MLB Baseball - Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays (+130, 9) 7:00 PM ET
Dice-K is 1-1 and has fanned 14 batters while only walking two in fourteen innings of work. The Japanese product had no problem with inferior Kansas City line-up, but left several pitches over the plate in home debut and better Seattle hitters took advantage.
Toronto figures to be even another step-up averaging 5.6 runs a game with a .294 team betting average, tops in the American League. The Blue Jays are far from healthy with 3B Troy Glaus, LF Reed Johnson and closer B.J. Ryan all now on the DL.
Boston lost a game to weather, yet still swept the Angels in impressive fashion. The Red Sox allowed just 3 runs in the three games while compiling 25 themselves against a supposed stronger L.A. bullpen.
David Ortiz as expected was a big part of the offense batting .500 with four extra base hits. In his career he is Blue Jays nemesis with 26 homers in 95 games, second most against any team he has faced. "Big Pappy" especially likes the Rogers Centre with 17 long shots, which is just about one every ten at bats.
Gustavo Chacin will be Boston mound opponent, who is 5-0 in seven career starts versus the BoSox. His pitching skills have not necessarily contributed to his record, as his 4.29 ERA and 1.598 WHIP are ordinary.
The left-hander has instead been a good luck charm for Blue Jays batters who have scored better then 9 runs a game in his starts. Chacin features a cut fastball with deceptive delivery making him tough to pick up. His velocity is middle of the road and has little margin for error.
With two important bats out of the line-up, Toronto is a +130 home underdog, with a total of U9 (-120) at sportsbook.com. Chacin is known as a fast starter and is 8-0 against the money line in home games in the first half of the season over the last two seasons and 10-1 on home artificial turf. (Blue Jays record).
Boston has enjoyed little success on the fake grass and is 6-17 (-15.1 Units) on the ML in games played on artificial turf. As the Red Sox proved, don't let them get into your bullpen, as they are 12-3 vs. a very good bullpen whose ERA is 3.33 or better over the last two seasons.
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