The Toronto Blue Jays may be down 3-1 in the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians, but don’t tell that to Jose Bautista.
The Blue Jays outfielder remains as confident as ever heading into Game 5 of the ALCS on Wednesday. In fact, he thinks Indians pitcher Ryan Merritt, who is scheduled to start the game, should be more worried than Toronto.
Jose Bautista on Ryan Merritt: "With our experience in our lineup I'm pretty sure he's going to be shaking in his boots more than we are."
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) October 19, 2016
Jose Bautista acknowledged that "Not having seen (Merritt) is something that could go either way." Added "I like where we're at" #BlueJays
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) October 19, 2016
Merritt is a 24-year-old rookie who only pitched 11 innings this season. But he only allowed two runs during his four appearances, good for a 1.64 ERA.
Cleveland will be asking a lot out of Merritt to have him close out the series, and Bautista thinks that pressure may be a lot for the youngster. Toronto’s offense certainly needs to pick it up like they did in scoring five runs on Tuesday, compared to the three runs they scored the first three games of the series.
