Our winning streak finally came to an end, after five consecutive days, with the Rangers and Diamondbacks last night. We were 1-2 on our picks in that game, giving us an even 3-3 record on the week. That makes today a bounce-back day and hopefully Toronto (70-56) and Baltimore (77-48) will provide us with what we need to get back on track.
The Pitchers
Toronto’s Kevin Gausman (9-7, 3.24) is coming off a terrible performance, against Philadelphia last week, in which he allowed five earned runs in just 5.1 innings of work. He does have two wins in his last five starts and the five runs given up to the Phillies were the most he’s surrendered during that stretch, raising his earned runs average to 2.6 over that stretch, which is still a very respectable number. It looks like we’re not the only ones looking to bounce back tonight.
Baltimore is going to throw Jack Flaherty (8-8, 4.73 ERA) at the Blue Jays tonight. He’s got one win in his last five appearances, and that came on August 3rd against Toronto. He’s also coming off a rough appearance, where he gave up seven earned runs, and only lasted three innings, against San Diego on August 15. Over the last five appearances, Flaherty is giving up an average of 3.6 earned runs per game.
The Lineups
Vladimir Guerrero and Bo Bichette are charging the Toronto offense. Guerrero has blasted 18 home runs, with 72 RBI, and Bichette has a team-best .319 batting average. The Blue Jays have scored 24 runs in the last five games.
Baltimore is powered by Anthony Santander and Austin Hays. Santander leads the Orioles in home runs (21) and RBI (65) while Hays leads the team in batting average (.280). The Orioles have scored 33 runs over the last five games.
The Streaks
Toronto heads into tonight’s contest on a three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, last night’s 6-3 loss, in the series opener, ended Baltimore’s three-game winning streak.
The Odds
Blue Jays -1.5
Blue Jays – 125 on the moneyline
O/U 8
I feel like we’re looking at a tight one tonight. Both pitchers are coming off rough outings in their last starts, which sends me towards the over. We’re getting pretty decent odds there, but it’s also the same for the under, which tells me it could very well go either way. I think the best bet of the night may be Baltimore at +1.5. However, those odds are at -150 which means everyone else thinks that it’s a good bet as well. I guess I’m not the only one who is a sucker for home underdogs. So, that leaves us with Toronto on the moneyline as our best bet. We’re getting -125 odds there, which isn’t terrible.
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