Tampa Bay Rays (5-6) vs Toronto Blue Jays (6-4)
As this is being written Tampa is looking to even their series against Toronto and leading 6-2.
Thursday April 19
Rogers Centre – Toronto, ON
7:07PM
Moneyline: Toronto, -110, Tampa +120
O/U: 8.5
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeremy Hellickson (1-0, 3.29 ERA) vs. Blue Jays RH Henderson Alvarez (0-0, 2.77 ERA)
Tampa Bay
Both of these teams expect to be in the thick of things and this is an interesting matchup between two good young pitchers. Oddly the pitching for the Rays hasn’t been all that great this year. They have the second worst ERA in the majors and don’t have the kind of lineup to afford it with a team average of just .253 heading into last night.
Starter Jeremy Hellickson has picked up where he left off last year. He is pitching effectively despite command rates that would indicate otherwise leading many to wonder how much longer he can keep it up.
In his short career he hasn’t had a ton of success against Toronto and Jose Bautista, who is heating up, has lit him up in the past. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Toronto
The Toronto Blue Jays have blown a couple of opportunities but are still off to a pretty good start. Given all the question marks heading into the season it is hard to believe the Jays had the ninth best ERA in the league heading into Wednesday night. Add that to the third best offense (with lots of room to improve) and you have a team that could easily be in the playoff equation all season long.
Through two starts Henderson Alvarez has yet to record a decision. The most impressive part of his work to date has been that he has only walked two batters leading to a WHIP of under 1.00. He is still making his way through the league for the first time and this test will be a good indicator as his lone start against the Rays last year wasn’t a good one. Surprisingly his splits show that he favours pitching on the road.
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Toronto 5 – Tampa Bay 4
