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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The Blue Jays placed right-hander Aaron Sanchez on the 10-day disabled list with a contusion in his right index finger, per a team announcement on Saturday. The assignment is retroactive to Friday. In a corresponding move, righty Marcus Stroman was activated from the DL (right shoulder fatigue) and will take the mound for the Blue Jays at 9:07 PM ET tonight.

Sanchez, 25, is in his fifth season with the club. He hasn’t looked his sharpest so far this year, going 3-5 in 15 starts with a career-worst 4.52 ERA, 5.1 BB/9 and 7.6 SO/9 through 79 2/3 innings. It’s not yet clear how long he’ll be sidelined, though he could miss as little as one turn in the rotation before returning to the roster in the next week or two.

Sanchez isn’t the only struggling starter in Toronto’s rotation, either. Per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, the team placed southpaw Jaime Garcia on the DL (right shoulder tenderness) as well, with lefty reliever Tim Mayza scheduled to take his spot on the roster. In 13 starts this season, Garcia carried a 2-6 record, 6.16 ERA, 4.5 BB/9 and 8.2 SO/9 over 61 1/3 innings. Any further decisions pertaining to the rotation — including Tuesday’s starter against the Astros — have yet to be publicly addressed.