Xam’s Daily Gem:
Rays Money Line -156 FanDuel
The Rays were one of the best teams in baseball last year, but they’ve gotten off to a slow start this year. Their loss yesterday to the Tigers dropped them to 12-12 and they find themselves in the basement of the AL East. However, they are in a good spot today to bounce back and get back over .500 on the year.
Ryan Pepiot makes his 5th start of the year for the Rays. The former Dodger has been inconsistent to start the year. He’s either been really good or pretty bad in each of his starts. In 2 of his last 3 starts, he’s given up 1 run or less, but in the other 2 starts, he’s given up 4 runs or more. He’s coming off a quality start in his last start against the Angels and will look to build on that.
The Tigers turn to Kenta Maeda, another former Dodger. He’s been downright bad so far this season, coming into tonight’s start with a grotesque ERA of 7.64 through 4 starts. He’s coming off a start where he couldn’t make it through the 3rd inning and gave up 5 runs against the Rangers! He got torched in his only road start this year.
The Rays SHOULD be able to score some runs tonight against Maeda. He hasn’t shown a consistent ability to get outs. The key in this game, however, will be the pitching. Ryan Pepiot needs to build off his recent success. Fortunately, the Rays have ALL of their elite bullpen arms available tonight and manager Kevin Cash will be sure to deploy them if and when the need arises.
The Rays need to get back on track, and this is the PERFECT game to do so!