can low barrel and get on it,' Kurtz said.
Athletics star Jacob Wilson (left hand contusion) departed after being hit by a pitch in the first inning of the series opener on Tuesday and missed the final two games of the series He remains day-to-day.
Wilson is slated to be the American League All-Star starting shortstop at Tuesday's All-Star Game in Atlanta. He ranks second in the majors with a .335 batting average.
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