Top MLB Betting Picks of the Week – May 8th, 2023

More bad news for the disappointing White Sox as slugger Eloy Jimenez underwent an appendectomy on Saturday night at Cincinnati’s Good Samaritan Hospital and will miss 4-6 weeks. He was batting .258 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 25 games. Good player when he can stay healthy, which is rare. Here’s a look at two intriguing early-week matchups around the majors.

Top MLB Betting Picks of the Week (May 8th, 2023)

Tampa Bay and Baltimore are off to hot starts in 2023 and meet for the first time this week in a three-game series at Camden Yards. https://t.co/GVCDSbN3LY

— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) May 8, 2023

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles

• When: Monday, May 8, 2023, 6:35 PM ET
• Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
• TV: BSSUN, MASN
• Radio: 95.3 WDAE FM (Rays) // 97.9 FM (Orioles)
• Live Stream: MLB.tv
• MLB Betting Odds: Rays (-172) / Orioles (+149)

These are the top two teams in the AL East with the Rays leading the Orioles by 5.5 games. The Rays come off a stunning 8-7 home win in 10 innings over the Yankees on Sunday as New York led 6-0 in the fifth inning behind ace Gerrit Cole. The Rays scored six runs on six hits off Cole, including the first two home runs he had allowed this season. Cole had allowed just seven runs total in his first seven starts combined.

Baltimore comes off a second straight loss in Atlanta, 3-2 in 12 innings on Sunday. Baltimore setup man Yennier Cano, who didn’t allow a hit until his 12th inning of the season, faced the minimum in the eighth and ninth to keep his ERA at 0.00. The hard-throwing right-hander has struck out 19 in 17 innings over 12 games. Outfielder Austin Hays returned to the lineup and went 1 for 4 after missing the previous four games with an injured finger.

Kyle Gibson (4-1, 4.61) starts here for Baltimore. Gibson (4-1) took the loss against Kansas City last Wednesday, allowing six runs on 10 hits and no walks over 6.2 innings. He did not record any strikeouts. Gibson’s outing started well, as he gave up just one run over his first five frames. The Royals tagged him for another run in the sixth, but it was the seventh when things fell apart for the veteran. Gibson gave up four hits in that frame — including a double and a triple — and was charged with four runs by the time the inning was over. Gibson owns a 6-5 record with a 4.35 ERA (34 ER/70.1 IP) and two quality starts through his first 13 appearances against the Rays.

Baltimore is 11-0 in series openers this season, the only team to have won all of its Game 1s. The 11-game run is the longest to open a series in team history and tied for the third-longest streak by any MLB team with the 1883 and 1890 Philadelphia Athletics, 1959 Cleveland Indians, and 1973 San Francisco Giants, trailing a streak of 19 straight series-opening wins by the 1907 Chicago Cubs and a 12-game streak by the 1919 New York Giants. It is tied for the longest streak at any point in a season in O’s history, done three times prior: August 30 to September 30, 1974; May 23 to June 20, 1978; and May 16 to June 18, 1980.

Tampa Bay counters with ace Shane McClanahan. McClanahan (6-0) earned the win last Wednesday, allowing one run on five hits and two walks over six innings during an 8-1 win over Pittsburgh. He struck out nine. The left-hander has given up four homers over his past three starts after not allowing one through his first four outings, but he’s yet to give up more than two runs in a game through his first seven appearances. McClanahan has a 2.03 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and a 51:16 K:BB through 40 innings.

MLB Betting Pick: Rays

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies

• When: Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 6:40 PM ET
• Where: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
• TV: SNY, BSOH
• Radio: 96.3 Big FM (Blue Jays) // WIP 94.1 FM (Phillies)
• Live Stream: MLB.tv
• MLB Betting Odds: TBA

Will the Jays have superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the lineup? He missed a second straight game Sunday due to left wrist discomfort. Guerrero is batting .318 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 33 games this season. He has belted 111 homers in 537 games over four-plus big league seasons.

Toronto’s offense has racked up at least 10 hits on 15 occasions this year, 7th most among MLB clubs. Since the start of 2022, the Blue Jays have 80 such games, four more than any other team (ATL/BOS/COL – 77). The Blue Jays are one of just two AL teams who have scored a run in every game this season (also Angels). Toronto has gone 53 consecutive games without being shut out, the 2nd-longest active streak in the MLB behind the 76 in a row by the Angels.

The Jays will start right-hander Alek Manoah (1-2, 4.71) on the mound. Manoah took the loss against Boston last Wednesday, allowing five runs (two earned) on eight hits and one walk while striking out three batters over five innings. Manoah clearly didn’t have his best stuff, as he induced just three swinging strikes and tied a season low with three punchouts.

Still, he navigated through three scoreless frames before Toronto’s defense let him down. Two errors in the fourth — including one by Manoah himself — helped lead to two runs, and another error in the fifth opened the door for Boston’s three-run frame. It was the third time this season that Manoah gave up at least five runs in a start, though only two were earned Wednesday. Manoah has never faced the Phillies in the regular season but did see them in his final spring appearance on March 24, allowing one run over six.

Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola (2-2, 4.64 ERA) did not factor into the decision last Wednesday, allowing four runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings against the Dodgers. He struck out five. Nola pitched well for most of Wednesday’s outing, but his streak of three consecutive quality starts was snapped after Chris Taylor tripled in the seventh inning and scored on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Nola is 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA in four career starts vs. Toronto.

MLB Betting Pick: Phillies

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