Red Sox vs. Orioles Betting Line – June 10

Carrie Stroup here with your Red Sox vs. Orioles betting line for June 10                

Sportsbook.ag Line: Baltimore -115, Boston +105, Total: 8                                

The bottom two teams in the AL East, the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, do battle at Camden Yards on Wednesday night.                  

The Red Sox have been one of the more inconsistent teams in baseball and despite having some of the best offensive players in the league; have dropped to the bottom of the East. They have been looking pretty good of late, though, and after splitting four games with the AL Central leading Twins, they were able to sweep the Athletics at home while outscoring them 15-8. In the first game of this set, they were unable to keep up their momentum in a close 1-0 loss as the offense went a putrid 0-for-8 with RISP and failed to back the nice outing (6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 7 K) by Eduardo Rodriguez. One of the five hits came from OF Brock Holt (.298) who is riding a four-game hitting streak in which he is 6-for-13 (.462) with two doubles and two runs scored.

The Orioles are another group which boasts a ton of talent and are struggling with losses in six of their past nine contests coming into this series. They were able to win three of the last four games in a recent seven-game road trip and continued the solid play with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday night. The offense really wasn’t impressive with a mere five hits and 1-for-9 mark with RISP, but it was good to see C Matt Wieters (.375) get a hit in his fourth game since returning from elbow surgery and he now has six hits, three going for extra-bases, with three RBI and three runs since rejoining the club.

The starter getting the call for the visiting Sox will be RHP Rick Porcello (4-5, 5.01 ERA) as he looks to outduel LHP Wei-Yin Chen (1-4, 3.18 ERA) of the host team. Boston has been horrible when playing on the road with a record of 12-18 as they take on this Orioles group which is a solid 18-13 in front of their fans. It has been Baltimore’s series in this matchup since the start of the 2013 season as they are 27-19 overall and 13-10 when at home. This will be their eighth  meeting of the year and the Orioles are 5-3 so far; outscoring the Red Sox 44-32.

Trends show that Baltimore is a poor 13-21 (.382) in night games this year while also going 108-81 (.571) when the total is seven to 8.5 since the start of last year. Both OFs Daniel Nava (Thumb) and Shane Victorino (Calf) along with Cs Ryan Hanigan (Wrist) and Christian Vazquez (Elbow) remain on the DL for Boston as the Orioles are only without 2B Jonathan Schoop (Knee).                                                

Porcello was one of the key pieces added to the Red Sox this offseason, but after seeing his ERA improve in each of the previous five seasons with Detroit, he’s allowed 39 earned runs in his first 70 innings pitched (5.01 ERA). He has seen a jump in strikeouts (7.1 K/9) and has continued to show tremendous control (2.3 BB/9), but has really struggled with homers and has given up 11 already on the year (1.41 HR/9); including five in his last four starts. Boston has lost in each of his last three outings as he has gone 19.1 frames with 15 runs allowed on 19 hits with 11 strikeouts (5 walks).

He’s had a lot of trouble when facing the Orioles in his career, going 3-6 (5-6 team record) with a 5.21 ERA (1.46 WHIP) and has given up 12 runs on 18 hits in his last two starts against them. Plenty of Baltimore players have done well when going against Porcello and 1B Chris Davis, 3B Manny Machado, DH Jimmy Paredes, OF Delmon Young and SS J.J. Hardy are a combined 32-for-94 (.340) with five homers and 15 RBI. On the other side of things, OF Travis Snider (2-for-13, 3 K) has done very poorly against the righty.

The Red Sox bullpen has pitched to an 8-8 record with a 3.55 ERA (1.34 WHIP) and has been successful in 14-of-21 (67%) save chances. Koji Uehara (2.37 ERA, 13 saves) has not been quite as dominant as last year and in his last five outings he has taken two losses with a blown save while being 13-for-15 (87%) on save opportunities over the course of the season.                                      

Baltimore has watched Chen’s numbers improve in each of his last three seasons and he is mowing down a career-high 7.5 batters per nine innings thus far in his first 11 starts. His control (2.3 BB/9) remains a big part of his repertoire, but as a fly-ball pitcher he has struggled mightily with homers, posting a career mark of 1.23 HR/9 allowed and is on pace to have a career-worst season in the category with 11 balls leaving the park over his 68 frames (1.46 HR/9). He has gone at least six innings in seven of his last eight times on the mound, with his team being 5-3 during that stretch.

He’s done well in his time against the Red Sox, going 5-4 (9-4 team record) with a 3.79 ERA (1.36 WHIP) and has given up a mere four earned runs in his last four starts. He cannot be looking forward to facing 2B Dustin Pedroia as the gritty superstar is 15-for-32 (.469) with five doubles, a triple and five RBI in his career against the lefty. Meanwhile, 1B Mike Napoli is a mere 5-for-21 with five strikeouts in the matchup, but does have three homers and five RBI.

The relievers for Baltimore have gone 11-6 with a 3.20 ERA (1.23 WHIP) and have earned a save in 18-of-22 (82%) attempts. Zach Britton (1.82 ERA, 16 saves) has not allowed a run in his last 10.2 frames and has tallied an impressive 32:4 K/BB ration in his 24.2 innings of work.

- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter