The Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox meet in the final game of their three-game AL East division set in MLB action from Fenway Park on Sunday. Can Toronto complete the three-game sweep? Or will Boston salvage a much-needed win? Let’s dive in and find out.
Toronto Takes Advantage Of Boston Blunder
The Toronto Blue Jays were in a back and forth affair with the BoSox on Saturday, but eked out a 5-4 win thanks to a game-saving catch at the wall by Kevin Kiermaier and some bad baserunning from Reese McGuire. The win lifted Toronto to 62-50 on the year, 2.5 games clear with the final AL Wild Card spot, and 7.5 games back in the AL East division race. Bo Bichette leads the Jays with 144 hits and a .321 batting average along with 17 home runs, but is day-to-day with knee inflammation while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has a team-high 18 home runs and 69 RBIs this season. Matt Chapman’s also contributed a team-best 34 doubles for Toronto as well as having the unfortunate distinction of leading the Jays with 130 strikeouts on the year. Chris Bassitt will start for Toronto here and is 10-6 with a 5.00 ERA and 125 strikeouts this season.
Toronto Blue Jays Team Facts
- The underdogs have won each of the Blue Jays’ last six games at Fenway Park.
- The Blue Jays have covered the run line in each of their last 10 games as underdogs after playing the previous day.
- The Blue Jays have led after 3 innings in each of their last four games as underdogs.
- The Blue Jays have led after 7 innings in each of their last nine day games at Fenway Park against AL East opponents.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Blue Jays’ last eight day games.
Boston Drops Heartbreaker On Saturday
The Boston Red Sox really could’ve used the win on Saturday against Toronto, but the baserunning errors ended up costing Boston, dropping the Red Sox to 57-53 on the year, 11.5 games back in the AL East race at the bottom of the division and 4 games back of Toronto for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. Masataka Yoshida leads the Red Sox with 116 hits and a .307 batting average with a .366 OBP while Rafael Devers has a team-high 26 home runs and 79 RBIs. Jarren Duran’s also added a team-best 32 doubles and 23 stolen bases this season. Brennan Bernardino will start for the Red Sox here and is 1-1 with a 2.72 ERA and 42 strikeouts this season.
Boston Red Sox Team Facts
- The underdogs have won each of the last nine games between the Blue Jays and Red Sox.
- The Red Sox have failed to cover the run line in each of their last 12 day games against AL East opponents following a loss.
- The Red Sox have lost the first inning in three of their last four games as favourites.
- The Red Sox have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last five games as favourites against American League opponents.
- The Red Sox have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last six day games.
Matchup/League Facts
- The Boston Red Sox ranks T1st in the league for doubles this season (241).
- The Boston Red Sox are one of only 3 teams in the league to rank top 10 in both strikeouts and on-base percentage this season.
- The Toronto Blue Jays ranks 2nd in the league for strikeouts this season (1064).
- The Toronto Blue Jays ranks 3rd in the league for hits this season (999).
Chris’ Pick
I’m looking at the Blue Jays here. Bassitt hasn’t been a pitcher I’ve gone out of my way to back when he’s on the road, but Toronto’s been the better team in this series and this looks to be a bullpen game and a ton of Boston’s relievers have already been taxed with a big workload as of late. I just think that Toronto has been getting it done when they need to and Boston’s just fallen flat in this series, so give me the Blue Jays here.
