The Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels will play the second game of a doubleheader this evening, with first pitch scheduled for 9:07 p.m. ET at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. With Hurricane Hilary set to make landfall in Southern California as a tropical storm on Sunday, MLB decided to move Sunday’s series finale up a day out of precaution. Righty Zach Eflin (12-7, 3.67 ERA) will step on the hill for the Rays tonight, while the Halos give the ball to lefty Patrick Sandoval (6-9, 4.09).
Tampa Bay took last night’s series opener in a wild 9-6 victory in extra innings. Luke Raley, Josh Lowe, and Rene Pinto each singled home a run in the top of the 10th to take the lead and Andrew Kittredge shut the Angels down in the bottom of the 10th to pick up the save. This was another Tungsten Arm O’Doyle classic for L.A., who lost despite Shohei Ohtani belting a grand slam in the second and the defense pulling off a game-saving triple-play in the ninth.
The Rays enter the game as -130 favorites on the moneyline over at DraftKings Sportsbook, while the Angels are +110 underdogs. The run total is set at 8.5.
Rays-Angels picks: Saturday, August 19th
Injury report
Rays
Day-To-Day: OF Jose Siri (finger)
Out: SS Wander Franco (restricted list), OF Manuel Margot (elbow), C Francisco Mejia (knee), 3B Taylor Walls (oblique)
Angels
Day-To-Day: 1B CJ Cron (back)
Out: OF Mike Trout (wrist), 3B Gio Urshela (pelvis) SS Zach Neto (back), 3B Anthony Rendon (shin), SP Jose Suarez (shoulder), RP Chris Devenski (hamstring), C Max Stassi (personal/hip), OF Taylor Ward (facial fracture), RP Ben Joyce (elbow), C Logan O’Hoppe (shoulder), RP Sam Bachman (shoulder), OF Jo Adell (oblique)
Starting pitchers
Zach Eflin vs. Patrick Sandoval
Eflin is looking for a bounce-back game on the bump tonight after suffering through his worst start of the season against the Guardians last Sunday. The righty was shelled right out the gate, giving up six earned runs off nine hits through just three innings of action. Eflin has been at his best when he’s piling up Ks, as the team has won the last four games where he’s recorded at least five strikeouts. His ability to set Angels hitters down on strikes should be an early indicator of how his outing will go.
Sandoval is also in search of a rebound performance after taking the loss against the Rangers this past Monday. His night was short in that AL West showdown as he yielded five runs off six walks and four hits in just 2.2 innings of work. He’s yielded 13 walks in his last four outings, so his ability to not give out free passes should be an indicator of how his night will go.
Over/Under pick
L.A.’s six-run performance last night was its best offense outing in over a week. Entering Saturday, the Angels have had the worst offensive output in the league over the past seven days, ranking 30th in batting average (.183) and OPS (.529). Barring Eflin throwing up another dud this evening, I’d expect the Angels to come crashing back down to earth in their production and driving us under this total.
Pick: Under 8.5
Moneyline pick
In contrast to L.A., Tampa Bay has been seeing the ball well over the past week, compiling an excellent .307 team batting average and a .776 OPS. Sandoval’s aforementioned walk problem should give the team opportunities to push runners across early and that should be enough for them to end this West Coast road swing with a win.
Pick: Rays