Toronto @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 28, 2010 ) Toronto 1, Cleveland 2
Things were supposed to get easier for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Apparently, someone forgot to tell the guys swinging the bats.
The Blue Jays look to wake up from their offensive slumber Tuesday as they resume their four-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
The Indians opened the set with a 2-1 victory Monday night, giving them their first two-game winning streak since they reeled off four straight victories June 9-12.
Toronto had to expect some sort of respite against the woeful Indians, after opening the month of June with eight consecutive series against teams with winning records. But the Blue Jays scuffled at the plate in Monday's series opener, manufacturing their only run of the contest on Jose Bautista's RBI double in the top of the first inning.
Toronto's offense has been inconsistent of late, scoring just three times in the team's last four losses. The Blue Jays have lost six of their last eight games overall, and continue to sit near the bottom of the league with a .238 team batting average.
Even the long ball has started to elude the Jays, who lead the majors in home runs with 115. After belting a franchise-record 54 homers in May, Toronto has swatted just 26 in June with three games remaining in the month.
The first of those comes Tuesday night, when the Jays send hard-throwing right-hander Brandon Morrow (5-5) to the hill.
Morrow has the best chance of any Jays pitcher at ending the team's recent woes, given his recent excellence. Morrow has surrendered just five earned runs over his last five outings - a 34-inning stretch of dominance punctuated with eight shutout innings in his previous start, a 5-0 win over the powerhouse St. Louis Cardinals.
Morrow appears to have reined in the control issues he had earlier in the season, issuing just 10 walks over the past five starts. He's struck out 27 over the same time frame, including eight Cardinals the last time out, and needs just eight more punchouts to reach 100 for the season.
The former first-round pick, who turned 26 on Saturday, is 1-1 all-time against the Indians with a 4.63 ERA in seven appearances, including one start. That came May 5 in Cleveland, when he allowed three runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings but didn't earn a decision in the Jays' 5-4 win.
The Indians counter with erratic right-hander Fausto Carmona (6-6). The 26-year-old's topsy-turvy season took another sour turn in his last outing, when he was touched for seven runs on nine hits over four rough innings in a 12-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Carmona has won his previous two starts heading into that game - prior to that, he had dropped four straight decisions.
Carmona has done well in his career against the Blue Jays, going 2-0 all-time with a 2.96 ERA in four starts. He last faced Toronto back on May 5, where he earned a no-decision after limiting the Jays to two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings.