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| The only good thing about the Rangers in recent years ... now retired. |
Saturday, May 4, 2019 | 8:07 pm ET
Globe Life Park | Arlington, Texas
PREAMBLE:
After a beauty of a start by Trent Thornton and a nice bend-but-don't-break effort from the bullpen, the Blue Jays ended a long day with multiple flight issues and 12 innings of baseball with a 1-0 victory. Tonight, they look to carry on that momentum as the stink of the Angels series get further away in the rearview mirror.
Thomas Pannone takes the ball for the Jays in a spot start as this is the first time in quite a while they've needed a fifth starter. He goes up against Lance Lynn.
NOTES:
It's Saturday, so time for some Jayson Stark tidbits -- in his weekly Useless Info Dept. blog, there's a fair bit of info about Vlad in there. So here goes...
- Vlad's first batting practice as a Blue Jay, he not only broke a plexiglass window in Flight Deck up in the fifth deck, but in the same BP session, he hit another fifth-decker that ricocheted off a railing and broke a fan's nose. (yes Vlad, we fans are still waiting for you to break some seats out in the bleachers during a game)
- In the first series of Vlad Sr.'s career, he saw 31 pitches in 13 plate appearances. Junior saw 51 pitches in his first 13 plate appearances. Senior took only 6 pitches that were outside of the strike zone, Junior took 23.
- Stark found that the Guerreros are the 2nd heaviest father-son combo at 485 pounds ("officially listed" weights), second only to the Fielders (505). The top four all have Canadian connections - the other two are the Mayberrys and the Wallaches.
- We know that Elvis Luciano became the first born in the 2000s to win a ball game. Bartolo Colon had 36 wins before Luciano was even born.
- Other baseball tidbits: Michael Lorenzen (yes, the dude with the massive biceps who's also a pretty good hitter for a reliever) became the first reliever in over 30 years to save a game and steal a base in the same series.
LINEUPS:
This is your "to bunt or not to bunt" game thread.
