Blue Jays-White Sox preview: Tulowitzki may be hitting his stride

Troy Tulowitzki returns to Colorado. (Eric Risberg/AP)

The Toronto Blue Jays may be headed to enemy territory, but something about the surroundings will seem strangely familiar.

There will be no shortage of bro hugs and backside whacks when the Jays travel to Chicago this weekend for a three-game set with the White Sox, as a trio of the South Side’s starting nine—catcher Dioner Navarro, left fielder Melky Cabrera and third baseman Brett Lawrie—have worn the Blue Jays uniform in the recent past.

The White Sox did the Jays a favour by winning three of four against the Boston Red Sox this week, but they weren’t especially friendly to the Jays earlier this season when they came to Toronto and won all three games during a late-April series. Can the Jays extract a measure of revenge on their old friends? Here are a few things that will factor into that quest.

Tulo’s time?
After missing three weeks with a leg injury, Troy Tulowitzki has now played four games since returning to the lineup. In those contests, the shortstop has gone 5-for-15 while posting an on-base percentage of .400 and smacking two homers, including one in the Jays’ last outing, a 5–2 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

Tulowitzki’s struggles at the plate since he landed in Toronto nearly 12 months ago have been well documented, but there’s at least some evidence he could be turning things around. That would be a huge boon for a lineup that continues to play without right fielder Jose Bautista.

“I’m trying to get back to my successful ways, be that hitter that I was, which is a very confident guy,” said Tulowitzki following the series finale versus the D-backs. “Someone who wasn’t afraid to fail, who let it go. And I think lately I’ve been doing that and I’ve been getting better results.”

So, how you been keepin’?
Thus far, Chicago’s plan to storm the league by gathering ex-Jays isn’t really paying off. The best of the bunch, not surprisingly, is Cabrera, whose .289 batting average actually paces a team that struggles to score runs. While Navarro is doing just fine behind the plate, his .213 average and .271 OBP are well below his career marks in those categories. Meanwhile, Lawrie—now with his third team in three years after spending 2015 with the Oakland Athletics—is still trying to find his Major League groove. While the B.C. boy has managed a decent eight homers this year, he’s hitting just .230 with an OBP of .307.

Which might explain why…
Their recent success in Boston notwithstanding, the Chi Sox have really cratered following a hot start. On May 9, Chicago was 23-10 and held a six-game lead in the AL Central. Since then, the team has gone 13-27 to fall behind Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit.

Sunday showdown
The series finale will see White Sox ace Chris Sale chucking against Toronto’s supposed No. 1, Marcus Stroman. As Jays fans are all too aware, Stroman has really scuffled of late, posting a gruesome 8.67 ERA during his past five starts. Some take comfort in the fact he continues to produces a lot of ground balls, but at some point, the other numbers have to fall into line. Stroman likely won’t have much margin for error pitching against Sale, who took the MLB wins lead with 12 (compared to two losses) after his most recent outing in Boston. The towering lefty also boasts a WHIP of 0.99 and an ERA of just 2.83.


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