Rays vs. Twins Pick
Can the Tampa Bay Rays get another big pitching performance to beat the Minnesota Twins when they meet today at 2:10PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Twins are favored at home, as they are getting odds of -115 to win. The Rays are listed with a money line of -105 to win, while the over/under total for the game is set at 8.5 runs.
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Today’s pitching matchup has Jake Odorizzi (3-2, 3.14 ERA) on the mound for the Rays to face Adalberto Mejia (1-1, 4.96) of the Twins. Odorizzi has been pretty steady this season. He has pitched six innings in three straight starts. He has allowed 15 earned runs in 43 innings. He has 37 strikeouts with 10 walks and a WHIP of just 0.95. Mejia is coming off a 7-inning outing, but he still has given up 9 earned runs in 16.1 innings of work. He has 10 walks with 13 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.59.
The Rays opened the series on Friday with a 5-2 win over the Twins. Tampa has now won five of its last seven meetings with Minnesota, dating back to last season. Tampa Bay is now 26-25 on the season and 10-12 on the road while Minnesota is 25-19 overall and 11-14 at home.
Tampa picked up the win on Friday thanks to the pitching performance of Chris Archer, who had 11 strikeouts and allowed just five hits in 7.2 innings of work. Tampa got their five runs on three home runs. Logan Morrison hit his 13th of the season while Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza Jr. also went long in the win.
Tampa won with pitching and some timely power hitting on Friday and I think they will do the same thing today. Odorizzi has been steady at getting the Rays through six innings with little damage. Mejia doesn’t have much experience on the mound and hasn’t been going deep into games for the most part. Look for the Twins to have to reach into their bullpen early and that allow the Rays to grind out another win.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: TAMPA BAY RAYS -105