Indians vs. Rays Pick
Will the Cleveland Indians ride their ace to a road win over the Tampa Bay Rays when the two meet up this afternoon at 1:10PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Cleveland is the clear favorite on the road, as the Indians are getting odds of -220 to win. The Rays are listed with a money line of +180 to win, while the over/under total has been set at 7.5 runs.
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Today’s pitching matchup has Corey Kluber (10-3, 2.65 ERA) on the mound for the Indians to face Austin Pruitt (6-3, 5.14) of the Rays. Kluber is rolling right now, pitching back-to-back complete-game, 1-run outings. He has racked up at least 11 strikeouts in five straight starts. Kluber has 183 strikeouts with 28 walks this season and a 0.91 WHIP. Pruitt has actually been good in his last two starts as well, allowing just one run over his last 12.1 innings of work. Pruitt has 42 strikeouts with 12 walks this year and a 1.53 WHIP.
The Rays took the series opener on Thursday, 4-1. Cleveland has followed that up with a pair of shutout wins, 5-0 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday. The Indians are now 62-52 overall and 31-25 on the road while Tampa Bay is 59-59 overall and 31-29 at home.
Saturday saw Mike Clevinger out-pitch Chris Archer for the win. Clevinger went seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits with nine strikeouts to improve to 6-4 on the season. Archer pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three runs with eight strikeouts. Jay Bruce continued his hot start with Cleveland, picking up a pair of hits and two RBI.
Cleveland has their ace on the mound against a Tampa Bay lineup that has struggled at the plate lately. The Rays have been shutout in five of their last eight games. I normally don’t like a road team that is favored this much, but I don’t see the Rays touching Kluber today. Pruitt may put up a competitive start, but allowing any runs could very well be too much.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: CLEVELAND INDIANS -220