The Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays meet for a third baseball betting time this season, this time for a two-game series.
Time: 7:05 PM
Venue: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Sportsbook odds for fans who bet on MLB:
Rays +1½ (-160) 9 (EV) +129
Blue Jays -1½ (+140) 9 (-120) -139
Tampa Bay
On the mound: Jacob Faria (RHP, 1-0, 1.42 ERA, 5 K) will be making his second start following a debut in which he allowed the White Sox one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. Faria was 6-1 with a 3.07 ERA and 84 Ks at Triple-A Durham (of Bull Durham fame) this season.
At bat: Third baseman Evan Longoria hit his 250th career homer on Saturday versus the A’s, he becoming one of four players in the MLB with at least 250 home runs for a single team and joining the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista, who reached that milestone last season and currently has 276 home runs with the Toronto.
Trends for fans who bet on MLB: The Rays have won five of their last six games but only one fifth of their last five on the road. They have been a little more consistent when it comes to covering; or rather, to not covering – they are 3-7 against the spread in the last 10 games and 1-4 ATS in their last five road games. The baseball betting total has gone over in five of TB’s last five games and over in six of their last seven on the road.
Toronto
On the mound: Marco Estrada (RHP, 4-4, 4.04 ERA) has surrendered 11 earned runs in his last 9 1/3 innings.
At bat: Designated hitter Kendrys Morales belted out a 112.6 mph home run versus the Mariners on Saturday, his hardest-hit ball of the season as well as his second-hardest hit of the Statcast era. The ball traveled 439 feet. First baseman Justin Smoak has 18 homers in 62 games, two short of his career-best, set in 2013 with the Mariners. Smoak is poised to set the best slash line of his career, with personal highs in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Miscellanea: Toronto was five games under .500 when third baseman Josh Donaldson and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki returned from the disabled list on May 26th. The BJs have gone10-6 since then with a healthy left infield, winning two of three games with Seattle during the weekend to improve to their record to 31-32. Manager Kevin Cash recognized the threat that is Justin Smoak. “You look at what Smoak’s done this year for two months: He’s picked up a huge void while [Donaldson and Tulowitzki] are out,” he said. “But now that they’re back, they’re back to being really dangerous.”
Trends for fans who bet on MLB: The Jays are 17-14 this season at home, but have gone 11-18 against AL East foes. The baseball betting total has gone under in five of the BJs’ last seven times hosting the Rays.