Sounds like the game last night was not very fun. Corey Kluber is starting to look like a pretty good pitcher for the Indians this season. In the rubber match tonight, J.A. Happ goes up against right-hander Danny Salazar. Also TODAY'S GAME IS THE MLB.TV FREE GAME OF THE DAY! Salazar is 24-years-old and made his debut last summer against the Blue Jays in a game that he dominated (6.0 IP, 7 SO and 1 ER). His season hasn't gone so well this year, but he has a BABIP of .384 so it's not all bad for the Dominican.
With a 31% K-rate last year and a 26.8% K-rate so far this year, it's pretty obvious that Salazar knows how to miss bats. His BB% has inched towards 10% this season though, which is beginning to cause problems for young Danny. Featuring a mid to high-90's fastball and a solid slider and splitter, Salazar is at times unhittable. His splitter falls directly off the table and onto the floor as you can see:
Want to know how Jose Reyes looks trying to hit Salazar's splitter? The answer is not good:
He's kind of having an issue getting right-handers out, which is a large part of the reason why he's struggling so much this season.
Hopeful Lineup
If anyone is paying attention to these numbers with the Blue Jays it might behoove them to send the switch hitters up batting right-handed.
- Jose Reyes SS
- Melky Cabrera LF
- Jose Bautista RF
- Adam Lind DH
- Edwin Encarnacion 1B
- Juan Francisco 3B
- Erik Kratz C
- Brett Lawrie 2B
- Kevin Pillar CF