Cleveland Indians vs Toronto Blue Jays MLB Odds, Betting Preview 9-6-18
MLB on Thursday evening and the Cleveland Indians will pay a visit to the Rogers Center in Toronto to grapple with the Toronto Blue Jays. This is game one of four-game series and has a start time of 7:07 pm ET. The Blue Jays took two of three from the Tribe in Cleveland earlier in the year.
Lines: Cleveland -152… Toronto +142… Over/Under 9.5
Pitching Matchup
Toeing the rubber for the Indians will be Shane Bieber and he has gone 8-3 with a 4.66 ERA in 15 starts in this his first year in the league and 4-0 with a 4.44 ERA in eight starts on the road. This will be his first meeting with the Jays. Bieber was 6-1 with a 1.47 ERA in 13 starts for Akron (AA) and Columbus (AAA) this year.
The Jays will trot out Sam Gaviglio and he has gone 3-7 with a 5.02 ERA in 21 games (19 starts) on the year, including 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) here at home. In his career, he has gone 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 13 games (nine starts) here at the Rogers Centre and 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in four games (two starts) during Sept/ Oct. THis will be his first meeting with the Indians.
A Look At The Indians
The Cleveland Indians have very little to play for at the moment. They cannot really hurt or help their seeding the rest of the way and they have gone just 6-8 over their last 14 games. The rally doesn’t want to head into the postseason with some negative momentum, so they need to get back on track down the stretch. They will hope to against a Toronto team that is just playing out the stretch. The Indians come in leading the American League Central by 16 games over the Twins, but they have gone just 11-13 against the American League East this year.
The Indians did lose game one of their series with the Royals, but they bounced back to win the final two games. They took game two by a score of 9-3 and then they followed it up with a 3-1 win on Wednesday night. Corey Kluber had another very solid outing as he allowed just one ER on two hits and one walk while striking out in 6.1 innings of work. He is now 18-7 with a 2.75 ERA on the year and could be headed for a Cy Young award, especially with Chis Sale on the DL. The Indians have gone 35-32 on the road and have averaged 4.57 rpg and have allowed 3.87 rpg in those games.
A Look At The Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays have not had a good season at all. They are currently 13 games under .500 and 33 games out of first in the American League East. Yikes. They recently had a five-game winning streak, but have followed that up with going just 3-6 over their last nine games. The Pitching has been a real issue for them of late as they come in with a 6.38 ERA over their last 10 games. That includes an ERA of 8.40 from their starters over that stretch. That just won’t get it done and now they are taking on one of the best offenses in the league. Good luck with that.
They do enter this game off a solid 10-3 home win over the Rays and have now gone 7-3 in their last 10 games at home. They had lost the first two games of that series and scored a total of 1 run in those games. Aledmys Diaz led the attack with two hits and three RBIs, while Lourdes Gurriel had three hits and an RBI. Billy McKinney (4), and Diaz (17) both went deep in the game for the Jays. Aaron Sanchez picked up the win after allowing three ERs on six hits and two walks while striking out eight in 6.0 innings of work. He is now 4-5 with a 5.17 ERA on the year. The Jays have gone 35-35 here at home for the year and they have averaged 4.49 rpg and have allowed 4.79 rpg in those games.
Trends
Cleveland is:
9-2 in their last 11 road games vs. a right-handed starter
82-31 in their last 113 vs. a team with a losing record
1-4 in their last 5 vs. American League East
The Under is 17-4 in Indians last 21 on astroturf
Toronto is:
7-3 in their last 10 home games vs. a right-handed starter
7-3 in their last 10 home games overall
1-5 in Gaviglios last 6 starts after scoring 5 runs or more in their previous game
The Over is 13-5 in their last 18 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30
