Tigers vs. Blue Jays prediction: Picks, odds, live stream, TV channel, start time on Thursday, July 28

The Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays square off on Thursday with first pitch set for 7:07 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Tyler Alexander (2-3, 4.05 ERA) will throw for the Tigers, and Yusei Kikuchi (3-5, 5.12 ERA) will start for the Blue Jays.

Detroit (40-59) won two of three games over the San Diego Padres earlier this week, heading into Thursday night's matchup. Alexander will make his 15th appearance and fifth start of 2022, so this will be a bullpen game for the Tigers with a variety of pitchers likely to be used for a few innings. Detroit has the worst offense in runs per game (3.2), though Jeimer Candelario is coming off a fantastic series against the Padres with eight hits and eight RBI with three home runs.

Toronto (54-44) had a seven-game winning streak snapped yesterday in a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Kikuchi will be activated from the 15-day injured list and will make his first start since July 5 due to neck strains. The Blue Jays rank No. 3 in runs per game (4.9), and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the team in home runs (21) and RBIs (62).

Tigers vs. Blue Jays

Pitchers: Tyler Alexander vs. Yusei Kikuchi
First pitch: 7:07 p.m. ET
Tigers local broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit
Blue Jays local broadcast: Sportsnet
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)

Odds, picks & predictions

Run Line: Blue Jays -1.5 (-115)
Run total: 9.5
Moneyline odds: Blue Jays -225, Tigers +190

Moneyline pick: Tigers +190

Detroit's offense has been ranked No. 30 in runs per game during much of the season, but there is decent value in this number on Thursday night. The Tigers will play the matchups with their pitchers in this spot, and offensively, they could be in a good position against Kikuchi. He is making his first start in a few weeks, and his ERA has been fairly high in all four MLB seasons in his career.

Player prop pick: Yusei Kikuchi Under 5.5 strikeouts (-170)

The Blue Jays starter has been a strong strikeout thrower in his MLB career and has a 10.2 K/9 through 16 starts this season. However, Yusei Kikuchi had not been getting all that deep into games prior to hitting the injured list, and he may be on a bit of a pitch count in his first game back.

  
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