Toronto Blue Jays (44-42) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (53-36)
July 11, 2021 1:10 pm EDT
The Line: Tampa Bay Rays +105 / Toronto Blue Jays -125; Over/Under: 8.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa bay Rays meet in an AL East division matchup in MLB action from Tropicana Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Toronto Blue Jays will look to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to the Rays on Saturday. Marcus Semien had a two-run home run to make up the scoring for Toronto in the loss while Reese McGuire, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Santiago Espinal all had doubles. Bo Bichette added a base hit as well as the Blue Jays had six hits as a team in the losing effort. Ross Stripling took the loss, falling to 3-5 on the year after allowing four runs on four hits while striking out five over 3.2 innings of work. Robbie Ray will start here and is 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA and 119 strikeouts this season. In his career, Ray is 0-2 with a 3.30 ERA and 39 strikeouts against Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay Rays will look to build on Saturday’s win over the Blue Jays with another strong performance here. Brandon Lowe led the charge, going 2 for 3 with a pair of home runs and three RBIs while Mike Zunino had a solo home run and Randy Arozarena added an RBI as well to cap off the scoring for the Rays. Kevin Kiermaier had a double as well while Joey Wendle and Austin Meadows each had a base hit as well to finish off the offense for Tampa Bay in the victory. Ryan Yarbrough got the win to improve to 6-3 on the year after allowing two runs on five hits while striking out four over five innings of work. Diego Castillo closed the 9th for his 13th save of the season. Rich Hill will start here and is 6-3 with a 3.65 ERA and 85 strikeouts this season. In his career, Hill is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA and 22 strikeouts against Toronto.
Toronto is 5-2 in their last 7 road games and 3-9 in their last 12 game three matchups while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games against a left-handed starter. Tampa Bay is 6-0 in their last 6 games overall and 39-14 in their last 53 games following a win while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 division games. The under is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.
I get the case that could be made for Toronto here, but I’m still not sure what to make of the Blue Jays if we’re being completely honest and as bad as the Rays have looked at times, they play their best ball at home and are rolling right now. Hill has looked pretty good in his recent outings. Give me the Rays in this one.
