Tuesday night begins a brief two-game interleague matchup of East teams as the Toronto Blue Jays (21-14) take on the Philadelphia Phillies (16-19). The Phillies will host this one at Citizens Bank Park, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 pm ET.
The Phillies are the favorites in this one playing at home. They are -138 to win, while the Blue Jays’ moneyline sits at +118. The runline features Toronto +1.5 (-178), and the over/under for total runs is 8.5.
Blue Jays Battling In Brutally Tough Division
The Toronto Blue Jays have the fourth-best record in the American League, yet they sit in third in the American League East. Playing in MLB’s toughest division, Toronto knows every win will be essential this season. As such, they will look to pick up the opening win Tuesday as they hit the road for the City of Brotherly Love.
Taking the ball for this game is righty Alek Manoah. In seven games, the 25-year-old is 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, and he has 31 strikeouts in 36.1 innings of work. After a tough start to the season, Manoah has given up just four earned runs in his last 17 innings of work.
Offensively, Toronto currently ranks fourth in the majors in scoring, averaging 4.94 runs per game. In their last three games, that average has jumped up to 7.33 runs.
Leading the offense thus far this season are infielders Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bichette is hitting .329/.371/.523 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. Guerrero has been similarly solid, hitting .318/.389/.530 with seven home runs and 21 runs batted in.
Phillies Trying To Break Through Slow Start
At 16-19, the Phillies sit in fourth place in the NL East, eight games out of first place. While they are just 4-6 in their last 10 games, they are 9-7 when playing at Citizens Bank Park. They will look to use their home field advantage to break through their slow start.
Phillies’ ace Aaron Nola will toe the rubber in this one. In seven games, he is 2-2 with a 4.64 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and he has 33 strikeouts in 42.2 innings. In his last outing, Nola gave up four earned runs over 6.1 innings of work in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Philadelphia’s offense has struggled a bit to this point. They rank just 20th in the majors in scoring, averaging 4.29 runs per game (4.00 at home).
The Phillies would really love to see shortstop Trea Turner take off. Acquired in the offseason, Turner is hitting .264/.306/.412 with just four home runs and nine runs batted in.
Since returning from injury, Bryce Harper has been strong, hitting .368/.455/.579 with a home run.
Take The Blue Jays To Win On The Road
Stemming back to previous seasons, Toronto is 14-5 in their last 19 road games against the Phillies and 5-1 in their last six games against the Phillies overall. They are 8-3 in their last 11 interleague matchups.
For Philadelphia, they are 1-6 in their last seven games, but they are 6-3 in their last nine home games. In four of their last six games, the OVER has hit for Philadelphia.
While both of the pitchers have ace-quality stuff, neither of their numbers look particularly strong. With that in mind, Alek Manoah has actually pitched pretty well as of late, and the Blue Jays’ offense has been far superior.
For that reason, there is a lot of value in taking the Blue Jays to win this one straight up at +118.
