Oakland @ TORONTO
Oakland +102 over TORONTO

BEST LINES: Pinnacle +102 Bet365 +100 SportsInteraction +100 5DIMES -105

Posted at 10:50 AM EST. 

7:10 PM EST. Francisco Liriano did his part last night but had it not been for a lucky throw by Ricky Martin to catch Rajai Davis for the first out of the first inning, the A’s may have scored a bunch in the first. That’s speculation but from that point forward, Liriano and the Jays pen threw a great game. However, the Jays offense remained stagnant and now Cesar Valdez is favored over Sonny Gray? That’s incorrect.

Valdez was claimed off waivers from Oakland (of all teams) by the Blue Jays on Friday, May 5. He made one start with the A’s back in April and has made four relief appearances for the Jays, all in a mop-up role. In 19 frames, this season, Valdez has been tagged for 23 hits with five of those leaving the yard. Valdez is no rookie. The 32-year-old Valdez was called up by the Athletics to make a spot start on that aforementioned date back in April and it was his first major league action since a couple of dozen innings all the way back in 2010 for Arizona. In the seven years since then, Valdez has bounced around teams (both MLB and foreign leagues), never reaching higher than Triple-A. Valdez doesn't have dominant stuff, of course, but he throws lots of pitches, including a fastball that barely reaches 90 mph and a change-up, a sinker and a slider. Still, there’s a reason he’s been riding buses and not airplanes since 2006. That this Aaron Sanchez desperate replacement is favored over Sonny Gray is a bit nuts.

Neck, shoulder and forearm injuries affected Sonny Gray’s playing time (10 weeks over 2 DL trips) last season. His control and hr/f ballooned sending his ERA, WHIP and opponent OPS soaring. Somehow, someway, Sonny Gray’s outstanding skills and rock solid season is not being recognized by this fickle market. Sonny Gray is the straight goods. His 3.51 xERA is elite. After a terrible 2016 (5.69 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) his improvement has been backed by significant growth across the board. Gray is striking out 8.4 batters per nine innings. His 55% groundball rate is a top six mark in the league. A huge increase in Gray's swinging strike rate (8.0% in 2016 to 12.8% this year) has helped to fuel his turnaround. Gray was outstanding prior to his injury and now he’s back to the form that instilled fear into the opposition but the market hasn’t responded. We’ve been touting Gray all year and will continue to get benind him as long as he remains underpriced like he is here.

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Our Pick

Oakland +102 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.04)

Baltimore -1½ +124 over L.A. Angels
San Francisco +100 over San Diego
Toronto +120 over Tampa Bay
Washington +135 over Cincinnati
San Diego under 83½ -105
Boston under 79½ -110