- The Toronto Blue Jays are -120 road favorites to beat the Boston Red Sox in an American League game slated for Thursday, April 21
- Toronto has won four of the last six games when facing Boston
- Below, see the Blue Jays vs Red Sox odds and best bets
The Boston Red Sox will be taking the field on Thursday at Fenway Park as a home underdog against the Toronto Blue Jays and that’s kind of a big deal.
The BoSox are home dogs for the second straight game, something that never happened once all last season. Boston was 5-4 straight up as a home underdog in 2021 but never played consecutive games as a home dog.
In fact, you have to go back to a three-game stretch from Sept. 18-20, 2020 when playing host to the New York Yankees to locate consecutive home games in which the Red Sox were not favored.
The Jays are the -120 chalk to topple the Red Sox on Thursday afternoon. Toronto downed Boston as the -120 road favorite on Tuesday. In fact, the Jays are 5-0 SU in their last five games as the road chalk at Fenway Park.
Blue Jays vs Red Sox Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Runline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Blue Jays | -120 | -1.5 (+135) | O 9.0 (-115) |
| Boston Red Sox | +100 | +1.5 (-155) | U 9.0 (-105) |
Odds as of April 20th at Caesars Sportsbook.
Sunday’s first pitch at the Fenway Park is set for 1:35pm ET. The forecast is calling for cloudy skies, 15 mph wind and a temperature of 56 degrees.
Gausman vs Houck
| 0-1 | Record | 1-0 |
| 4.22 | ERA | 3.00 |
| 4.04 | xERA | 5.58 |
| 1.41 | WHIP | 1.56 |
| N/A | SO/W Ratio | 1.17 |
There are some things to really like about Kevin Gausman’s first two starts for the Blue Jays. He’s struck out 14 in 10.2 innings without issuing a single walk. That’s why his strikeouts to walks ratio can’t be calculated, because he’s yet to issue a base on balls to a batter. Gausman also hasn’t surrendered a solitary home run. However, he has been touched for 14 hits and five earned runs.
In 20 career appearances against the Red Sox, including 15 starts, Gausman is 4-8 with a 4.53 ERA. Boston has his 17 homers off of him in 89.1 innings but only four of them came at home. In 11 games at Fenway Park, including seven starts, the righthander is 2-4 with a 4.57 ERA.
Kevin Gausman said the Red Sox showed zero interest in signing him this winter. Any talks? “Not at all.”
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 20, 2022
Getting the verdict in a 4-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins on April 16, righthander Tanner Houck has won his last two decisions. However, go beyond that small sample size and Houck has posted wins in just two of his last 20 MLB appearances after opening his big-league career 3-0 in his first three starts.
He’s 0-0 with a 2.35 ERA in two career starts against Toronto covering 7.2 innings. Houck is 3-4 with a 2.34 ERA in 12 career appearances at Fenway. Both his WHIP (1.08) and strikeouts to walks ratio (4.13) are solid in his home ballpark.
Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers
| Red Sox Batters | Batting Average vs Gausman | Blue Jays Batters | Batting Average vs Houck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Arroyo | 1.000 | Bo Bichette | .500 |
| Xander Bogaerts | .300 | Cavan Biggio | .000 |
| Jackie Bradley Jr | .100 | Matt Chapman | .000 |
| Bobby Dalbec | .000 | Zack Collins | .000 |
| Rafael Devers | .125 | Santiago Espinal | .000 |
| Enrique Hernandez | .000 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr | .500 |
| JD Martinez | .417 | Lourdes Gurriel Jr | 1.000 |
| Rob Refsnyder | .444 | Tyler Heineman | .000 |
| Travis Shaw | .167 | Gosuke Katoh | .000 |
| Trevor Story | .133 | Alejandro Kirk | .000 |
| Alex Verdugo | .000 | George Springer | .333 |
| Cristian Vazquez | .000 | Raimel Tapia | .000 |
| Connor Wong | .000 | Bradley Zimmer | .000 |
Red Sox utility man Christian Arroyo has only faced Gausman once but he made the most of it. Arroyo not only reached base safely, he drove in two runs in the process. BoSox designated hitter JD Martinez is 5-for-12 (.417) off of Gausman, with a homer and four RBI. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is 12-for-40 (.300) with a homer and five RBI. Second baseman/outfielder Rob Refsnyder is 4-for-9 (.444).
#RedSox come out swinging in the first, as J.D. Martinez puts them up 1-0 with an RBI single.
Jose Berrios isn’t fooling anyone. #DirtyWater| #MLB pic.twitter.com/MdkB0EAUQk
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) April 20, 2022
For Toronto, both first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr and shortstop Bo Bichette are 2-for-4 (.500) at the plate against Houck. Bichette has driven in a run.
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Blue Jays vs Red Sox Prediction
The Red Sox haven’t lost two in a row since opening the season 0-2. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays haven’t won two in a row since opening the season 2-0.
Once Tanner Houck settled in, nobody was gonna touch some of the filth he was chucking up there. So nasty. pic.twitter.com/Qu0fmZLQJG
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) April 16, 2022
Toronto is 5-2 SU when scoring at least four runs. The Jays are also 7-3 SU in their last 10 at Fenway when they’ve scored four or more runs. Houck, though, has never given up more than three runs in any of his 23 career big-league appearances.
Pick: Boston Red Sox moneyline (+100)
The post Blue Jays vs Red Sox Odds and Picks (April 21) appeared first on Sports Betting Dime.
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