How the Blue Jays plan to attack the stacked Dodgers lineup

As the Los Angeles Dodgers arrive in Toronto for this weekend's series, Blue Jays pitchers are focused on sticking to their strengths rather than attacking hitters' weaknesses.

The Dodgers offence enters Friday's game having scored the second most runs in the majors, hit the third most home runs, and has the second-highest OPS. Led by the All-Star trio of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani, keeping Los Angeles off the scoreboard is a tall task for even the best pitchers in baseball.

While appearing on Blair & Barker Friday afternoon, Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker said Toronto is focused on execution one through nine.

"With our staff, we know who we are. We have good pitchers, and we need to trust our stuff," Walker said. "We need to attack these guys to our best ability and to our strengths."

"Obviously, if there's something that's glaring with a really good hitter, you may attack it, but for the most part, I want our guys to pitch their game. If there's a certain area that doesn't match up well, then we might make an adjustment," he added. "For the most part, guys are gonna pitch, they're gonna try to get strike one and they're gonna execute."

The Blue Jays will start Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and Kevin Gausman against the Dodgers as they look to snap a three-game losing streak.

All three did well their last time through the rotation, allowing a combined four earned runs through 18 innings, even though none of them struck out more than four hitters in their starts. Being able to get outs without punching out a ton of batters is something manager John Schneider said will have to be a focus this weekend.

"I think you're trying to limit damage. You can try to pitch to weak contact, these dudes are tough to strike out," Schneider said, appearing on Blair & Barker right after Walker. "They're built to hit homers and score a lot of runs, so you got to take your outs when you can get them. You can't lose focus of the guys that are hitting below the top three, but you're pitching to weak contact."

Schneider was also asked about three struggling hitters, in Alejandro Kirk, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and what it might take to get them back on track.

Speaking about Kirk, who is hitting .167 with one extra-base hit on the year. Schneider said the Blue Jays backstop has been "expanding the zone a little bit more than he has in the past."

"He's so good behind the plate, but we got to get him going offensively to lengthen out this lineup," Schneider added. "So I think (his struggles have been) a combination of his control of the zone (not being) as tight as it has been, and then within that, not squaring up his pitch when he does get it."

Meanwhile, Guerrero has gone just six for his last 27, with one double and eight strikeouts. But Schneider says he doesn't believe the two-time All-Star has anything to correct mechanically.

"Knowing him for as long as I've known him, he keeps it very simple. He wants to feel rhythm with his feet," the Blue Jays skipper said. "When he's great, he knows he catches the ball out front.

"So I think the work that he put in with his actual swing path is where we're focused right now... It's work that people don't see every day or didn't see in the entire off-season."

Perhaps one of the most disappointing trends to begin the season has been Bichette's performance at the plate. Toronto's shortstop is slashing just .223/.282/.330 through his first 24 games and has only mixed in seven extra-base hits.

Kevin Barker shared that he had spoken with Bichette recently about his approach, and the 26-year-old said he was "getting a little frisky" in certain counts and trying to do more damage to the pull side.

For a player who has consistently led the league in hits the other way, Barker asked Schneider if he liked hearing that from Bichette.

"Bo is at his best when he's taking good, aggressive swings, and I think that when he's getting pitches he can really handle, that's when he's elite," Schneider said. "So I think it's him understanding how he's being pitched ... there's gonna be times where guys are going to come inside because you can handle inside outing a ball to right field and you can take a shot.

"But I want Bo to be out there to hit the ball hard and get his good aggressive swings off before two strikes and then use his two-strike approach... That's when he's obviously at his best."

You can watch the Blue Jays attempt to get back on track against Ohtani and the Dodgers on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+, starting at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT.