Brewers vs. Rays: Picks, predictions, how to watch Wednesday’s game

The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays square off on Wednesday with first pitch set for 12:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Eric Lauer (6-3, 3.89 ERA) will start for the Brewers with Jalen Beeks (1-1, 2.59 ERA) on the mound for the Rays.

Milwaukee (42-33) will look for its fourth consecutive victory and a two-game sweep of Tampa Bay on Wednesday afternoon. Lauer has solid season-long numbers, but he’s had his struggles on the mound recently, allowing 17 earned runs over his last three starts. The Brewers scored at least 5 runs in their last three games, and Andrew McCutchen and Luis Urias homered in last night’s 5-3 win over the Rays.

Tampa Bay (40-33) had its winning streak ended last night after sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. Beeks will make his 20th appearance and fourth start of the season, so this is a bullpen day for the Rays as he has never thrown more than 2.1 innings in a game in 2022. Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena each had 2 hits last night for a Rays offense that ranks No. 24 in runs per game (4.0).

Brewers vs. Rays

Pitchers: Eric Lauer vs. Jalen Beeks
First pitch: 12:10 p.m. ET
Brewers local broadcast: Bally Sports Wisconsin
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports Sun
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)

Odds, picks & predictions

Run Line: Rays -1.5 (+155)
Run total: 7.5
Moneyline odds: Rays -130, Brewers +110

Moneyline pick: Brewers +110

Milwaukee is the slight underdog in this spot, but you can get some value with the Brewers in this spot. Lauer has a large enough career sample size to show he will bounce back from this mini-slump he is on, and Milwaukee has the better offense in this matchup, scoring 4.4 runs per game, which ranks 14th in the MLB.

Player prop pick: Eric Lauer Over 4.5 strikeouts (-120)

Lauer is putting up similar strikeout numbers to previous seasons with a 9.4 K/9, and he will get a good matchup against a Rays lineup that strikes out a decent amount. Tampa Bay strikes out 8.7 times per game, which is the 10th most in the league. Brewers starter struck out 10 Rays hitters in 5 innings during his first game off the injured list.

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