In the final game of the first half of the season for both teams, the Toronto Blue Jays are at the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. This is also the final game of a three-game series between the two teams. Toronto won the first game of the series, but then the Detroit Tigers combined for a no-hitter in the win on Saturday. Toronto snapped their four-game winning streak and is now 49-41 on the season. The win for Detroit was their 39th on the season, with 49 losses. Both teams are in third place in their respective divisions.
This should be a great baseball game to end the first half of the season. The Tigers are underdogs but come in at +110. Toronto is the favorite at -130. The total for this affair is set at 8.5 runs.
Toronto Seeking Offensive Power
The Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to be one of the best offensive teams in all of Major League Baseball coming into this game. But that’s been far from the case so far in 2023. In the Blue Jays’ last four losses, they are scoring just 2.5 runs per game. On the season, the Blue Jays are right in the middle of the pack in runs scored, with 406.
Bo Bichette is having a solid season for the Blue Jays. The slugging short stop leads the team with a .320 batting average and has crushed 15 shots. Vladimir Guerrero Jr is also having a fine season for Toronto, as he leads with 58 runs batted in. In the win on Friday, Whit Merrifield was the star with a home run and four runs batted in.
Chris Bassitt takes the ball for the Toronto Blue Jays. The 34-year-old from Ohio has made 17 starts this season, and his most recent was at Chicago. In that game, he went 6 innings, allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 5. Over his last three starts, Bassitt has struck out 21 batters.
Skubal gets the Ball
Tarik Skubal will make his second start of the 2023 season. Skubal is coming off the 60-day injured list after an elbow injury last August. In his first start back, Skubal went 4 innings and didn’t allow a hit. He struck out 6 batters in the game. The 26-year-old lefthander has struck-out potential, as late in the season a year ago, he went three games striking out a total of 21 batters over 18 innings.
Matt Manning was the starting pitcher for the game on Saturday, with Jason Foley and Alex Lange coming out of the bullpen. The Detroit pitching has been poor most of the season, ranking 23rd in runs allowed with just shy of 5 per game.
Offensively, the Tigers are anchored by Spencer Torkelson’s 12 home runs, with Jake Rogers adding 11. The Tigers as a team are hitting .231, which is 27th in baseball.
Tigers Win Back to Back
We like Skubal to keep the Blue Jays offense off balance here. Obviously, Toronto did not see the ball well on Saturday, and we expect that to continue on Sunday. Bassitt is a solid pitcher for Toronto, but look for Detroit to get enough to win this game on him. The bet for this game is the Detroit Tigers as underdogs. Take Detroit +110 over Toronto on Sunday.
