Joe Maddon calls Hellickson-Buehrle match-up “The Tortoise and the Hare”

The Rays and Blue Jays just kicked off Saturday afternoon’s contest, with Jeremy Hellickson starting for the Rays and Mark Buehrle for the Blue Jays. The two are quite different in their approaches, as Buehrle leads all starters with the shortest time between pitches, at 17.3 seconds per FanGraphs. If he had enough innings to qualify on the leaderboard, Hellickson would be dead last at 26.9 seconds.

Rays manager Joe Maddon had an interesting way to describe the match-up, per Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune:

Contrasting styles today from #Rays Hellickson and Buehrle today, or as Maddon said, “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) August 23, 2014

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Red Sox southpaw David Price was lifted in the first inning of Saturday’s game against the Astros. While there was some initial concern that he might have trigged the elbow tendinitis that has been affecting him lately, manager Alex Cora was quick to clarify the situation as the result of “flu-like symptoms.”

…there with no energy and he gets hurt and the way he was throwing the ball. We were proactive. We took him out of the game, he'll get some treatment and we'll see what happens

— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) May 26, 2019

Price pitched just 2/3 of an inning, inducing a first-pitch fly out from Aledmys Díaz, striking out Alex Bregman, and allowing a single to Michael Brantley before making his departure from the mound. He was replaced by rookie right-hander Colten Brewer.

Barring further complications, Price will likely stay on track to make his next scheduled start during the Red Sox’ upcoming road trip. Entering Saturday’s match-up, the 33-year-old lefty carried a 2-2 record in seven starts with a 3.29 ERA, 2.2 BB/9, and 10.1 SO/9 across 41 innings in 2019.

Following Price’s removal, the Red Sox are still tied 0-0 with the Astros in the fifth.