Jays call up Lake from Triple-A Buffalo to fill outfield spot
CHICAGO— Before Friday’s game, the Jays promoted outfielder Junior Lake from Triple-A Buffalo, while they sent Darrell Ceciliani back down. Lake, a right-handed hitter, was favoured over Ceciliani since the Jays are facing a pair of left-handed starters this weekend in Chicago.
“He’s been hot down there, too,” manager John Gibbons said. Lake has eight hits in his last four games and was riding a 12-game on-base streak at the time of his call-up.
“He’s been really swingin’ it. Hopefully he keeps that going,” said Gib- bons, who penned Lake’s name into the lineup on Friday, batting ninth and playing right field. “Maybe he saw (Jose Bautista) get hurt and he kicked it in.”
The 26-year-old Dominican has played 201 career games in the big leagues, mostly with the Chicago Cubs. He split last year between the Cubs and Baltimore Orioles, hitting .200 with just one homer.
He was claimed off waivers by the Jays in December and in 69 games for Triple-A Buffalo this year he was hitting .244 with a .328 on-base percentage and six homers. MOVING UP: Left-handed reliev- ers Brett Cecil and Franklin Morales are both inching closer to returning from their respective injuries, as the pair is scheduled to continue their minor-league rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Buffalo on Saturday. They both pitched in two games for Class-A Dunedin this week.
Cecil has been out with a lat strain since May 15, while Morales, who faced just two batters before landing on the disabled list, hasn’t pitched since the first series of the season when he was shut down with shoulder soreness.
Barring a setback, one or both pitchers could rejoin the Jays early next week, which would be a boon to the team’s bullpen, which has scrambled to find serviceable lefties all season. DINGS AND DENTS: Justin Smoak was kept out of Friday’s lineup after his knee “blew up on him,” Gibbons said.
Smoak fouled a ball of his knee in Wednesday’s win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will undergo precautionary X-rays, Gibbons said, but they don’t expect him to require a stint on the DL.
Meanwhile, Marco Estrada, who was forced to make an early exit from his start on Tuesday due to back soreness, won’t be held back from his scheduled start on Monday. JUNE BOOM: For the month of June, the Jays hold all three of the American League’s top spots in terms of on-base-plus-slugging (OPS) percentage. Josh Donaldson leads the way with a 1.200 mark, followed closely by Edwin Encarnacion at 1.198 and Michael Saunders at 1.144. The trio sits second, third and sixth, respectively, when you include National League hitters. BUSY UNTIL THE BREAK: Starting with Friday’s game in Chicago, the Jays play17 straight days until the all-star break on July 11.