Coming off a sweep of St. Louis earlier this week at home the Rays begin a three-city road trip with a stop in Minneapolis for three games with the Twins at Target Field starting Friday night. Drew Rasmussen takes the pill for Tampa Bay here against lefty Devin Smeltzer for Minnesota.
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MLB Betting Odds
Friday’s baseball betting lines opened Tampa Bay and Rasmussen at around -120 over Minnesota and Smeltzer, with an over/under of 8.5 runs. Early betting action then flipped the Twins into -120 favorites.
Rays-Twins MLB Betting Preview
Tampa Bay just swept three games from St. Louis by scores of 4-2 (in 10 innings), 11-3 and Thursday 2-1. Just before that the Rays dropped two of three games to the White Sox but just before that they won the last two games of a series against Texas. So Tampa is 6-2 over its last eight games.
At 34-23 the Rays trail the first-place Yankees by seven games in the AL East but they also lead the AL wild-card race by a half-game over second-place Toronto and 4.5 games over third-place Boston.
Minnesota, meanwhile, just dropped two of three games at home to the best team in Baseball, the Yankees, losing Thursday’s series finale 10-7 after blowing a 7-3 lead. And sometimes games like that leave a mark.
Just before that the Twins took two of three games at Toronto but just before that they lost the last three games of a series in Detroit. So Minnesota is just 3-6 over its last nine games.
At 33-26 overall the Twins’ lead in the AL Central is down to three games over second-place Cleveland.
This series is the second meeting between these teams this season. Six weeks ago the Twins took two of three from the Rays in St. Pete.
Friday’s Pitching Match-Up
Lefty Smeltzer is 2/5 on quality starts this season. Last Sunday he gave up two runs and four hits, including two solo home runs, over four innings of an 8-6 Minnesota victory over Toronto. And over his four starts previous to that he allowed just four runs 16 hits through 24 innings.
The Twins are 3-2 with Smeltzer this season and that’s a game worse than they should be.
This will be Smeltzer’s first career action against Tampa Bay.
Rasmussen is only 2/11 on quality starts this year but he’s also got four what we’d call “near misses.” Last Saturday he tossed seven innings of three-hit, shutout ball against the White Sox, getting 21 outs on just 81 pitches, although the Rays lost that game 3-2. That performance was certainly welcome, after Rasmussen gave up eight runs and three home runs over his two previous starts, covering 11 innings.
Tampa is 8-3 with Rasmussen this season, which sounds about right.
Over two career relief appearances against the Twins Rasmussen allowed three earned runs and five hits through three innings.
Splits With the Sticks
Tampa Bay is batting .258 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .321 team OBP and a .369 team slugging percentage.
Minnesota is slashing .252/.325/.418 against right-handed pitching. The Twins have also scored at least seven runs four times over their last six games.
The Bullpens
The Rays bullpen owns a 3.10 ERA this season, along with a 1.14 WHIP.
The Minnesota pen owns a 4.03 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.
- Get more details: Tampa Bay at Minnesota 6/10/21 Betting Stats
MLB Betting Trends
The Rays are 13-10 on the road this season and 9-5 against left-handed starters.
The Twins are 18-13 at home and 21-19 against right-handed starters.
Totals Report
- The unders are 29-24 in Rays games this season.
- The overs are 28-26 in Twins games.
- The unders are 15-13 at Target Field this season.
- The overs are a combined 8-6 with Smeltzer and Rasmussen this season.
