MLB Baseball Betting: Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays

Well will you look at that–after wins in the opening two games of the weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles the Toronto Blue Jays are in first place. And they’ll be there at the end of play on Saturday no matter what the Boston Red Sox do in their late game against the Los Angeles Angels. Toronto ripped Baltimore 9-1 on Saturday behind another good effort from J.A. Happ who went 7 innings allowing 1 ER and striking out 11 against 3 walks. So pending the outcome of the late Angels/Red Sox game the Blue Jays currently hold a 1/2 game lead over Baltimore and a 1.5 game lead over Boston. One good sign is the recent form of these three teams–the Blue Jays are the only one of the group with a winning record in their last ten games (7-3). Baltimore is 5-5 in their last 10 but they’ve lost 5 straight. The Red Sox are 4-6 in their last 10. Not out of it yet are the New York Yankees who are 6 games out of first place but just 4.5 games behind third place Boston.
Baltimore will start right hander Chris Tillman here and he’s been their most dependable and consistent pitcher all year. The Orioles are 18-4 in his 22 starts and with a net profit of +14.4 units Tillman has been the most profitable pitcher in baseball so far this year. They’ve also gone 6-3 on the road with Tillman putting up a 3.47 ERA overall and a 3.12 ERA on the road. He’ll be opposed by Aaron Sanchez who has looked very good of late. The Jays are 13-7 in his 20 starts with Sanchez turning in a 2.79 ERA. Toronto has won 6 of 9 Sanchez starts at the Rogers Centre where he’s put up a 3.56 ERA. They’ve also won 2 of his last 3 starts with Sanchez contributing a 1.42 ERA and a 0.947 WHIP.
This has been a fairly even series this season with Toronto holding a 7-5 advantage. They’ve taken care of business at home winning 5 of 6 meetings at the Rogers Centre. In most situations they might be a good spot to bet on Baltimore to ‘avoid the sweep’. Can’t see the Blue Jays taking their foot off the gas here now that they’re in first place and knowing that Baltimore has lost 5 straight.
BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -160 OVER BALTIMORE ORIOLES