Boston Red Sox vs Toronto Blue Jays 8/9/18 Odds, Preview and Prediction

With a seven-game lead over the defending champions Houston Astros and a wide 10 game lead over their division rival New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox are the best team in Major League Baseball right now.

The Toronto Blue Jays meanwhile are way off the pace of the leaders. Toronto is currently at 51-61 and are 28 games behind the Red Sox in the American East Leaderboard. Prior to this series, the Blue Jays won three out of four games on the road against the Seattle Mariners. But after winning the first three games in Seattle, Toronto has lost two in a row, including the 7-10 defeat to the Red Sox in their series opener.

Sweeping The Yankees

The Red Sox are red hot with nine wins in their last ten games. Boston is coming off a sweep of their division rival New York Yankees and including their win over the Blue Jays in the series opener, the Red Sox have won five in a row heading to this encounter.

Beating the Blue Jays in the opener wasn’t easy though as the hosts put up a good fight. Boston trailed 1-3 in the 8th inning when they scored four runs. Toronto answered back with a couple of runs to send the game to an extra inning. Boston’s class prevailed in the 10th as they pulled away with a 10-7 victory over Toronto.

Rick Porcello gets the start for the Red Sox on August 9th. The 29-year-old from Morrison, New Jersey has a record of 14-4 in 23 games with an ERA of 3.84 and a WHIP of 1.16. In his most recent start, Porcello was dominant against the Yankees as he allowed just one run on one hit with 9 strikeouts in a complete game victory.

JD Martinez is the main man for the Red Sox with his American League-leading 34 home runs and 97 RBIs. Martinez went 3-5 with a double and a homerun during Tuesday’s 10-7 win over the Blue Jays.

Rookie To Start On Thursday

After winning the first three games in Seattle, the Toronto Blue Jays dropped the final game of the series and then nearly stunned the Red Sox at home in the series opener. Toronto scored two runs in the 10th inning but the Red Sox offensive machine produced five over the same period to come away with the victory.

For the Blue Jays, rookie Ryan Borucki will start at the mound. The 24-year-old rookie has started only seven games this season and has a record of 1-2 with an ERA of 2.30 and a WHIP of 1.26.

The 475th pick of the 15th round in the 2015 MLB draft is coming off his first ever Major League win over the Seattle Mariners on 8/03/18. In that game, Borucki threw for 8 innings and gave up just one run on four hits and two strikeouts. In 43 total innings pitched, Borucki has given up 17 runs on 43 hits and 11 errors. He has also walked 11 and fanned 30 batters this season.

Justin Smoak leads Toronto with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs on a .256 batting average. The 31-year-old South Carolina Product was 2-4 with one home run during the Blue Jays’ 10-7 loss to the Red Sox in the series opener.

Who Wins?

The Blue Jays are 3-11 in their last 14 games played on a Thursday and are 4-17 in their last 21 games against an opponent with a winning record of at least .600. Toronto is also just 1-4 in their last five games against a right handed starter,

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are 5-1 in their last six Thursday games. More impressively, Boston is 39-12 in their last 51 Game 3s of a series and 38-13 in their last 51 games against American League East competitors. They have also won 11 of their last 13 head to head encounters against Toronto, including three of the last four.

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