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The signature moment of Francisco Liriano's season remains his abysmal season debut in which he was rocked for five earned runs and pulled before even recording his second out. That rough opener is a major blemish on Liriano's overall line, making it easy to miss that the Toronto Blue Jays' lefty has submitted two very strong starts in the ensuing weeks -- amassing a 1.50 ERA and stellar 27.7 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate over 12 innings pitched after the ugly debut.

Liriano gets a nice opportunity to chip away at his bloated 5.11 season-long ERA during his upcoming two-start week. On Monday he faces off against an overachieving Los Angeles Angels squad that started the season hot but is beginning to regress to the mean, with their weighted run production over the last week among the weakest in the league. The Angels' well-below-average team-wide on base plus slugging (OPS) against lefties confirms that this is a plus matchup for Liriano.

Perhaps less ideal is the weekend tilt against the Tampa Bay Rays, who have posted an above average weighted runs mark against lefties on the young season, though that strong productivity also comes with a 28.6 percent strikeout rate against southpaws, which is second only to the whiff-happy Milwaukee Brewers.

For the veteran lefty Liriano, a good multi-run thrashing is always a possibility, but the Tampa Bay start should nevertheless provide a strong strikeout floor regardless of the scoring outcomes.