The Blue Jays need a spark and facing Red Sox starter Rick Porcello just might be the answer. After leading the majors in runs last season, Toronto is floundering in the bottom third in run production. The Jays have had success against Porcello in the past and they need wins to stay relevant in the AL East.
You can bet on MLB odds at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
ODDS ANALYSIS
After taking three of four from Minnesota Twins last weekend, the Blue Jays entered a critical part of their schedule, opening a stretch of 12 straight games against the Yankees and Red Sox. Toronto could make a move in the AL East with a good showing against their division rivals. Conversely, the Jays could fall deeper in the cellar with a string of poor play. The stretch didn’t start too well, with the Jays falling to the Yanks 6-0 on Monday.
Toronto returns to the Rogers Centre where things haven’t been all that rosy. The Jays had a three-game home stand that split a run of 13 contests on the road, and they were swept by Tampa Bay. Their home slide stretches to five consecutive games, but those losses have come over a span of three weeks. Overall the Jays are just 9-13 on their own turf this season, down 8.15 units on the moneyline.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Rick Porcello (7-2, 3.47 ERA) gave up a pair of runs in the second inning, but settled down and held the Indians scoreless until his departure in the sixth. He surrendered five hits with a walk and struck out five over 5.2 innings of work on Sunday to get his seventh win of the year. It was the first time in his last four starts that he held an opponent to fewer than three runs.
His first two starts of the year came against the Blue Jays and he won them both, though not impressively. Porcello was touched for four earned and seven hits in six innings in Toronto on Apr. 9 and escaped with an 8-4 win. In Beantown on Apr. 15, he allowed just two hits, both home runs and three earned in 6.1 innings in a 5-3 victory. Porcello has yielded seven homers on the year with four – two in each start – hit by the Jays.
Marcus Stroman (5-1, 3.89 ERA) was provided a three-run lead in the first inning on Sunday and had little trouble keeping the Minnesota bats silent. In 7.2 innings he allowed just three hits and a run with two walks and three strikeouts in a 3-1 win. He’s now allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his last five outings, lowering his ERA to 3.89.
Stroman struggled against Boston earlier this season when he allowed five runs over 5.1 innings on Apr. 8. He escaped with a no-decision in a game the Sox won 8-7. That was the only time in five career starts against the BoSox that Stroman did not beat them. He’s 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA in 34.0 innings during those outings.
LIVE BETTING
The hitting streak may be over by the time the Sox invade Toronto on Saturday. After all, it’s been a month since Jackie Bradley Jr. failed to get a hit in a ball game, and that’s an eternity in baseball hitting time. But if it’s still going, and there’s a reasonable chance to think it might be, Bradley will be entering a historic area in Red Sox baseball. Bradley ended the suspense early on Tuesday, swatting a double in his first at-bat to extend the streak to 28 games, tying Wade Boggs for the fifth-longest in Sox history.
During the streak, which began with a couple of hits at Houston on Apr. 24, Bradley is hitting .411 with 42 hits in 102 at-bats. He’s had multiple hits in a game 10 times during the run, including three games where he collected three. Among all those hits are eight home runs and Bradley has driven in 29, including two games with six RBIs. It was hard to see this coming as Bradley was hitting just .222 before the streak started. Following Tuesday’s two-hit outburst, his average is a cool .346.
QUICK PICK
Manager John Gibbons is pulling out all the stops to ignite a spark in the Blue Jays’ struggling offense. He tried pushing his best hitters to the top of the order to see if that could change things. It hasn’t worked out. Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion have combined to hit .224 with 11 RBIs in five baseball games since the move. “Well, the other strategy wasn’t working. It’s as simple as that,” the manager said following Tuesday’s shutout loss to the Yankees.
It’s hard to imagine all three of those sluggers will continue to struggle at the same time and they’ve all had success against Porcello. Bautista and Encarnacion have each clubbed three homers against the Sox righty, while Donaldson has gone yard once. The trio is hitting a combined .363 during their careers against Porcello. This would be an opportune time for the Jays offense to get back in the swing of things.
MLB Odds: Toronto 7, Boston 3
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The ballgame pitting the Boston Red Sox versus the Toronto Blue Jays will commence Saturday, May 28, 2016, at 1:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre. You can watch the contest live on the MLB Network.
