Dickey had allowed 19 round-trippers this season, while Young came in having given up 22 home runs, most in the majors.
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Estrada signed a two-year, $26 million contract in the offseason, and has been worth the money while leading the Blue Jays with 99 strikeouts despite pitching through ongoing back trouble.
He went for an MRI the very next day, and on Monday he was sent for a series of cortisone shots in and around the inflamed sacroiliac and facet joints that have been causing shooting pain in his lower back. “My worst nightmare came true, unfortunately”, Estrada said Wednesday, July 6. I’m not a guy who’s going to go and try to throw my name out there to get people to vote for me.
Estrada has struggled with a sore back all season that was re-aggravated by taking batting practice ahead of games in Philadelphia and Colorado, both National League ballparks. He came in with a 5.14 ERA at the Rogers Centre.
While Encarnacion and Donaldson are no strangers to the All-Star game, Estrada is one player who has earned the nod to the team and it is no surprise, given how his season has gone.
The 33-year-old starter, one of three Blue Jays named Tuesday to the showcase event in San Diego, was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.
Josh Donaldson and Darwin Barney each hit two-run singles in a five-run seventh inning for the Blue Jays (46-38).
This all-star thing is completely foreign to Marco Estrada. “I wanted to play baseball and have fun with it but you always want to be part of an All-Star team”. I just wasn’t sure if I’d ever get there. The Blue Jays and Royals continue their three-game series on Tuesday.
“So I talked to Clint Everts (a teammate at advanced-A Potomac in 2007) who had a really good changeup and asked him how he held the pitch, and it just seemed like I had a really good feel for it right away”. “He’s feeling a little better but we don’t want to push it. We’ve got to worry about this team”.
If Estrada isn’t ready Gibbons said right-hander Drew Hutchison would likely make the start in his place. 910 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) is second on the Blue Jays roster. I really can’t give an answer right now. But obviously it’s not up to me. “We’ll see what happens”.
Manager Ned Yost said Young tried moving to the third-base side of the mound to give him “more deception”.
“He’s definitely an All-Star-caliber-type pitcher”, Yost said. He has hit safely in 11 of his past 13 games, batting.
The Blue Jays won the game, 8-3, and the outcome was never in doubt.
The game will be broadcast live on FOX with coverage beginning at 4:30 p.m. PT.
NOTES: Royals RHP Wade Davis (forearm strain) was put on the disabled list Tuesday retroactive to Friday.
Relief pitcher Bo Schultz was called up from triple-A Buffalo to replace Estrada on the Blue Jays roster.
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Dickey was looking for his first win at home this season and he got it rather comfortably on a night when everything from offence to weather conditions worked in his favour.
