The Baltimore Orioles have now built up a comfortable four-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays at the top of the American League East. They can extend it one game further by taking the rubber match of their three-game series tonight in Toronto.
Both teams’ offenses have been propped up by excellent batting atop their respective lineups, which starters Miguel Gonzalez and J.A. Happ will be very wary of.
Aside from this AL East clash, find four more very interesting baseball games to wager covered in our daily MLB Free Picks column. Check them out, and read on for all you need to know about the O’s vs. the Jays.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays, Major League Baseball, Betting Preview and Prediction
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
When: Thursday, August 7, 7:07 PM ET
Line: Baltimore Orioles (-105) at Toronto Blue Jays (-105); total 9.0 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Baltimore Orioles
The O’s struggling offense looked as if it was finally ready to get back going with 16 runs against the Nationals and Blue Jays in consecutive days. But the momentum they built up quickly fizzled as they were almost no-hit by Drew Hutchison last night.
[sc:MLB240banner ]Leadoff man Nick Markakis and no. 2 hitter Manny Machado have been doing their job and getting on base; they’ve gone a solid 19-for-50 combined to begin August. But the slumping bats of Adam Jones and Nelson Cruz have been unable to drive them home consistently. The under is 8-2 in the O’s last 10 games.
Miguel Gonzalez gets the start tonight for the O’s. The right-hander had his best stretch of the season in the month of July as he went past the sixth inning all four of his starts and recorded an impressive 1.82 ERA. The O’s went 3-1 in those starts.
But in his first start in August last week, he gave up four runs in five innings to take the loss against the Seattle Mariners. Prior to that start, the total had gone under in his previous four starts.
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Betting on the Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays finally snapped their four-game losing skid last night with a 5-1 win over the Orioles. Drew Hutchison was outstanding for Toronto, as he gave up just one run in 8.2 innings despite struggling for most of last month.
Don’t be too surprised to see another strong outing from tonight’s starting pitcher, J.A. Happ. At first look, his 4.25 ERA is nothing to sneeze at. But the lefty is much better at home (3.42 ERA) than on the road. In his last three home starts, Happ has given up just four runs in 20.2 innings en route to three Blue Jays wins.
Happ also pitched quite well (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER) in his last start against the Houston Astros. However, the Jays could only manage one run as they fell 3-1.
Toronto will have its chances to put runs on the board as long as Jose Reyes (.316), Melky Cabrera (.396, 3 HR, 14 RBI) and Jose Bautista (.324, 5 HR, 14 RBI) keep hitting like they have since after the All-Star break. Cabrera and Bautista had three more hits apiece in last night’s win over Baltimore.
Writer’s Prediction
Both lineups get up for this game against the mediocre pitching of Gonzalez and Happ, who surrender a handful of runs as the total goes over the line of 9.0.
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