Boston Red Sox at Seattle Mariners Betting Preview
Monday starts a three-game series between AL postseason hopefuls as the Boston Red Sox (81-64) take on the Seattle Mariners (77-66). The Mariners will host this one at T-Mobile Park, with the first pitch scheduled for 10:10 pm ET.
Over the weekend, the Red Sox dropped two of three to the Chicago White Sox. On Sunday, Chicago was able to beat Boston 2-1 on a walk-off home run by Leury Garcia. Alex Verdugo picked up the lone run batted in for the Red Sox in the loss.
The Mariners also had a tough weekend dropping two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Mitch Haniger homered on both Saturday and Sunday, but the Mariners went on to lose both of those games.
The Red Sox are the favorites despite playing on the road. They are -128 to win while the Mariners’ moneyline sits at +118. The spread features Seattle +1.5 (-135), and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Pitching Matchup
The Red Sox will turn to lefty Eduardo Rodriguez in Monday’s opener. On the season, he is 11-8 with a 5.15 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and has 159 strikeouts in 136.1 innings pitched. He was roughed up in his last start against Tampa Bay, going just 3.2 innings and allowing six runs.
Seattle will turn to Logan Gilbert to take the mound. He is 5-5 with a 5.10 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and has 106 strikeouts in 95.1 innings. In his last seven starts, Gilbert hasn’t been great as he is 0-3 with a 7.09 ERA.
By The Numbers
The Red Sox have been one of the best teams in MLB this season on offense. They currently rank fourth in scoring averaging 5.07 runs per game (4.38 on the road). The Mariners rank 22nd in scoring, averaging 4.25 runs (3.96 at home).
Defensively, it is Seattle with the slight edge. They rank 16th in scoring defense allowing opponents an average of 4.65 runs per game (4.13 at home). The Red Sox rank 19th allowing 4.70 runs (4.39 on the road).
Boston In Fight For Wild Card Spot
With their loss on Sunday, the Red Sox have moved behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the top wild-card spot by mere percentage points. In fact, there are five teams competing for the two wild-card spots making the last few weeks’ must-watch TV.
The Red Sox will try to get back on track on the road, where they are just 37-35 to date.
Leading the way on offense for the Red Sox is third baseman Rafael Devers. This season, he is hitting .273/.350/.533 with a team-leading 33 home runs, 102 runs batted in, and 87 runs scored.
Aside from Jose Iglesias, who is one for four in his career, this will be the first time anyone from Boston has seen Mariners’ pitcher Logan Gilbert.
Seattle Currently On The Outside Looking In
While the Red Sox currently hold one of the two wild-card spots, the Mariners are on the outside looking in. After their loss on Sunday, they now sit three games back with 19 games left.
Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger have been the Mariners’ best hitters. Seager leads the team with 34 home runs and 94 runs batted in. Haniger is hitting .251/.317/.472 with 32 home runs, 79 runs batted in, and a team-leading 98 runs scored.
Seager has also had some success against Eduardo Rodriguez. While he is just three for fifteen, he has gotten to Rodriguez for a home run and two runs batted in. Haniger is hitting .222 in 18 at-bats against the lefty with three runs batted in.
Take The Red Sox To Win
Neither of these pitchers have been particularly good this season, but Rodriguez has shown signs of life in his last seven games, going 4-2 with a 3.93 over that time.
Furthermore, they have the offense that can pounce on a struggling Logan Gilbert.
Take Boston to win in this one, and don’t be afraid to bet the over as it might be tough for these two pitchers to keep it under eight runs.
