Blue Jays vs. Orioles prediction and odds for Tuesday, Aug. 22 (Trust O's with emerging Rodriguez)

Grayson Rodriguez is one of the top prospects on a budding juggernaunt in the Baltimore Orioles, but it's taken him a bit of time to find his footing in the big leagues.

After struggling for the first few months and being sent down to the minor leagues, Rodriguez is back with the big league club and making an impact, pitching far better and will look to be part of the AL East leading Orioles' playoff rotation.

Baltimore is back home after a west coast swing to host the Toronto Blue Jays, who are jockeying for position in the AL wild card picture.

Here are the odds and our best bet for the series opener:

Blue Jays vs. Orioles odds, run line and total

Blue Jays vs. Orioles prediction and pick

Rodriguez has been on a tear since returning to the big leagues in the middle of July, pitching to a 3.03 ERA in six starts with a Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) of 2.96. Rodriguez is allowing opponents to hit just .195 and is throwing strikes 67% of the time.

He'll face a Blue Jays team that comes in shaky at the plate of late, hitting at a league average level of .242 in the month of August. I favor Rodriguez quite a bit in this matchup.

On top of that, Yusei Kikuchi is going to be outclassed on Tuesday against an Orioles lineup that is off a massive series against the Athletics in Oakland. This month, the team is hitting .278 behind the likes of Gunnar Henderson, who nearly hit for the cycle as a rookie on Sunday afternoon, but legged out a double instead of taking the single.

The left hander Kikuchi is a prime fade candidate for me. While his 3.44 ERA looks strong on the surface, he has an xERA of 4.12 as his left on base percentage of 84% is ripe to come back to haunt him down the stretch.

I'll take the Orioles to keep on winning and cash in behind the emerging Rodriguez as small home favorites.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.