The Toronto Blue Jays will have their second home opener of the season Tuesday night when they start a two-game set against the Miami Marlins in Buffalo, N.Y.
After playing their first 21 home games this season at their spring-training stadium in Dunedin, Fla., the Blue Jays are returning to Sahlen Field, where they played home games in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions in Canada.
The difference this season is that there will be fans in attendance at the home park of the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. The Bisons are playing their home games in Trenton, N.J.
“Hopefully, it’ll become more of a home-field advantage because it wasn’t in Dunedin,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Every team we played, they had more fans than we did. So hopefully it will become more of a home and be more comfortable for our players to play.”
The Blue Jays were 10-11 in their home games in Florida.
Toronto will start left-hander Robbie Ray (2-2, 3.81 ERA) Tuesday against Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara (2-4, 3.46)
Ray faced the Marlins once in 2020, allowing four hits and one earned run in 3 1/3 innings on Sept. 1. He is 2-3 with a 2.31 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against Miami. Alcantara has never faced the Blue Jays.
Both teams had Monday off. The Marlins had their game against the Red Sox in Boston on Sunday postponed due to rain while the Blue Jays split a doubleheader with the host Cleveland Indians.
The Blue Jays came close to sweeping the doubleheader and the three-game series from the Indians.
