MLB Baseball
2012-06-08 - Toronto Blue Jays at Atlanta Braves
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Friday 8 June 2012 - First Pitch 7:35pm ET
12:35am (British Standard Time)
Preview
This is the first game of an Inter-League series between two teams who are in the leading contenders in their respective American and National League. The Atlanta Braves (32-25) finally return home and will look to get this series off to a good start as they take on the Toronto Blue Jays (30-27).
Atlanta have finally recovered from a eight game losing run and have gone 6-1 since, scoring 5.6 runs per game in those games. They should be full of confidence having swept the Miami Marlins in a three game series, including hit 4 Home Runs in one game last night.
The Braves will give the ball to Brandon Beachy who is 5-4 with a 1.87 ERA, although he has not recorded a win for three weeks. Atlanta haven't exactly blessed him with a lot of run support in that time, although Beachy is looking to get tighter with his command having walked 8 batters in his last two starts.
Beachy still has the lowest ERA in the Major Leagues and he has been even better at home where it is dropped to 0.96. The pitcher faces the Blue Jays for the second time in his career and he held them to 1 run here last season in a 5-1 Atlanta win.
He may have to face Edwin Encarnacion who is expected back in the starting line up having missed the games since being hit on Sunday. His condition has improved and he is expected to start and his 17 Home Runs and 43 RBIs will give the batting line up a boost.
Toronto may need a boost if Kyle Drabek doesn't improve from his last couple of starts. Drabek has a 10.24 ERA in his last two starts, both losses, and he is 4-6 with a 4.65 ERA this season as a whole. The pitcher's command has been struggling as he has issued 41 walks this season, the second most in the Majors, and he won't want to extend innings against this Atlanta team that has been scoring runs so heavily.
Head to Head
Atlanta completed a three game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays last season and that now means they have won 6 in a row against them overall, all of those coming at home.
Before those 6 straight wins here, the Braves had been beaten 4 in a row at home by the Blue Jays.
Prediction
I like what the Toronto Blue Jays have done this season so far, but the pitching edge is definitely in the favour of Atlanta and I think that will give them the edge to open this series with a win.
The Braves have also been scoring a lot of runs recently and they will be facing a pitcher that has struggled for command and has been giving up too many earned runs in recent games.
That should ease the pressure on Brandon Beachy for the Braves and he should be able to at least limit the Blue Jays to enough of an extent to lead the Braves to a win by a couple of runs.
The Pick :
Atlanta Braves 7-3 Toronto Blue Jays
