MLB Baseball Betting: Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles

Not sure what has gotten into the formerly dormant bats of the Toronto Blue Jays but we’re not complaining. The Jays scored 13 runs for the second straight day as they walloped divisional rival Baltimore 13-2. The victory combined with a loss by the Boston Red Sox moved Toronto into a tie for second place. A victory in this game and they’ll be in first place either by themselves or tied with Boston (depending on the outcome of the Sox’s home game against Seattle). The last week has been an absurd outburst by the Toronto offense. In their last seven games they’ve scored a total of 65 runs an average of 9.28 runs per game over the past week. Even more amazing–the Jays were shut out by the Phillies and Jerad Eickhoff in the first game of their midweek series in Philadelphia. Throw out that game and Toronto is averaging 10.8 runs per game.

Basically, if Toronto keeps hitting like this no one is going to beat them but the Orioles hope that inconsistent Yovani Gallardo can slow down the Blue Jay attack. Gallardo has started just four games this year and none since April 22. He pitched well in his first game of the year and poorly in his next three which landed him on the DL with shoulder soreness. He’s coming back to replace struggling Ubaldo Jimenez in the O’s rotation and Baltimore is hopeful that the time on the sidelines did the trick. He looked very solid in a rehab start with the team’s minor league affiliate in Norfolk early this week. Gallardo pitched five innings of one hit, one earned run baseball striking out five and walking two. He’s accuracy was encouraging–he threw 90 pitches, 52 of them strikes.

He’ll face knuckleballer R.A. Dickey who is also having a bizarre season. Dickey hasn’t pitched particularly well overall with a 4.16 ERA and a 1.316 whip. Toronto has lost 10 of his 14 starts. All four of his wins have come on the road, however, where the Jays are 4-3 in Dickey’s assignments and he’s got a 2.98 ERA. At home, Toronto is 0-7 on the year when Dickey takes the ball.

Dickey is a hit or miss pitcher and we’ve always liked Gallardo and hope he regains his form. But he’s stepping in front of a freight train in the form of the Toronto offense and their awesome performance of late means that Dickey just has to be slightly above mediocre for Toronto to win.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -115 OVER BALTIMORE ORIOLES