Orioles vs Red Sox MLB Betting + Handicapping Picks
The AL East is always competitive, but usually by this point in the season just two teams are battling it out for top honors.
BAL: Wei-Yen Chen (4-2, 3.75 ) v BOS: Josh Beckett (4-5, 4.26)
Date/Time: Wednesday, June 6, 7:10PM EST
Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Broadcast: MASN (Baltimore), NESN (Boston)
LINE: Boston -161
TOTAL: 9
This year however, it’s different as all five teams are separated by just a few games, including the newly overhauled Baltimore Orioles who will try to maintain their position while closing in on division-leader Tampa Bay when they play Game 2 of a three-game series at Boston on Wednesday.
Slumping Baltimore (30-24) entered Tuesday’s opener having dropped 10 of 13 to fall out of the division lead.
Orioles outfielder Adam Jones had only two home runs in his last 13 games – both coming in an 8-6 loss to Toronto on May 29 to begin the series as well. While the as a team had managed only 15 runs through the first six games of their nine-game trek and were 1-5 in that span.
The O’s will send out Wei-Yin Chen to try and compensate for the poor run totals over the last few weeks.
The 26-yeard lefty was unable to overcome a rough first inning during Friday night’s contest against the Rays, allowing five runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings in the 5-0 loss. However, he was able to settle down after that and retire the next 10 batters he faced before being pulled at 94 pitches. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Chen earned a no-decision in his lone start against the Red Sox this season, allowing three runs over five innings back on May 4
Meanwhile, the Red Sox came into the series after taking two of three from the host Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.
Boston (28-26) will counter with Josh Beckett. He may be catching the Orioles at the right time as he has just a 7-5 career record against them with a 4.25 ERA.
The 32-year old right-hander made it through the seventh inning for the fourth start in a row on Thursday against the Tigers, however he still picked up the loss in the game, 7-3. He struck out just one batter for the second time all season, dropping his strikeout-per nine innings number to a career-low 6.54.
Matt’s Free Prediction: Baltimore-I don’t think we will see many runs from either club in this one, so it’s going to likely be decided on the mound.
Even though Beckett has been pitching better since dealing with an oblique injury at the beginning of May, I look for Chen to go deeper than Beckett, which would then force Boston to rely on its anemic bullpen.
