The Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks will meet in a rubber match on Thursday afternoon.
Arizona took the win in Game 1, 8-4, but Tampa Bay evened up the series on Wednesday, winning a tight 3-2 decision.
Thursday's matinee matchup features two pitchers we haven't seen much of this season. Zack Littell (6.57 ERA) takes the mound for the Rays and he'll face-off against Brandon Pfaadt (8.37 ERA) of the Diamondbacks.
Let's dive into the odds for the game and then I'll give you my best bet.
Rays vs. Diamondbacks odds, run line, and total
Rays vs. Diamondbacks prediction and pick
I think there's truly only one way to bet on this game. We have to take the OVER.
Both pitchers have only pitched a few times this season, and both have given up some big numbers. Littell has given up six earned runs in 9.1 innings pitched and Pfaadt has given up 22 earned runs in 23.2 innings pitched.
To be fair, Littell is likely going to serve as an opener, but I have little faith the Rays' bullpen will do much better.
So, which team's pitcher(s) should we trust? I truly don't know. I would rather trust neither and bank on plenty of runs being scored.
Over the last 30 days, the Diamondbacks rank fifth in OPS (.789) and batting average (.269). The Rays have admittedly been slumping by their standards, but they're still middle of the pack in baseball in most offensive categories over that same time frame.
So, let's not overthink this one. It's the OVER or nothing for me in this interleague afternoon showdown.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
