The Boston Red Sox wrap up their home series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday with Cooper Criswell, who previously was a part of the Rays organization, getting the pitching start against his old team.
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox (-110, 8.5)
Criswell has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all six of his pitching appearances this season and owns a 2.10 ERA with 8.8 strikeouts to 1.8 walks per nine innings.
Working in Criswell’s favor is a big bullpen advantage for the Red Sox with the team entering Wednesday with a 3.19 ERA in the bullpen, which ranks fifth among MLB teams while the Rays 4.83 ERA entered 27th.
Zack Littell will oppose Criswell on the mound and enters with a 3.02 ERA with a 2.53 fielding independent — allowing just 0.6 home runs and 1.4 walks per nine innings while getting 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Rays back up Littell with a lineup that entered Wednesday 19th in the league in runs per game and 25th in runs per game away from home with just under 3.8 runs per game.
Tyler O’Neill has provided the Red Sox with stability on offense as the team overall this season is 16th in scoring with just under 4.3 runs per game, but are registering over 4.4 runs per game with O’Neill in the lineup and under 3.8 runs per game when he’s out.
With the Red Sox having the strong offense and bullpen to back up Criswell, Boston will wrap up this series with a win at home on Thursday.
The Play: Red Sox -110
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