Detroit Tigers vs. Toronto Blue Jays July 29 Betting Prop Bets For Bryan Garcia & Alek Manoah

The Toronto Blue Jays enter Friday’s matchup with the Detroit Tigers as huge favorites at home. While there might not be any value in betting on the Blue Jays to win this game, there may be some value betting on the strikeout markets for the contest instead. 

On this Flame Friday, we look at the pitching matchup for this contest and determine which directions to go when betting on strikeout totals on both sides.

You can practice bet on these starting pitcher prop bets here with betJACK Training Camp!

Bryan Garcia

The Detroit Tigers are not going with a traditional starting pitcher when taking on the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. Instead, they are going with an option out of their bullpen, as Bryan Garcia is set to start this contest for the Tigers. So far this year, Garcia has not pitched two full innings in an outing, as he has logged a total of 39.1 innings pitched in his 39 appearances so far.

In his 39 outings in the 2022 season, Garcia has struck out 32 batters, with a season-high of three strikeouts in a game against the Houston Astros in June. As far as this game is concerned, Garcia will be tested early against the Blue Jays, who have one of the most explosive lineups in Major League Baseball.

With Garcia set to only appear in this game for a couple of innings at most, sportsbooks have not posted a strikeout total for him. If there was a number of strikeouts to look out for from Garcia, one or two would be the most likely outcomes. But if he struggles to pick up any early strikeouts, he could be shut out by the bats at the top of the Blue Jays order.

Alek Manoah Over 5.5 Strikeouts

On the flip side, the Toronto Blue Jays are sending one of their top arms to the mound in Alek Manoah. Manoah has gone 11-4 on the season, posting an ERA of 2.24 in 120.2 innings of work. Manoah enters this game with 110 strikeouts on the season, which puts him in a tie for 26th in Major League Baseball in 2022.

In this contest, Manoah’s strikeout total is set at 5.5 strikeouts, which is juiced to the over. Manoah has struck out six or more batters in each of his last three starts, allowing no more than two runs in any of those three starts. Here, he faces a Tigers team that has the 14th most strikeouts in MLB this year, as the Tigers have done a decent job of avoiding strikeouts despite their poor offensive numbers.

For Manoah’s strikeout total in this game, the under feels like a decent value at a plus price. That is not a slight toward Manoah, but rather a credit to the Tigers, who managed to strike out just six times total in their series opener against the Blue Jays on Thursday. Five of those strikeouts came against Blue Jays starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, but the Tigers should be able to avoid more strikeouts than that against Manoah.