David Price will be going for his fourth-consecutive win at the Rogers Centre Wednesday night, but his dominance against the Toronto Blue Jays may be curbed by his current hiccups.
Price looked ugly in his last start against the Boston Red Sox, a 12-2 massacre that chased him after three innings. He gave up three runs on four hits in the shortest outing of his career.
“I felt good,” he told the team’s website. “I just didn’t have it. That’s part of it. I’m going to have 33, 34 starts this year, and there are going to be some when I don’t have it. My body felt good, my arm felt good. It just wasn’t there…my fastball location wasn’t really where I wanted it and that’s my biggest thing. That’s what I’ve got to have.”
He’s had it against Toronto in the past. The lefty is 9-2 with a 2.06 ERA lifetime against the Blue Jays and struck out a career-high 14 batters the last time he was at the Rogers Centre last August.
But Bovada is actually favoring Toronto in this one because of Branden Morrow’s success against Tampa Bay. The righty has struck out 49 batters in his last 40 innings against the Rays, and is 4-2 with a 2.25 ERA in his last six meetings. Tampa Bay has a .148 batting average against him in that span.
Toronto manhandled the Rays last night with homers by Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie. Bovada’s MLB Team Props page expects a similar output by the Blue Jays’ bats. Tampa Bay third baseman had a miserable day in the field, fumbling a career-worst three errors.
“It was a rough day,” he said. “I’m just trying to make an aggressive play. Tonight it just happens to not work out three times…A lot of it lies on my shoulders.”
Tampa Bay has been sliding as of late. It started the year with a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees, but have dropped six of its last eight, scoring just 23 runs in that span.
Bovada is favoring Morrow and the Blue Jays by 1 1/2 runs, with a -120 moneyline.