The Tampa Bay Rays, playing against a season wins over/under of 84, are off to a great start, with four wins in their first five games, including a series-opening victory over the Colorado Rockies Monday night. Now the Rays are heavy favorites with their Cy Young Award winner going Tuesday night (7:10 pm ET, SportsNet – Rocky Mountain, FS Sun). Who do we like for our free MLB pick here?
The Line
Tuesday’s MLB betting odds opened Tampa and Blake Snell at around -150 over Colorado with Kyle Freeland, with an over/under of seven runs. Early betting action then bumped the Rays 15 cents up to -165.
Tampa Bay could also be found getting around +135 giving the run and a half on the MLB run line.
Rockies-Rays Betting Preview
The Rays took Game 1 of this series Monday night 7-1, winning as -155 favorites on the MLB betting line. Tampa broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, then broke the game open with three more in the bottom of the sixth.
The Rays employed the “opener” strategy Monday night, using six different pitchers, who combined to allow just seven base-runners.
So Tampa owns a four-game winning streak, while Colorado owns a three-game losing streak.
Rays pitching has held opponents to a total of five runs over its last four games.
Rockies bats have been held to a total of four runs over their last three games.
These teams last met back in 2016 when the Rays took two of three games in Denver. Snell got the win in one of those games.
Tuesday’s Pitching Match-Up
Lefty Snell (0-1, 7.50) opened this season with an iffy effort last week against Houston, giving up five runs and three home runs through six innings of a 5-1 Tampa loss.
Last year Snell, by our strict standards, finished 19/31 on quality starts. The Rays went 22-9 with Snell, with the unders going 18-11-2.
In one career start against Colorado back in 2016 Snell threw six innings of one-hit, shutout ball, with nine strikeouts, in a 10-1 Tampa win.
Fellow southpaw Freeland (1-0, 1.29) opened this season with a winning effort last Thursday, holding Miami to one run and two hits through seven innings of a 6-3 Rockies victory.
Last year Freeland finished 22/33 on quality starts. Colorado went a solid 24-9 with Freeland, with the unders going 23-10.
This will be Freeland’s first-ever start against Tampa, which could give him an edge, at least for the first couple of times through the lineup.
Tuesday’s Batting Splits
Colorado hit .272/.336/.462 against left-handed pitching last season, which ranked right near the tops in the Majors in that particular split.
Tampa Bay hit .256/.334/.406 against LH pitching last season.
The Bullpens
The Rockies bullpen has allowed five runs on 11 hits and four walks through just 11 2/3 innings of work this season.
The Rays pen has allowed just one run on 15 hits and six walks through 21 innings this season.
Totals Report
- The totals are split 2-2-1 in Rockies games this season.
- The unders are 5-0 in Rays games this season.
- The overs finished 39-37-5 in games played at Tropicana Field last season, which averaged 8.1 runs per.
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Rockies vs Rays MLB Prediction 04/02/2019
