A pair of AL East Wild-Card contenders open an important series at Fenway Park on Thursday as the Baltimore Orioles visit the Boston Red Sox in a rare one-game series. Boston needs it more, as it is only on the fringes of the Wild-Card chase.

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Orioles vs Red Sox Game Information

Pregame shots for your home screen ????#WallpaperWednesday | @NewEraCap pic.twitter.com/WK2tJ0iEcH

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 10, 2022

• When: Thursday, August 11, 2022, 7:10 PM ET
• Where: Fenway Park, Boston, MA
• TV: MASN, NESN
• Radio: 98 Rock FM (Orioles) / WEEI 93.7 (Red Sox)
• Live Stream: MLB.tv
• MLB Odds: Orioles (+111) // Red Sox (-128)

Why bet on the Baltimore Orioles?

There are only two night games on Thursday’s schedule, and the other is the nationally televised Field of Dreams game between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds from Dyersville, Iowa.

The Oriole traded two very important players at the Trade Deadline in first baseman Trey Mancini, arguably the heart and soul of the team, and All-Star closer Jorge Lopez, but they just keep rolling along. Felix Bautista has taken over as the closer for Lopez and saved games against the Blue Jays on Monday and Tuesday.

Rougned Odor has become one of the clutch hitters in the American League, as of his 11 homers on the season, six have come in moments defined by Baseball Reference as high-leverage. He hit the go-ahead shot in the bottom of the eighth on Tuesday to beat Toronto. Save for the Yankees, the Orioles are .500 or better against every one of their division rivals.

It’s Austin Voth (2-1) for Baltimore. Voth gave up three earned runs over five innings and picked up the win in last Saturday’s victory over the Pirates. He allowed six hits, struck out five batters and walked one. Voth has proven to be a solid pickup, posting a 3.19 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 36:11 K:BB over 36.2 innings since the Orioles claimed him off waivers from the Nationals in early June.

Why bet on the Boston Red Sox?

Boston probably doesn’t have enough pitching to earn a Wild-Card spot, especially after losing presumed ace Chris Sale to a season-ending wrist injury recently. Sale broke his right wrist in a bike accident last week and underwent season-ending surgery Monday. The 33-year-old already had missed most of the season after a broken rib cage suffered during a lockout workout sidelined him until July 12. Following a scoreless, 2022 debut, Sale left his second start after two-thirds of an inning when a line drive from Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks fractured the pinky on his throwing hand and put him back on the injured list.

In recent days, the Red Sox had just started to gain hope that Sale would pitch again this season. Sale didn’t suffer any significant damage from the bike accident, other than the break of his non-throwing wrist. Since undergoing Tommy John surgery prior to the 2020 season, Sale has made just 11 starts during the regular season and three more during the ’21 postseason.

“You couldn’t make this up, right?” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. “We need to dispatch some people to go find whoever has the Chris Sale voodoo doll and recover it.”

Second baseman Trevor Story has been sidelined since mid-July due to what was eventually diagnosed as a hairline fracture in his right wrist. There remains no public timetable for his return to the Red Sox, but late August is possible.

Boston starts rookie Josh Winckowski (5-5) on Thursday and he’d never be on the big-league roster if not for so many injuries in the rotation. Winckowski (5-5) allowed a run on five hits and two walks while striking out four over five innings to earn the win over the Royals last Friday. Winckowski’s lone mistake resulted in a solo home run by Salvador Perez in the fifth inning and it was Winckowski’s second win in a row after he lost four straight starts in July. The right-hander owns a 4.68 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 32:18 K:BB through 50 innings.

Winckowski is the third Boston rookie to make at least 10 starts in a season since 2016, joining Tanner Houck in 2021 (13) and Brian Johnson in 2018 (13). He has thrown at least 5.0 innings in 8 of his 10 starts and is the first Red Sox rookie to do that since 2015, when Eduardo Rodriguez (18), Steven Wright (10), and Henry Owens (9) each did so.

Thirty-five of the Red Sox’s final 50 games are against AL East opponents: BAL (11), NYY (9), TB (9), and TOR (6). The Sox are 0-11-1 in series against AL East teams but 13-4-4 in series against all other teams.

Orioles vs Red Sox Betting Trends

• Baltimore is 7-1 SU in their last 8 games.
• Orioles are 5-2 SU in their last 7 games against Boston.
• The total went over in 6 of Baltimore’s last 8 games.
• Boston is 1-6 SU in their last 7 games.
• Red Sox are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games at home.
• The total went over in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games.

Orioles vs Red Sox Betting Prediction

Red Sox 5, Orioles 4.

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*All odds stated are subject to change without prior notice.