Marco Estrada will be on the mound on Friday searching for his first win since May 27 as the Toronto Blue Jays open a critical three-game Canada Day weekend series with the Boston Red Sox as -147 home favourites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Estrada is 0-4 over his past five starts, surrendering six or more earned runs on three occasions, and takes a 4-6 overall record into Friday night’s Red Sox versus Blue Jays betting matchup at Rogers Centre.
The right-hander has allowed 26 earned runs in 23.1 innings pitched this month, but showed improvement in his last start, scattering three earned runs over seven innings in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 loss in Kansas City as -117 chalk.
The 2016 all-star has received little run support, with Blue Jays batters tallying more than three runs just once in his past seven starts. Toronto has also scored more than three runs just once in Estrada’s past six starts against the Red Sox, including a 4-1 loss as a +167 home underdog on April 20, a game in which Estrada threw six scoreless innings.
[relatedlinks]
Blue Jays bats remained silent on Thursday in their fifth defeat in their past seven games, a 2-0 loss to Baltimore as -190 chalk that dropped them to 8-11 against AL rivals at home this season and sunk them deeper into the AL East basement with a 37-41 record, 6.5 games back of first-place Boston.
The Red Sox travel to Toronto after taking three of four from the Minnesota Twins this week, capped by a 6-3 win as -190 home favourites on Thursday, and are a solid 5-2 in their past seven outings at Rogers Centre.
On Friday, Doug Fister makes his second start since being claimed off waivers by the Red Sox last week. Fister took the loss in his Red Sox debut, a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels as -161 home chalk, but threw six scoreless innings in the Houston Astros‘ 2-1 win over Toronto last August.
Things get no easier for the Blue Jays when they open a three-game series with the Yankees in New York on Monday, followed by a four-game weekend set with the MLB-leading Astros.
The Blue Jays are 1-5 in their past six dates at Yankee Stadium, and were outscored by a 26-12 margin while splitting a four-game home series with New York earlier this month.
Toronto has enjoyed recent success against Houston, going 8-2 over their past 10 meetings, but will face a red-hot Astros squad that is 21-4 in its past 25 games on the road according to the OddsShark MLB Database.
[relatedlinks]
