Keys to the game (5/10)

Keys to the game-

1.) If they are going to give you a free base, take it! Last night the Indians offense had 7 hits, and 6 walks against a struggling Toronto pitching staff. No, you read that right, 6 walks. Francisco Liriano takes the mound tonight for the Blue Jays. Here are some of his 2017 stats- see if anything about these stats sticks out to you: Liriano has a 2-2 record, a 4.44 ERA, a 1.75 WHIP, 30 strike outs, and 20 walks in 26 1/3 innings of work. Did you see it? 20 walks in 26 1/3 innings of work! Liriano has the ability to strike a lot of batters out, but he also is known to give free passes to first as well. We need to make sure we take him up on that. This may mean we have to be disciplined at that plate, shrink the strike zone and be patient. Once we have base runners, we need to make sure we capitalize.

2.) Keep the K’s, lose the walks. Danny Salazar enters into tonight’s game with a 2-3 record and a 4.28 ERA. He has done really well racking up the K’s (has 49 in 33 2/3 innings of work). But he has struggled with his command, especially in early innings, which has caused him to not be able to pitch deep into ballgames and walk quite a few batters himself. He has walked 16 batters in 33 2/3 innings of work. Tonight we want him to come out ready with his command.

3.) Be ready bullpen. Salazar has been averaging 5 or 6 innings, which means that there will more then likely be some innings left for our bullpen to eat up. The good news… our bullpen is literally the best in baseball. Maintaining that dominance is very important, they have proven to be the backbone of our team. The have a 1.75 combined ERA, in 92 1/3 innings pitched. That’s a reliable, consistent, and downright filthy stat. I have to believe that they strike fear into the hearts of every batter they face. With a bullpen like ours, we are never out of the game till the 27^th out is recorded.  So basically… they need to keep doing what they have been doing! Let’s win tonight’s game and win another series.