Moneyline pick, best player prop for Red Sox vs. Rays on Tuesday

Tuesday night brings us a very entertaining game at the top of the AL East between the first-place Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, who sit just half a game back in the standings. The Rays have also called up No. 1 overall prospect Wander Franco, who is expected to make his MLB debut on Tuesday night.

Before this matchup gets going tonight, we’ll let you in on who we think is the best pick on the moneyline as well as a player prop that has a good chance of hitting.

Red Sox vs. Rays, 7:10 p.m. ET

Moneyline pick: Red Sox (-103)

The Rays were one of the hottest teams in baseball about a month ago, winning 15 of their last 16 games at one point. But they’ve reverted from an absurd winning machine back to a still very good baseball team. However, coming into this series they’re on a bit of a skid, as losers of their six straight, including four to an average at best Seattle Mariners squad.

The BoSox have been a pretty consistent winner all season, but have never been on a crazy win streak like Tampa Bay had earlier this season. Still, they come into this one winning six of their last ten and actually have a better record away from Fenway Park than they do when they’re at home — which is good news for this matchup that’s taking place in the Sunshine State.

Tampa will be using Andrew Kittredge as their opener, who has pitched just 8.1 innings over his last four appearances, so it’ll be a heavy bullpen day for the Rays. That doesn’t bode particularly well for them, since the Sox are 3-0 against Tampa this season when they have a starter on the bump. Boston’s projected starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, hasn’t been great either though, with an ERA above 6.00 on the season and he’s gone 0-4 in his last seven appearances.

Player Prop: Eduardo Rodriguez over 6.5 strikeouts (-121)

While Rodriguez doesn’t have the best numbers as of late in terms of wins and losses, he’s getting the benefit of the doubt in this stat. He’s averaging 6.6 strikeouts over his last three appearances and even topped out with eight in his most recent outing. Another reason why this bet seems like a solid pick is because the Rays strike out more than any other team in baseball, with 766 Ks on the season. That’s an average of over 10 per game.

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