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Before Betting on Blue Jays vs Twins Aug 5

There’s an interesting pitching matchup in the Blue Jays vs Twins matchup on Friday night at Target Field. Jose Berrios – who Minnesota traded away at the 2021 deadline – makes his fourth career start against his former team while Tyler Mahle – acquired at the 2022 deadline – debuts for the Twins in his first career outing against Toronto.

The Blue Jays are slight favorites on the offshore odds for this matchup, coming off a 9-3 win in the series opener. That was the fourth win in the last five games for the Blue Jays who are making a slight run at the Yankees, now 10.5 GB in the AL East in a race that seemed all but over last month. Toronto won 12 of their last 15 games in July.

Minnesota was outhit 13-3 on Thursday night, with their bullpen imploding to allow a 3-run HR to Vlad Guerrero, Jr. as part of a 6-run 8th inning. Toronto improved to 9-3 since the All-Star break. The Blue Jays will look to add to that behind Berrios (8-4, 4.95 ERA) who makes his 65th career start at Target Field. Berrios pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball in a win over Detroit last time out, and Toronto has won 10 of his last 12 starts.

Mahle (5-7, 4.40 ERA) has to be reinvigorated going to a contender as Minnesota holds a 1 game lead over Cleveland and is up 2 on the White Sox in the AL Central. Mahle was 2-5 with a 4.76 ERA at the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark this year but was better with a 3-2, 3.83 mark in road games.

Offshore SportsbookMoneylineTotalRun Line
BetOnlineBlue Jays (-123) | Twins (+113)8.5Blue Jays -1.5 (+128) | Twins +1.5 (-148)
BovadaBlue Jays (-125) | Twins (+105)8.5Blue Jays -1.5 (+130) | Twins +1.5 (-150)
BetUSBlue Jays (-121) | Twins (+111)8.5Blue Jays -1.5 (+130) | Twins +1.5 (-150)
SportsBetting.agBlue Jays (-123) | Twins (+113)8.5Blue Jays -1.5 (+128) | Twins +1.5 (-148)
PinnacleBlue Jays (-124) | Twins (+114)8.5Blue Jays -1.5 (+125) | Twins +1.5 (-138)
MyBookieN/AN/AN/A

This feels like the beginning of the end for Twins fans, as they’ve held on to the lead in the AL Central for most of the year but are starting to falter as of late. Minnesota was 13-15 in June and 10-12 in July and their 55-50 record wouldn’t be leading any other division in baseball. Great value on the Jays here.