Tampa Bay Rays (45-46) vs Cleveland Guardians (57-33)
Game Info: Friday, July 12, 2024 at 6:50 pm (Tropicana Field)
The Line: Betting Odds: Tampa Bay Rays -128 / Cleveland Guardians +118 — Over/Under:
The Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Friday in MLB action from Tropicana Field. Here’s a Cleveland Guardians vs Tampa Bay Rays prediction. This will be the first installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game. We will examine:
The Cleveland Guardians recent form and player performance
The Tampa Bay Rays recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Cleveland Guardians
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Tampa Bay Rays
Recent betting trends in games played between the Guardians and Rays
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Guardians vs Rays game
Cleveland Guardians Betting Preview
This week the Guardians took on the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland lost two of the first three games of that set 1-0 and 5-4, but did take a 9-8 victory in game two. On Thursday the Guardians would end up getting blown out 10-1. Starting pitcher Spencer Howard posted four earned in 3.0 innings of work.
For the starter slot Friday the Guardians will send out Carlos Carrasco. This year Carrasco has put up a 3-6 record with a 5.22 ERA in 16 starts. Carrasco is 110-99 with a 4.10 ERA in 319 games (272 starts).
Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview
Over on the Rays’ side, they played the rival New York Yankees in their last series. Tampa Bay won 5-3 in game one then took a tough loss 2-1 in Wednesday’s matchup. In the rubber match game three, the Rays scored five times in the first three innings and held on for the win 5-4. Starter Shane Baz left after 4.1 innings and three earned runs.
As starter for Friday Tampa Bay will go with Taj Bradley. So far Bradley is 3-4 with a 3.23 ERA in 11 starts. Over 34 career games (32 starts) Bradley is 8-12 with a 4.72 ERA overall.
Guardians vs Rays Pick Injury Notes
The Rays plan to bring back SP Drew Rasmussen (elbow) as a reliever this season.
Total Runs Facts
- Five of the Guardians’ last six games have gone OVER the total runs line.
- Nine of the last 11 games between the Guardians and Rays at Tropicana Field have gone OVER the total runs line.
- The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Guardians’ last three road games.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Rays’ last three games as home favorites against American League opponents.
Tampa Bay Rays Player Prop Facts
- Brandon Lowe has hit a home run in two of the Rays’ last three games against AL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- Randy Arozarena has scored a run in four of the Rays’ last five night games against AL opponents that held a winning record.
- Josh Lowe has recorded at least one Single in seven of his eight previous appearances against the Guardians.
- Isaac Paredes has recorded an RBI in five of the Rays’ last six games as favorites against AL Central opponents.
- Isaac Paredes has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 11 appearances in night games against AL Central teams that held a winning record.
- Randy Arozarena has recorded a Double in four of the Rays’ last five games against AL Central opponents.
- Isaac Paredes has recorded at least one total base in each of his last 11 appearances in night games against AL Central teams that held a winning record.
Cleveland Guardians Player Prop Facts
- Josh Naylor has recorded at least one total base in each of his last 13 Friday night appearances against AL teams that held a losing record.
- Carlos Carrasco has recorded six or more strikeouts in seven of his last eight appearances against AL East opponents that held a losing record.
- Jose Ramirez has hit a home run in two of the Guardians’ last three games against AL East opponents.
- Andres Gimenez has scored at least one run in each of the Guardians’ last five road games against the Rays.
- Steven Kwan has recorded at least one Single in each of the Guardians’ last six games as underdogs against the Rays.
- Andres Gimenez has recorded at least one RBI in three of the Guardians’ last four night games against opponents that held a losing record.
- Josh Naylor has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 13 Friday night appearances against AL teams that held a losing record.
Cleveland Guardians vs Tampa Bay Rays Prediction
I’ll stick with the Guardians here. Carrasco hasn’t been too bad over his last three starts, but he doesn’t have any decisions to show for it. In that trio Carrasco has eight earned runs in 16.0 innings on 16 hits and four walks combined.
In their Thursday matchup the Guardians had a pretty rough day on both sides, notching just three team hits. Cleveland’s pitching staff allowed 11 hits as Detroit scored in five different innings. It was a pretty miserable outing, so the Guardians will need a significant bounce-back here.