Boston Red Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 8/9/2018 Prediction & Odds
The Boston Red Sox are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Will they not only beat the Blue Jays on Thursday night but also cover on the runline?
Game Snapshot & Odds
913 Boston Red Sox at 914 Toronto Blue Jays
Thursday, August 9, 2018
7:07 p.m. ET, Rogers Centre
TV: BOS (NESN); TOR (SNET)
Public Betting Trends
Oddsmakers from online sportsbooks currently list the Red Sox as a -167 favorite. As of this writing, 76% of the betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Red Sox to beat the Blue Jays on the moneyline.
Red Sox Porcello dominates Yankees with 86-pitch complete game
Rick Porcello allowed one run in a complete-game one-hitter as part of a 4-1 win over the Yankees on Friday. Brilliant and efficient. Porcello needed just 86 pitches to get it done, 68 of them for strikes. That’s the fewest pitches needed in a nine-inning complete game since Corey Kluber threw one on 85 pitches during the 2014 season. Porcello threw first-pitch strikes to 23 out of the 28 batters he faced while striking out nine and walking none. He also hit Brett Gardner to begin the game, though he was quickly erased on a double play grounder. The only run scored on a solo homer from Miguel Andujar in the third inning. He retired the final 21 batters he faced. Porcello has now won three straight starts to improve to 14-4 on the year to go along with a 3.84 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. The Red Sox now lead the Yankees by 7 1/2 games in the AL East.
Blue Jays’ Borucki goes eight innings in defeating Mariners
Ryan Borucki allowed just an unearned run over eight innings in beating the Mariners for his first major league victory Friday. Borucki pitched well in five of his previous six starts, too, but he never eked out a win in any of those. He made quick work of the Mariners despite striking out just two in eight innings. His stuff is fine, but given that he’s not generating an abundance of swings and misses or groundballs (at least prior to tonight), he doesn’t figure to keep up his current pace. He’s still at least a streaming option against weaker offenses, though.
MLB Betting Trends
Boston
The Red Sox are 21-7 in their last 28 meetings with the Blue Jays in Toronto.
Toronto
The Blue Jays are just 8-24 in their last 32 games versus the Red Sox.
Prediction:
The Red Sox are red-hot overall and red-hot when Porcello pitches. They’re 9-1 in their last 10 games overall and 7-1 in his last eight starts. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are winless in their last five home games and have lost 18 of their last 22 games when facing an opponent with a winning percentage above .600.
The Pick: Boston Red Sox -1.5 (-105)
