A couple of AL East rivals split the first two games of this series with the Tampa Bay Rays winning 7-1 on Monday and the Baltimore Orioles taking a 5-1 victory last night. On Wednesday, they run it back once more in the third outing of a four-game series in Florida.
Here’s a Rays vs. Orioles prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Rays vs. Orioles prediction, preview
Tampa Bay Rays
The home-team Rays are 40-33 and recently surpassed the Toronto Blue Jays for second place in the AL East, though their lead remains miniscule at just half a game. Tampa Bay does have a 6-4 record over their last 10 contests and they’re 24-21 when playing at home this season.
At 15th in team OPS and 10th in runs scored, the Rays’ offense is plenty capable of winning with their bats. However, their elite pitching staff ranks top-seven in ERA, WHIP, and runs allowed, so the team does bring a total package aside from lacking true huge-name superstars in the batting order. Most of the lineup was rolling with eight batters tallying a hit in Monday’s game, but despite seven hits in yesterday’s contest they were unable to muster more than one run. Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero did each post multi-hit games, so they were the primary bright spots in that one.
Baltimore Orioles
Most people know the story of the Orioles’ season and the horrific start which led to the firing of a manager and a massive hole to dig themselves out of in the AL East. The O’s are 31-41 on the campaign, but they are actually 10-5 over their last 15 contests as they work to salvage the season.
Overall this year, the Orioles fall 16th in OPS and 24th in runs scored. Over the last month though, they’re 10th in OPS and 13th in runs as they start to show signs of life. The team tallied just four hits in Monday’s loss. However, in last night’s win, eight batters each recorded at least one hit as Ramon Laureano, Dylan Carlson and Jordan Westburg each recorded multi-hit games. The pitching staff does remain a significant weakness at 25th in runs allowed, plus 26th in ERA and WHIP. Again, they’re progressing over the last month at 13th in ERA and 16th in WHIP, so maybe their season isn’t over after all.
Rays vs. Orioles pick, best bet
These teams have pretty close odds on DraftKings Sportsbook in tonight’s matchup. The Rays are a slight favorite on the Moneyline at -119, though the Orioles aren’t far behind at -103 to make this a relative toss-up. The run total sits at nine.
Taj Bradley starts for the Rays with a 4.35 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 71 strikeouts in 78.2 innings this season. The righty has seen work in 14 games overall and his recent form looks nearly identical to his season-long stats. As for the Orioles, they trot out Trevor Rogers, a left-handed hurler who spent most of the season thus far injured before making his first and only start on May 24. In that outing, he went 6.1 scoreless innings while striking out five and allowing just two hits. He was recently called back up from Triple-A ahead of tonight.
While the sample size for Rogers this season remains incredibly small, I do like 2+ walks for the starter in tonight’s game at -135 odds. His career BB/9 reads 3.59 and I think his zero-walk outing in his lone MLB start this season was a bit of a fluke. Since these teams’ game line odds are so close, I’d rather go with the pitcher prop here.
Best bet: Trevor Rogers 2+ walks (-135)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
