Dylan Cease — he of a number of shut calls this season — will intention to double that rely on Wednesday as he takes on the Cleveland Guardians (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT) in a vital sport for Toronto’s post-season hopes.
Cease (9-5, 2.33 ERA) took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in opposition to the San Francisco Giants in July and has put collectively 4 appearances with two or fewer hits since.
In his first season with the Blue Jays, he’s typically considered alongside New York Yankees starter Cam Schlittler because the main candidates to seize the AL Cy Young award. Schlittler holds an edge in ERA (2.09) and innings pitched (163.2 to Cease’s 150.1), however Cease has struck out 217 opponents in contrast to 201 for Schlittler, who can even take the mound Wednesday in opposition to the Los Angeles Angels (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT).
The Blue Jays (68-71) will want their ace at his greatest if they need to make up floor on the Guardians (70-68), who maintain the third and closing AL wild-card berth with a 2.5-game edge on Toronto.
Elsewhere within the wild-card race, the Texas Rangers (69-70, 1.5 video games again) host the Athletics whereas the Baltimore Orioles (69-70, 1.5 video games again) go to the Colorado Rockies. The Minnesota Twins (67-72, 3.5 video games again) meet the Detroit Tigers (63-75, seven video games again) in an AL Central showdown.
Toronto dropped the primary of the three-game collection in opposition to the Guardians on Wednesday as its hitters struggled in a 6-1 loss. They’ll get one other crack at it in opposition to left-handed starter Joey Cantillo, who holds a 3.70 ERA with 145 strikeouts over 28 begins and 136.1 innings pitched on the season.
The Blue Jays managed simply three hits within the defeat, with their lone run coming on a wild pitch from Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who was in any other case dominant with 13 strikeouts over seven frames.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will proceed his season-long seek for energy in opposition to Cantillo. The star first baseman has not hit a house run since Aug. 8 and stays caught on simply seven for the season.