George Springer, Blue Jays bid to fluster Red Sox again

George Springer will be looking to remain hot at the plate when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in the third contest of a four-game series.

Springer collected two hits, including a solo home run against Boston starter Garrett Crochet, during Toronto's 6-1 victory over Boston in frigid conditions Tuesday. That came after he had four hits and three RBIs in Monday's 6-2 triumph.

Springer is batting .459 and has a team-leading nine RBIs through 12 games. Springer drove in just 56 runs in 145 games last season.

"Tough conditions," Boston manager Alex Cora said following Tuesday's loss. "George hit the homer and then we didn't make plays (two errors in the same inning). That was it. (Crochet) did more than enough."

Boston has been held to 13 hits in the first two games of the series. Toronto starter Easton Lucas pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday.

"He pitched with no fear," Toronto's Bo Bichette said of Lucas. "We need him. He's a big part of our team right now. For him to pitch like that against a lineup like that? It's cool for all of us to see."

Toronto will send right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1, 3.97 ERA) to the mound Wednesday.

Gausman pitched 5 1/3 innings of Friday's 5-0 loss to the New York Mets but failed to record a strikeout.

"Every team's different and every team's going to have a different approach, but it's about figuring that out in the first two innings," Gausman said following that loss. "More than anything, I just have to get back to pounding the zone. I only get my swings and misses when I'm ahead in the count. That's when they're going to chase the split more often. When I'm behind in the count, they're not going to do that."

Gausman has a 9-10 record and a 4.40 ERA in 31 games (26 starts) against the Red Sox. He has 152 strikeouts in 149 1/3 innings.

Righty Tanner Houck (0-1, 6.52 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Boston.

Houck is 1-1 with a 3.41 ERA in eight games (seven starts) against Toronto. He recorded 35 strikeouts in those eight games (37 innings).

Houck likely will be throwing to Carlos Narvaez. Cora said Narvaez will handle most of the catching duties until Connor Wong is able to play after fracturing his pinky finger in Monday's 6-2 loss.

The Red Sox acquired Narvaez in an offseason trade with the New York Yankees. He entered the season with six games of MLB experience.

Narvaez, who started four of the 11 games when Wong was healthy this season, is off to a hot start at the plate (.300), but Cora said he told Narvaez to make defense his priority.

"We gotta help him," Cora said. "He's a rookie catching in the AL East. There's challenges that present in this division on a nightly basis. ... The priority is to lead this group - the pitching group. The offensive part of it, great. We love it. You can add that, but our main goal is to prevent runs."

--Field Level Media