Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees – 9/8/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction
2020-09-08 18:37:00 EDT
The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays meet Tuesday in MLB action from Sahlen Field.
This will be the second installment of a three-game series between these AL East teams this week. In the opener on Monday, the Yankees had a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but the Blue Jays exploded for 10 runs and stormed to a huge comeback victory 12-7. Check back all season long for free MLB picks and MLB predictions at Sports Chat Place.
The Yankees bullpen struggled again on Monday in the loss, as Chad Green and Adam Ottavino combined for just 0.1 innings, five hits, four walks and nine earned runs. Luke Voit, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar each hit solo homers in the defeat.
For the Tuesday starting pitcher role, New York will send JA Happ to the mound. Over five starts this year, Happ is 1-1 with a 4.68 ERA and 15 Ks in 25.0 innings. Happ is a career 4.00 pitcher with a 122-91 record and 1512 strikeouts in 1717.0 innings of work.
Over on the Blue Jays’ side, they survived a shaky outing from starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu on Monday, as he went 5.0 innings with six hits and five earned runs. Lourdes Gurriel managed three hits with a run and an RBI to lead the offense in the victory.
In Tuesday’s starter job, the Blue Jays are going with Taijuan Walker. Over seven starts this season, Walker is 3-2 with a 3.26 ERA and 33 Ks in 38.2 innings of work. Walker is 34-33 in his MLB career with a 3.90 ERA and 511 Ks in 567.0 innings total.
The Yankees are 65-32 in their last 97 versus the American League East and 1-4 in their last five during game two of a series. The under is 4-1 in New York’s last five during game two of a series and they’re 2-10 in their last 12 road games.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are 4-0 in their last four during game two of a series and 8-3 in their last 11 games as a favorite. Toronto is 16-7 in their last 23 overall and the over is 4-1 in their last five Tuesday games.
Pick: Might as well go Blue Jays here. The Yankees have been in a free-fall over the last week or two. The team has lost a lot of close games due to bullpen breakdowns, bad starts, poor offense, or a combination of the three. I expect Happ to come out with another okay outing, and Walker should be able to hang in there as well. Toronto’s opportunistic hitters should be able to take care of the rest as the game progresses. It’s a different AL East than we thought it would be.
