The Toronto Blue Jays managed to keep pace in the rugged AL Wild Card chase with a dramatic extra-innings win over the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. These two division rivals will be back at it again on Wednesday, with first pitch from Camden Yards set for 7:05 p.m. ET. The Jays will send slumping ace Kevin Gausman (9-7, 3.24 ERA) to the mound, while Jack Flaherty’s late scratch means that Dean Kremer (11-5, 4.50) gets the ball for the O’s tonight.
Toronto enters as -135 favorites on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, with Baltimore at +114. The run total is set at 8.
Blue Jays-Orioles picks: Wednesday, August 23rd
Injury report
Blue Jays
Out: SS Bo Bichette (right patellar tendinitis), RP Trevor Richards (neck inflammation), OF Kevin Kiermaier (right elbow laceration)
Orioles
Out: RP Danny Coulombe (biceps), OF Aaron Hicks (back), RP Keegan Akin (back)
Starting pitchers
Kevin Gausman vs. Dean Kremer
Gausman was looking like a Cy Young frontrunner entering the month of August, but it’s been a bumpy road over the last few weeks. The righty blanked the Guardians over seven innings back on August 9, but that was sandwiched by 10 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits over 9.2 innings in his other two starts this month. Of course, this is part of the deal with Gausman: He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, but when he doesn’t quite have the feel for his splitter, some crooked numbers can follow. (He’s had outings of six, seven and eight runs this season.) Gausman has faced the O’s once already this year, throwing eight innings of two-run ball back in late May.
This was originally supposed to be Flaherty’s start, but the recently-acquired righty was mysteriously scratched this morning. Kremer will take his place tonight, looking to build on his 3.44 ERA in the month of August. The righty threw seven impressive innings against the Astros a couple of weeks ago (six hits, two runs), then followed that up with another quality start against the Padres last week. It’s not the most electrifying arsenal, but he throws lots of strikes and lets his defense make plays behind him.
Over/Under pick
Last night’s game was tied at three after nine innings, and I’m expecting another relatively low-scoring affair tonight. We’ve seen Gausman bounce back from rocky outings before — against these same O’s earlier in the year, in fact — and nothing about his stuff suggests there’s any real reason to be concerned. Kremer isn’t anything special, but this is a Jays offense that ranks 24th in team OPS against righties this month, while Camden Yards is a very unfriendly place for righty power.
Pick: Under 8
Moneyline pick
Neither of these teams seem liable to put up a ton of runs, which means we’re likely heading to another tense affair in the later innings. The O’s fell short in that spot last night, but in a toss-up situation, I’ll take the team with plus odds — and the better back-end bullpen options.
Pick: Orioles +114
