Pitchers Duel
A.J. Burnett often needs every run the Toronto Blue Jays can muster, while Daisuke Matsuzaka can make do with much less from the Boston Red Sox.
Matsuzaka looks to win his fifth straight start and Burnett will try for his sixth win in a row when the Red Sox and Blue Jays play the decisive game of their three-game series Sunday.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Boston -135 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 8.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 81% of bets for this game have been placed on Boston -135 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-2, 2.77 ERA) and Burnett (16-9, 4.51) rank among baseball’s wins leaders, with both getting outstanding run support. Matsuzaka, though, hasn’t required nearly as much help as Burnett has this season.
The Boston right-hander has gotten an average of 6.04 runs to work with this year, but he’s posted a 1.73 ERA en route to winning his last four starts for the Red Sox (74-55). He’s unbeaten on the road in 2008, going 7-0 with a 2.17 ERA and a .172 opponents’ batting average.
Matsuzaka allowed two runs and six hits while striking out six in five innings as Boston beat Baltimore 7-2 on Tuesday night. The win was the 30th of his career, the most by a Japanese-born pitcher in his first two major league seasons.
Matsuzaka is 3-1 with a 4.02 ERA in five starts against the Blue Jays (67-62). He’ll be trying to shut down a Toronto team that collected 16 hits in an 11-0 win Saturday in the middle game of this series, and will be matching up with a pitcher who has gotten an average of 5.14 runs of support this year.
Burnett has won six straight starts despite giving up four runs three times over that span, and his ERA has ballooned after he kept it under 4.00 the previous four seasons. Burnett, though, has been outstanding at home, winning eight straight starts at Rogers Centre with a 2.63 ERA during that stretch.
Burnett has gotten an average of 6.61 runs to work with in 13 starts and one relief appearance in Toronto.
The right-hander was dominant again at Rogers Centre in his last outing. He gave up one run and five hits with a season-high 13 strikeouts in eight innings as Toronto beat New York 2-1 on Tuesday night.
A.J. Burnett is 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in five starts versus Boston. He’ll have a good chance to remain unbeaten versus the Red Sox if the Blue Jays can build on their solid Saturday at the plate.
Vernon Wells hit two home runs and Marco Scutaro added a solo shot as Toronto tied up this series and earned its seventh win in 10 games against Boston this season.
"A lot of the time, especially at this time of the year, it’s not always who has the best team, it’s who’s playing well at the time," Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay said. "Those guys are playing very, very well right now."
Wells went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and scored four times after entering the game batting .172 (9-for-34) versus Boston this season.
"It couldn’t go anywhere but up," said Wells, who’s 2-for-14 against Matsuzaka.
Boston went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position after averaging 6.9 runs in its previous 15 games.
Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew (back) missed his fifth straight contest. His status for Sunday’s game is uncertain.
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