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The Toronto Blue Jays take on the Oakland Athletics. Check out our MLB odds series for our Blue Jays Athletics prediction and pick.
Yusei Kikuchi takes the hill for the Blue Jays, while Adrian Martinez goes to the bump for the Athletics.
Yusei Kikuchi has a 4.74 ERA, and he has had a very difficult year, particularly in June. He posted a 7.17 ERA for that month. Notably, however, he ducked in one good start before the month ended. Last week against the Rays on June 30, he pitched six strong innings, giving up just one run. Does this mean he has turned the corner, or was that an aberration? It's hard to say, but the Jays desperately need more from the former Seattle Mariner, who produced a 2.36 ERA in May but managed only a 5.52 ERA in April. He had one really good sequence of starts this year, but that didn't last. Has he found something in his technique from that June 30 outing versus Tampa Bay? We'll find out here in Oakland, where Toronto will try to snap a four-game losing streak, its second-longest skid of the season. The longest was a five-game skid in the first half of May.
Adrian Martinez has made only two starts this season for the A's. His first was on May 10, and he pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings versus the Tigers. His second start was on June 30 against the Mariners. Seattle shredded him for seven runs in 4 2/3 innings. That's all we have to work with in terms of Martinez's 2022 performances. That's a very small sample size. We'll see how he adjusts to last week's rough ride in the Pacific Northwest. Cole Irvin got his first win in roughly two months against the Blue Jays on Monday. That was unexpected. Can Martinez give the A's another unexpected victory against Toronto?
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Blue Jays-Athletics MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Blue Jays-Athletics Odds
Toronto Blue Jays: -1.5 (-110)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-110)
Over: 8.5 (-110)
Under: 8.5 (-110)
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Why The Blue Jays Could Cover the Spread
After losing four straight, the Jays are bound to play a good game. They had a very nasty weekend against the Rays, with Kevin Gausman getting injured on Saturday and the team learning about the death of Julia Budzinski, the daughter of Toronto coach Mike Budzinski, later that day. The team has been playing with a weight on its shoulders. The long flight to the West Coast has brought back memories of disastrous Western road trips in the recent past. Toronto should be ready to mentally reset. It is a far better team than Oakland, and the A's are not throwing one of their particularly good pitchers at the Jays in this game.
Why The Athletics Could Cover the Spread
After winning on Monday and giving Cole Irvin his first win in roughly two months, the A's should come to the Oakland Coliseum with a spring in their step. They are 2-2 against the Blue Jays this year, so they shouldn't think they're dramatically outclassed. Toronto has lost four straight and has fallen into another funk, just when it seemed the Jays were beginning to stabilize and secure their wild card position in the American League. Toronto is unsteady and ripe for the plucking in this game. Yusei Kikuchi certainly doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, either.
Final Blue Jays-Athletics Prediction & Pick
If you don't trust Kikuchi but you also don't want to pick the A's, simply go with the over here.
Final Blue Jays-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Over 8.5
