A’s vs. Rays Prediction
Will Rays’ ace Chris Archer continue his dominance at home when Tampa Bay hosts the A’s at 1:10PM ET today?
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Rays are -187 money line favorites to beat the A’s, who have odds of +167 to pull off the upset in Tampa. With Archer set to face Hahn in the pitching matchup, the over/under currently sits at 8 runs.
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Latest on Hahn via Rotoworld: Hahn allowed one unearned run while working around seven hits and a walk over six innings in a win against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. Hahn threw 52 of his 92 pitches for strikes in the quality start, making a successful return from the 10-day disabled list. He held down a pretty decent lineup and did not show any ill effects of his triceps injury.
Archer was saddled with a tough-luck loss Tuesday, striking out 11 while holding the White Sox to two runs. Archer out-pitched Jose Quintana, who allowed just one run but walked four and lasted just 5 1/3 frames. But, he still fell to 4-4. He gave up just five hits, but two of them were solo homers. Archer has now struck out 106 over 86 1/3 innings but holds a pedestrian 3.65 ERA.
OUR PREDICTION: Archer pitches at another level when he toes the rubber at Tropicana Field. He owns a 23.1% strikeout rate on the road, but that number jumps to 36.4% when he pitches at home. With an A’s team that has a tendency to strike out plenty against right-handed pitching, I like the Rays today. That said, to curb some of the risk by playing the heavy favorite on the money line, take Tampa on the runline. Hopefully the Rays’ offense figures out Hahn at some point and grows a decent lead.
SUNDAY MLB PREDICTION: TAMPA BAY RAYS -1.5 (+105)