Though Cole Irvin has not been much of a strikeout pitcher and doesn’t have a gaudy record, he has been solid for the Oakland Athletics and will look to outduel AL Cy Young candidate Robbie Ray on Sunday in Toronto.
Irvin has pitched his best on the road, logging a 3.56 ERA compared to a 3.93 ERA at home. He has issued just two walks and 0.9 home runs per nine innings and has surrendered three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his past 12 road starts.
Ray has allowed more than two runs in just one of his 11 starts since the beginning of July. He also has allowed just two home runs in his past seven starts, spanning 47 innings, after allowing 23 home runs in his first 19 starts of the season.
The Athletics have the third-best road ERA among AL teams at 3.90 while the Blue Jays’ 4.4 runs per game in their first 21 games back at Rogers Centre is down considerably from their 5.8 runs per game average in Dunedin, Fla., and Buffalo.
Six of Ray’s past seven starts having gone Under the total and he has pitched at least six complete innings in 15 of his past 17 starts, so runs will be hard to come by on Sunday.
The play: Athletics-Blue Jays total Under 9 runs.