The Toronto Blue Jays made a change to George Springer during their series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Toronto is coming off a lopsided win in the series opener, and now, in the second game of the series on Wednesday, Springer is not in the lineup.
The Blue Jays lineup on Wednesday is as follows:
- B. Bateman CF
- N. Lukes RF
- A. Kirk DH
- K. Okamoto 1B
- A. Giménez SS
- J. Sánchez LF
- J. Smith 2B
- B. Valenzuela C
- C. McAdoo 3B
Toronto is opting to use Alejandro Kirk as the DH instead of Springer, as Brandon Valenzuela gets the start at catcher. It is a nice day off for Springer, who has been battling some injuries, but has said he’s healthy enough to play.
Springer is hitting .234 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs this season with the Blue Jays.
Max Scherzer gets the start for the Blue Jays in the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. ET.
Blue Jays Manager Clarifies Injury Concerns
Springer has made some odd-looking swings, as even the Blue Jays commentators thought he’s dealing with a shoulder injury.
However, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Springer got checked out, and there is no injury concern.
“We’ve checked him out. Everything’s checked out. He’s just, I think, feeling this part of the season and when he swings and misses he feels it more … I’m checking in with him every day,” Schneider said.
As Schneider notes, everyone is dealing with some nagging pains, but it’s not enough for Springer to need an IL stint. However, Toronto is giving him a day off on Wednesday, but he could very well be available to pinch-hit late in the game if needed.
Springer is in the final year of his six-year, $150 million deal with Toronto.
Toronto in Hot Stretch
The Blue Jays are back in the playoff mix as the team took the first game of a series against the Rays on Tuesday.
Toronto won 10-5 as the offense was led by Kirk, but everyone chipped in, which is what Schneider was happy about.
“It was a really good team approach today, I thought, overall,” Schneider said. “… You get three home runs and you get some timely hits — that’s really, really important, especially against a good pitching team.”
Kirk, meanwhile, believes how Toronto is playing as of late is how they should have been playing all year.
“Lately, we’ve been playing good baseball, having a good offense, good at-bats, clean baseball,” Kirk said through a club interpreter. “Definitely, this is who we are, and hopefully we can continue doing that.”
The Blue Jays are 62-65 and are 0.5 games back of a Wild Card spot.
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