The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 in the series opener last night at Fenway Park. Josh Beckett was hit hard and Aaron Laffey pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Blue Jays to the victory. <\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox MLB Betting Preview Matchup<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n These teams are close in the AL East standings, and both of them still have a remote shot at the wild card in the AL. Let\u2019s take a look at Saturday\u2019s matchup.<\/p>\n Toronto is playing without star Jose Bautista right now. Bautista injured his wrist earlier this week and will be out at least a couple weeks. Brett Lawrie has missed the last couple games with a calf injury, and he will likely miss Saturday night\u2019s contest as well. The Blue Jays rely heavily on the long ball. Toronto has the second most home runs in the majors. Without Bautista and Lawrie, the offense doesn\u2019t look near as strong. Edwin Encarnacion has had his best season as a major leaguer in 2012. He has 25 homers and 62 RBI\u2019s this year. Carlos Villanueva has quietly pitched very well for Toronto. He has a 4-0 record with a 2.68 ERA. \u00a0[dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n The Boston Red Sox have managed to average 5.03 runs per game this year despite multiple injuries. Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, and Dustin Pedroia are all back in the lineup now. Unfortunately, David Ortiz was placed on the disabled list earlier this week with a heel injury. Ortiz leads the team in almost every major offensive category so far in 2012, so that was a tough loss for the team. Adrian Gonzalez has heated up in a big way of late. Gonzalez is up to .295 after sitting below .260 for much of the season. Aaron Cook has been a pleasant surprise for the Red Sox. The team needed a starter, and Cook has had four consecutive solid starts.<\/p>\n Even though both of these pitchers have pitched very well in 2012, this looks like a matchup of offenses that should score a lot. Neither of these pitchers have been very good in the past couple years, and I think they are due for some regression.<\/p>\n
\nStarting Pitchers: Toronto (Villaneuva) vs. Boston (Cook)
\nDate\/Time: July 21, 7:10 p.m. EST
\nMLB Gambling Odds from Bookmaker
\nMoneyline: Boston (-145) Toronto (+125)
\nRunline: Red Sox -1.5 (+140) Blue Jays +1.5 (-160)
\nTotal: 10<\/strong><\/p>\n