Toronto Blue Jays vs. Oakland Athletics Betting Preview
Where: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA
When: Monday, June 5, 2017, 10:05 PM ET
Line: Toronto Blue Jays (-101) at Oakland Athletics (-109); total: 8.0 – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast: SNET, NBCSCA
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Betting on the Toronto Blue Jays (28-29)
The Toronto Blue Jays ended up splitting their four-game series against the New York Yankees with a narrow 3-2 victory on Sunday.
Toronto continues to rely on its depth of sluggers to win ball games, with Josh Donaldson hitting a solo shot out of Rogers Centre for his fourth home run in five contests.
The Blue Jays, who rank eighth in the majors in home runs but just 16th in total runs scored, need to produce more points with more timely hits and not just by going yard. In their four-game set against the Yanks, they had seven home runs but went a dismal 0-for-24 with runners in scoring position.
The team’s win on Sunday didn’t come without a price either, as slugger Devon Travis is questionable heading into Monday’s contest in Oakland after his left wrist was hit by a pitch from New York’s Luis Severino. Toronto’s already missing catcher Russell Martin, who sat out his fourth-consecutive game with a neck injury, so expect a blip in their offense ahead.
Starting Monday’s game is J.A. Happ (0-3, 4.50 ERA), who also doesn’t appear to be in tip-top shape yet. In his first start after nearly a six-week layoff with an inflamed elbow, Happ threw just 81 pitches and allowed two runs on solo homers to the Reds on May 30th.
The Jays are hobbling as we speak, and it’s their issues with health that has got to tip the scales in the Athetics’ favor at least from the onset.
Betting on the Oakland Athletics (24-31)
The seventh loss over their last nine games was a bittersweet one for the Oakland Athletics, who came up short in the 11-10 barnburner versus the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
While the A’s haven’t put together a decent run since their three-game win streak against the Red Sox mid-May, piling up 10 runs in each of their last two contests is a good sign that their offense is starting to come to life. Matt Joyce hit a Grand Slam in the ninth with his team down by seven runs to almost stage a frantic comeback, and he now has a couple of homers over his last three starts.
Leftfielder Khris Davis, who leads his team in home runs and runs batted-in, went 3-of-4 with two RBIs and smacked his 17th home run of the season in the loss. Oakland still has the second-worst mark in the American League in runs scored and team batting average, but those recent performances from Joyce and Davis are promising indeed.
In Monday’s upcoming lefty-versus-lefty battle, the edge has got to go to Oakland’s Sean Manaea (4-3, 3.91 ERA). Manaea’s won all three of his previous starts and is hot off solid back-to-back seven-inning outings against two of the AL’s noteworthy contenders in the Yankees and the Indians. The 25-year-old Indiana native struck out a total of 17 batters over those last two starts, further jacking up his career-best season average of 10.1 Ks per nine innings.
Having said that, look for the Athletics to muster enough runs behind a sound outing from Manaea against the weakened Blue Jays to kick off their three-game set in Oakland this Monday.
Writer’s Prediction
The A’s (-109) win a close one, 4-3.
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