The Toronto Blue Jays are in a tailspin and will need a strong outing from their ace to avoid getting swept by the Baltimore Orioles
The pregame narrative: Toronto has lost five of its past six games all to AL East opponents. But with Kevin Gausman on the bump, the Jays are sizeable -195 moneyline favourites as of Sunday morning. We’re expecting a big outing from Gausman and are also backing Bo Bichette to score.
Check out our top Orioles vs. Blue Jays prop bets for May 21.
MLB odds as of 9:03 a.m. ET on 05/21/23.
Orioles vs. Blue Jays prop bets
Best Bet : Gausman to record 6+ Ks and 19+ outs (+140)
With Alek Manoah stumbling to begin the season, Gausman has unquestionably become Toronto’s ace. Some would argue he always has been, but regardless, we’re expecting him to perform in a big spot.
The fireballing righty has been largely untouchable this year aside from two poor outings. Gausman gave up eight ER in 3.1 IP vs. the Red Sox on May 4 and seven ER in 4.2 IP vs. the Astros on April 17 — despite those hiccups, he still owns a respectable 3.27 ERA.
That’s because he’s allowed a combined nine ER in 47.0 IP across his other seven starts. Gausman recorded at least 6.1 IP in four of those games, including his last start vs. the Yankees at Rogers Centre when he fanned 10 batters across 7.0 innings.
Gausman’s ability to remain effective deep into games is a boon for Toronto. Check out his final strikeout against New York, where he blew a 97 MPH fastball by Isiah Kiner-Falefa to close the seventh inning:
Gausman has worked to or past this inning load (6.1 IP) in three of his last five starts and we’re confident he can put in another workmanlike performance today. It helps (our case, not the Blue Jays) that John Schnider accidentally pulled Manoah in yesterday’s start, using up some quality bullpen arms.
Gausman’s 77 strikeouts are tied for the second-most in all of baseball. He’s gone over this mark in seven of nine starts and is averaging 9.4 Ks per start over his last five.
Key stat: Gausman has at least 7.0 IP and 10+ Ks in all three of his starts at Rogers Centre.
Quick pick
Bichette to score 1+ run (-107) : Bichette hasn’t had much success hitting Orioles starter Dean Kremer (2-for-14) but he has a respectable .333 OBP across 18 plate appearances. Slashing .313/.356/.503 on the year, we’re expecting him to get on base today.
Bichette has only scored in three of his last 10 games but his 28 runs still lead the Blue Jays on the season. He’ll also have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. batting behind him and Vladdy is 6-for-16 vs. Kremer with four home runs.
Vladdy’s total bases prop is a solid bet (over 1.5 at -118) but we’ll take Bichette to cross the plate with less juice.
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