MLB Baseball Betting: Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays

The Toronto Blue Jays are idle on Monday though they did begin the day in first place by 1/2 game over the Boston Red Sox and 2.5 games over the Baltimore Orioles. The New York Yankees are still alive as well and are just 6.5 games out of first. All three of the Jays’ challengers *are* in action on Monday and in this preview we’ll take a look at the Boston Red Sox who’ll head down to Florida to face last play Tampa Bay. The Red Sox have been playing excellent baseball during August winning 8 of 10. Tampa Bay is actually playing fairly well at the moment winning 6 of their last 7 but they’re 17 games out of first place. Their only real goal is to avoid finishing with the worst record in the American League.

Tampa Bay will start lefthander Blake Snell who has pitched fairly well this year but has frequently been hung out to dry by his teammates. Snell has a 3.07 ERA and a 1.541 WHIP in 12 starts with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.683 WHIP at home. He’s got a 3.00 ERA and a 2.000 WHIP in his last three starts. Tampa is 4-8 overall when he takes the mound including 3-4 at home and 1-2 in his last 3. The Red Sox have lost a small amount against LHP this year (15-14 -1.5 units) but they hit them fairly well putting up 5 runs per game against southpaws.

The Sox will counter with David Price who has been a mixed bag this season. Overall he’s got a 4.19 ERA and a 1.261 WHIP, on the road he’s got a 4.13 ERA and a 1.339 WHIP with a last three ERA of 3.32 with a 1.368 WHIP. The Sox are 13-13 in his 26 starts this year and 6-7 on the road. They’re 2-1 in his last three starts. Price has faced his former team three times this year and hasn’t fared especially well with a win and two losses allowing 12 ER in 18 innings of work. On the plus side, he struck out 25 in those three games.

Rays are just 14-17 -4.3 units against lefthanders but hit them better than they do overall with a 4.6 runs per game average and a .251 batting average. We’ll back the home team in this game.

BET TAMPA BAY RAYS +145 OVER BOSTON RED SOX