Tampa Bay Rays (2-2) vs Texas Rangers (2-1)
Game Info: Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 6:50 pm (Tropicana Field)
Zach Eflin (0-1) (9.53) vs Andrew Heaney (0-0) (0.00)
Betting Odds: Tampa Bay Rays -135 / Texas Rangers +124 — Over/Under: 8.5
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The Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Tuesday in MLB action from Tropicana Field. Here’s a Rangers vs Rays prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game. We will examine:
• The Texas Rangers recent form and player performance
• The Tampa Bay Rays recent form and player performance
• Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Texas Rangers
• Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Tampa Bay Rays
• Recent betting trends in games played between the Texas Rangers
• A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Rangers vs Rays game
Texas Rangers Betting Preview
The Rangers won their first two games of the season over the Cubs, 4-3 and 11-2. Sunday was a 9-5 loss to prevent the sweep, though. On Monday versus Tampa, Texas powered out a 9-3 blowout win. Josh Jung posted a three-run homer with his two runs, three hits and four RBI. Starter Dane Dunning finished with 6.1 innings, three earned, three hits and four walks.
In the starting pitcher role for game two, the Rangers will send out Andrew Heaney. Last year over his 34 games (28 starts), Heaney went 10-6 with a 4.15 ERA and 152 Ks in 147.1 innings. Heaney has a career record of 46-48 with a 4.49 ERA in 171 games (154 starts) total.
Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview
Over on the Rays’ side, they managed a four-game split with Toronto over the weekend. The wins were 8-2 and 5-1; the losses were 8-2 and 9-2. On Monday Tampa Bay got 5.2 innings with six earned on four hits and four walks from starter Ryan Pepiot. Jose Siri put up two RBI, two hits and a homer as one of the only bright spots on offense.
It’ll be Zach Eflin coming to the mound for the Tuesday start. Last year Eflin went 16-8 overall with a 3.50 ERA in 31 games. He struck out 186 batters in 177.2 innings. Eflin took a loss in his first start this year with six earned in 5.2 innings on six hits and one walk. The Rays will play against the Rockies and Angels after this series.
Tampa Bay Rays Player Prop Facts
- Isaac Paredes has hit at least one home run in two of his last three appearances in night games against AL West teams that held a winning record.
- Amed Rosario has recorded at least one RBI in six of his last eight home appearances against AL West opponents.
- Zach Eflin has recorded seven or more strikeouts in five of his last six appearances in night games against teams that held a winning record.
- Isaac Paredes has recorded a Double in three of his last four appearances against AL West opponents.
- Brandon Lowe has recorded at least one total base in each of his last 12 Tuesday appearances.
- Josh Lowe has scored at least one run in seven of his last eight appearances.
- Zach Eflin has recorded a win in four of his last five appearances in night games against AL teams that held a winning record.
- Brandon Lowe has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 12 Tuesday appearances.
- Isaac Paredes has recorded a Single in each of his last five appearances against AL West opponents.
- Jose Siri ranks T2nd in the league in Steals (3) this season.
Texas Rangers Player Prop Facts
- Adolis Garcia has hit at least one home run in each of the Rangers’ last five games against AL opponents.
- Adolis Garcia has recorded at least one RBI in each of the Rangers’ last seven games against AL opponents.
- Marcus Semien has scored at least one run in each of the Rangers’ last eight games against opponents that held a losing record.
- Andrew Heaney has recorded four or more strikeouts in 22 of his 25 previous appearances against opponents that held a losing record.
- Nathaniel Lowe has recorded at least one total base in each of the Rangers’ last 13 road games against AL East opponents that held a losing record.
- Nathaniel Lowe has recorded at least one hit in each of the Rangers’ last 13 road games against AL East opponents that held a losing record.
- Corey Seager has recorded at least one Single in 13 of the Rangers’ last 14 road games against AL East opponents.
- Adolis Garcia ranks T2nd in the league in Home Runs (3) this season.
Rangers vs Rays Prediction
I’ll lean toward the Rays here. I like Eflin to come back with a solid appearance in his second outing. Thursday’s inaugural start was going fairly well for Eflin until the fifth inning when Toronto scored five runs on the way to an 8-2 win. On Monday, Tampa Bay had a pretty rough outing from the offense overall, and the pitching staff also struggled. The bullpen gave up three earned in 3.1 innings between Christ Devenski and Phil Maton.
All of that said, the Rays still had a couple of good games against the Blue Jays over the weekend. If they can find their form Tuesday I think Tampa Bay can recover and salvage this series.
