G32: Red Sox at Blue Jays, PPD., Players' Strike

The Red Sox and Blue Jays will not play tonight.

Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe:

The decision to opt out of playing follows outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.'s choice to sit out of the game in protest.

Bradley decided to sit out to bring awareness to police brutality against Black people in the wake of the recent shooting of Jacob Blake by a Wisconsin police officer. ...

Manager Ron Roenicke indicated earlier Thursday that the team's leadership would support whatever the players decide to do.

"Whatever Jackie, whatever the players feel like is right to do, I know [chief baseball officer] Chaim [Bloom] is certainly behind all of this, and our organization, too," Roenicke told MLB Network Radio. "It's not going away until we do something about it."

Here are more of Roenicke's comments:

"We talk about equality yet there isn't equality ... You read the Constitution and how it was written and, you know, it's not equal for everybody. ...

"As a white American, it really bothers you that we have these freedoms in our country and yet the same freedoms don't apply to everybody, and that's a shame.

"This has gone on too long, and I remember reading [Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts and his last comments and he said, 'Something good needs to come out of all of this,' and that really hit me because he's right.

"If we go through all of this and nothing changes ... it shouldn't happen in our country, so hopefully with whatever goes on, and the protest, and whatever we decide to do in baseball, [we] can make a change.

"I know I listen a lot more, certainly. I know there were issues before, but I'm really listening now."

Red Sox -

Blue Jays - 

Chris Mazza / Hyun Jin Ryu

Source: the Red Sox have decided not to play tonight.

— Julian McWilliams (@byJulianMack) August 27, 2020

Meanwhile it’s pouring here and very windy. pic.twitter.com/uucR3Nfg3L

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) August 27, 2020

Wind here is getting little out of hand. Thunderstorm too. pic.twitter.com/7zchdRVjZb

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) August 27, 2020

Lefty Ryu has a 1.23 ERA in August, with 24 strikeouts in 22 innings. Mazza has pitched in two games for the Red Sox this season (5.2 innings).

Rowdy Tellez, who hit two dongs and drove in four runs last night, has a 1.245 career OPS (71 PA) against the Red Sox. It's easily his highest OPS against any team he has more than 20 PA against. The next two are the Angels (27 PA, 1.079) and Orioles (62 PA, .980).

Tellez is slugging .836 against Boston, as 13 of his 20 hits are for extra bases (four doubles, nine home runs). Those nine home runs in 71 career plate appearances works out to 76 homers over 600 PA (3.7 PA/G for 162 games). ... Rowdy needs to settle down.