Back Flaherty to eat up innings vs. struggling Blue Jays

Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.

We're coming off a bounce-back day on the diamond, as we went 2-1 with our best bets Wednesday night.

We'll look to keep things moving in the right direction with a pair of plays for Thursday's card.

Orioles (-240) @ White Sox (+200)

This game is set up to be relatively low-scoring - at least early on.

The Orioles will be sending dynamic righty Grayson Rodriguez to the mound. He’s pitching well this season, as he allowed two runs or fewer and recorded at least 17 outs in six of his seven starts thus far.

Rodriguez routinely flirts with six innings while keeping opposing offenses at bay. Excluding a blow-up start in late April against the Angels (go figure), he has allowed only seven runs over six outings. He's giving up next to nothing.

That should be the case against the White Sox, who rank last in runs per game, 29th in hits, 30th in OBP, and 30th in homers. They don’t have a quick-strike offense and have difficulty stringing together hits against anyone, let alone a talent like Rodriguez.

There's a good chance Rodriguez allows one or less through five innings, which means the Orioles' offense has to start on fire to push this game over the first-half total.

Although the Orioles have the talent to put up numbers in a hurry, they are hardly at the peak of their powers right now. They're hitting only .196 against right-handed pitchers in May, which ranks last in the league.

With Rodriguez on the mound, the Orioles can probably score three runs in the first half and still see this game go under its total. I like the cushion here.

Bet: F5 Under 4.5 (-130)

Jack Flaherty: Over 17.5 outs

Flaherty's a certified innings eater. He's completed six or more in eight of nine starts this season, falling short only to a Rays team that is adept at working pitch counts and chasing starters from games early.

Flaherty does his best work on home soil, as he's averaging 19.3 outs per game in Detroit this season compared to 17.5 on the road.

He should be in for another lengthy outing against the Blue Jays, who don't strike out very often and sit second in contact rate against righties this month.

Put another way, they're putting a lot of balls in play and not letting pitch counts get overly high. That should help Flaherty last longer.

Considering the Blue Jays sit 25th in runs per game and 27th in homers, I don't think we have to worry about their high in-play rate leading to real damage.

Odds: -115 (playable to -130)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.