Urena to make Jays debut in series opener against Angels
Published
The Toronto Blue Jays will send newly-signed righty Jose Urena to the hill to start in their series opener against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, MLB.com's Keegan Matheson reports.
Urena, who was signed along with Spencer Turnbull earlier this week, will make his first start since Aug. 13 of last year.
The 33-year-old and veteran of 11 MLB seasons made one relief appearance with the New York Mets this season, allowing five runs over three innings for a 15.00 earned-run average.
Urena's start will fill the spot in the rotation originally held by Max Scherzer, who was recently moved to the 60-day Injured List with an ongoing thumb injury that began in camp and played a part in cutting short his first start of the season.
Easton Lucas had been filling the spot in the rotation, but was optioned to Triple-A after consecutive ugly outings that caused his ERA to skyrocket from zero through two games to 7.14 through four.
Toronto has struggled to produce offence this season, ranking last in the majors in home runs (23) and fifth-worst in runs scored (120) through 34 games thus far.
The issue was magnified in a series loss to the Cleveland Guardians over the weekend in which the team repeatedly struggled to score runners in three close games.
"It's a tough couple of games, really three close games," said manager John Schneider, whose team won the opener 5-3 on Friday, but dropped 5-3 and 5-4 decisions to close against the Guardians.
A series against the Angels can provide a chance for the offence to find some life, as Los Angeles enters action Tuesday with the fourth-worst team ERA in the majors (5.36).