Dylan Cease Starts as Blue Jays Vs Red Sox Opens in Boston

Dylan Cease takes the mound Tuesday as blue jays vs red sox opens a three-game series in Boston, with Toronto sending its probable starter against Payton Tolle. The Blue Jays arrived at 34-38 and third in the AL East, while the Red Sox entered at 29-40 and fifth.

Cease and Tolle match up

Cease brings a 3-3 record, a 2.91 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP and 103 strikeouts into the opener. Tolle counters with a 3-3 mark, a 2.70 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and 54 strikeouts, which gives the series its first clear pitching edge to sort out on the field.

This is the fourth time the teams have met this season. Boston has leaned on a staff ERA of 3.91, which ranks fifth in the AL, but the club is still only 12-22 at home. Toronto has gone 13-20 on the road and has been better when the long ball shows up, going 12-6 in games with at least two home runs.

Blue Jays and Red Sox records

The standings gap is small, but the form has not been clean on either side. Boston is 4-6 over its last 10 games, hit.249 in that stretch, posted a 4.40 ERA and was outscored by three runs. Toronto is 5-5 over its last 10, hit.285, carried a 5.10 ERA and was outscored by 10 runs.

Willson Contreras leads the Red Sox with 16 home runs and a.570 slugging percentage, while Ceddanne Rafaela has gone 13 for 41 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games. For Toronto, Ernie Clement leads the club with a.304 batting average, 20 doubles, a triple and seven home runs, and Kazuma Okamoto has gone 12 for 38 with two home runs and seven RBIs over the past 10 games.

Guerrero Jr. and Gimenez

Toronto also listed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. day-to-day with a back injury and Andres Gimenez day-to-day with a wrist injury, while Boston had Nick Sogard on the 10-day injured list with an oblique injury and Mickey Gasper day-to-day with a groin injury. The Red Sox also had Garrett Crochet, Trevor Story, Kutter Crawford, Romy Gonzalez, Triston Casas, Roman Anthony, Patrick Sandoval, Johan Oviedo and Tanner Houck on longer-term injured lists, and Toronto’s injury group included Daulton Varsho, Lazaro Estrada, Lenyn Sosa, Joe Mantiply, Addison Barger, Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber, Yimi Garcia, Cody Ponce, Anthony Santander and Bowden Francis. Boston opened the series with a roster short on regulars, and Toronto did the same while trying to protect a narrow edge in the AL East.