Last Updated on October 17, 2016 12:59 pm by Brad Burns
Toronto’s bats remain dormant in ALCS
Having successfully overcome his drone-induced injury, Trevor Bauer now aims to pilot the Indians to a 3-0 ALCS lead over the Blue Jays.
The two teams meet again tonight, with an 8 p.m. ET first pitch at Rogers Centre. Online sports book Bovada.lv gives John Gibbons’ crew odds of -175 to net its first win in a week. Conversely, Cleveland represents a +160 underdog. The over/under run total holds steady at 8.5.
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Bauer was scheduled to start Game 2 – until he suffered a 10-stitch cut while performing maintenance on his aerial device. Bizzaro wound aside, the Tribe still managed to take care of Toronto. Josh Tomlin came through with 5 2/3 strong innings on Saturday, and Terry Francona’s lights-out bullpen tandem of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen sealed the deal late.
Naturally, Bauer wants to make amends for a sloppy outing in the ALDS opener. Boston reached the righty for three runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings. During the regular season, though, he went 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two assignments against the Blue Jays.
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The hosts answer with Marcus Stroman, who couldn’t buy any offensive support as September wound toward a close. Most recently, the New York native permitted four base knocks and two runs over six frames in a no-decision against Baltimore in the wild-card contest. He’s 0-0 with a 3.52 ERA in three career meetings with the Indians.
Sooner or later, though, one suspects that Edwin Encarnacion & Co. will figure it out at the plate. Bauer’s recent struggles certainly heighten the chances of that happening here. Bank on Toronto to tighten the screws a bit.
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