Larry Ness
Play on: Blue Jays -1.5
The Oakland Athletics are coming to the end of their season-opening 10-game road trip with a Sunday afternoon meeting in Toronto with the Blue Jays. Cristian Pache's two-run HR in the ninth inning gave the Athletics a 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays on Saturday, after the Jays had won 4-1 on Friday. The A's would love to finish their road trip 6-4 but that would take a win here in the rubber match of this three-game series. The Athletics face a difficult task on Sunday when they send out right-hander Adam Oller (0-0, 33.75 ERA) against Toronto right-hander Alek Manoah (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
Oller made his major-league debut on Tuesday and did not factor in the decision in Oakland's 9-8 loss to Tampa Bay, a contest in which he allowed five runs, five hits and three walks, while lasting only 1.1 innings. As for Manoah, his first start of the season was an impressive one, as he held the host New York Yankees to one hit and four walks while striking out seven in six scoreless innings of a 3-0 Toronto victory. BTW...Toronto was 16-4 in Manoah's 20 starts last season, giving him MLB's 9th-best moneyline mark (+$806).
Many feel as if Toronto is "the team to beat" in the AL East this season and I would agree. However, the Jays are off to a modest 5-4 start in 2022 and following this game, will play their next 16 games against the Red Sox (7), Astros (6) and Yankees (3). Lay the 1 1/2-runs.