The Toronto Blue Jays host the Texas Rangers on Friday evening in the opening game of a three-game set at the Rogers Centre that marks the return from the All-Star break for both sides. <\/p>\n
Texas Rangers (38-57) at Toronto Blue Jays (49-47)<\/strong>
\nDate: Friday, July 18, 2014<\/strong>
\nTime: 7:07 p.m. ET<\/strong>
\nVenue: Rogers Centre<\/strong>
\nCity: Toronto, Ontario, Canada<\/strong>
\nO\/U Odds: 7.5<\/strong>
\nMoney Line: Texas -114, Toronto +105<\/strong>
\nPitching Matchup: RH Yu Darvish (8-5, 2.97 ERA) at RH R.A. Dickey (7-9, 3.82 ERA)<\/strong>
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A terrible first half has seen the Rangers\u2019 playoff hopes slip away, while the Blue Jays are seeing theirs fade away after they struggled to carry their opening pace into the All-Star break.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays have seen their lead in the AL East twindle, and it won\u2019t be easy to turn things around with Edwin Encarnacion not expected back until August. The Rangers\u2019 situation isn\u2019t any better.<\/p>\n
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They\u2019re 19 games under .500 and are riding an eight-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays had sat at 38-24 with a six-game lead in the A.L. East on June 6, but have gone 11-23 since then, and find themselves four games behind Baltimore for the division lead. Injuries have decimated the team\u2019s roster, particularly their right-handed bats, leading to the team\u2019s struggles against left-handed pitching.
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\nNow they\u2019ll face Yu Darvish, who has struggled of late, posting a 5.40 ERA over his last five starts.<\/p>\nIn his last outing, he gave up six runs and a season-high 10 hits in six innings of work in a loss against the Houston Astros on July 9.<\/p>\n
In six career starts against the Blue Jays, Darvish is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 41 innings of work. His counterpart in this one, R.A. Dickey, went 1-2 in his final three starts before the break, but compiled a 1.71 ERA in those outings, in which he received just five runs of support.<\/p>\n
Dickey\u2019s been better at home, as have the Blue Jays, but they went into the break with some real concerns on offense, and coming back from an extended layoff to face Yu Darvish certainly won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n
As for the Rangers, they actually did a better job of hitting the ball leading into the break than the Jays did, which doesn\u2019t bode well for Dickey.<\/p>\n
With that said, both teams are sending their aces out to oppose offenses that haven\u2019t been firing on all cylinders of late. While this is a low number considering the teams and the ballpark, these teams have played to unders with pretty fair regularity in recent matchups.<\/p>\n
The Rangers are 14-5 in Darvish\u2019s last 19 starts as a favorite, while the Blue Jays are 3-13 in their last 16 games as an underdog.<\/p>\n
The under is 13-3-1 in Darvish\u2019s last 17 starts against A.L. East opponents, 6-1 in Dickey\u2019s last seven starts overall, and 7-0 in the last seven meetings between these teams.<\/p>\n