Rays vs. Tigers Pick
Following a walk-off win on Thursday night, can the Detroit Tigers pick up another win over the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at 7:10PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Detroit is favored at home, as the Tigers are getting odds of -145 to win, while the Rays are listed with odds of +135 to win. The over/under total for the game has been set at 9.5 runs.
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The pitching matchup tonight has Erasmo Ramirez (3-1, 4.20 ERA) on the mound for the Rays to face Daniel Norris (3-4, 4.41) of the Tigers. Norris has been showing some improvement in recent starts, but still has given up multiple runs in six of his last seven starts. He has 61 strikeouts with 30 walks this year and a 1.61 WHIP. Ramirez has given up 11 earned runs over his last three starts, lasting 12.1 innings. He has 39 strikeouts with 9 walks on the season and a WHIP of 1.18.
These two opened their four-game weekend series on Thursday, with Detroit picking up a 5-3 win. The home team has won all four meetings this season. Detroit is now 31-34 overall and 17-14 at home while Tampa is 35-34 overall and 14-19 on the road.
The Tigers got the win on Thursday thanks to a two-run walk-off home run for Miguel Cabrera, just his sixth of the season. The Tigers held a late 3-2 lead, but Francisco Rodriguez blew his sixth save of the season on a solo home run by Steve Souza Jr. to tie the score at 3-3. Justin Verlander pitched seven innings for Detroit, allowing two runs on six hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Alex Cobb pitched 6.2 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits.
Detroit got a nice boost from Verlander and they will need something similar tonight. Their hitters haven’t been able to put up a great number of runs as of late and their bullpen is very unreliable. Still, I will give the edge to Detroit tonight. Ramirez has struggled since becoming a starter and he also doesn’t have a tremendous lineup behind him. Tampa is 5 game below .500 on the road for a reason. Take Detroit at home.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: DETROIT TIGERS -145