Game: Toronto Blue Jays @ Los Angeles Angels
Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
Odds: Blue Jays +140, -165
Total: 7.5
The Angels have won three of their last four games and will now host Toronto for a three-game weekend series beginning tonight. Toronto is coming off a split of a two-game series with St. Louis. The Blue Jays won their previous two series over Cincinnati and Seattle, but they haven’t been hitting the ball as of late. Yesterday’s 8-1 win over the Cardinals was the first time in seven games that Toronto scored more than three runs.
Vladimir Guerrerro Jr. hit his first home run in a couple of weeks yesterday. He now has eight dingers on the season to go with 22 RBIs and a .263 batting average. George Springer also has eight homers. Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman each have six. Catcher Danny Jansen hit two homers yesterday to give him five for the season. Interestingly, Jansen has only played in 11 games due to injury and five of his nine hits this season are round-trippers.
The Blue Jays lineup will go up against the Angels ace – Shohei Ohtani. The L.A. right-hander is 3-2 on the season with a 2.82 ERA. Ohtani pitched well in each of his last two starts but did not get either decision. The Angels actually ended up losing both games despite Ohtani pitching six innings in each game and giving up a combined three earned runs.
The Angels have one of the most productive outfields in the majors. Mike Trout is an MVP candidate again coming off his injury from last season to light up MLB pitchers in 2022. Trout is hitting .319 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs. Brandon Marsh hits .273 and Taylor Ward is batting .370 with nine homers and 23 RBIs. Trout leads the majors in OPS. Ward was the leader but doesn’t qualify now since he has missed some time with an injury.
Hyun Jin-Ryu will take on the Angels lineup, which is fifth in the majors in scoring averaging 4.76 runs per game. Ryu has only made four starts because of injury this season. In his first two starts, he got rocked by Texas and Oakland. Ryu gave up 11 hits and 11 earned runs in a total of 7.1 innings across those two games. In his second two starts, he has been much better allowing just one earned run. Toronto won both of those games. Ryu is 1-0, but his ERA is 6.00.
Toronto has struggled on the road winning just two of its last nine road games. The Blue Jays are just 2-4 SU in the last six games against the Angels on the road. On the other end, the Angels excel at home. They are 15-9 overall for the season at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and they have won 12 of the last 16 games there.
With its offense lacking, the Blue Jays have seen the Under hit in eight of their last ten games. In the last five Blue Jays-Angels games, the Over is 4-1.