Milwaukee Brewers at Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview
Tuesday starts a brief, two-game interleague battle as the Milwaukee Brewers take on the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays will host this one at Tropicana Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm ET.
The Brewers found success in their last series, taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays. In the finale, on Sunday, they took down Toronto 10-3.
Jandel Gustave picked up the win in relief for Milwaukee after firing two scoreless innings. Offensively, Rowdy Tellez hit two home runs and finished the game with four runs batted in. Willy Adames also added three hits and two runs scored.
After losing two of three to the Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays bounced back over the weekend sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Sunday, Shane McClanahan picked up his eighth win after going seven innings, allowing one run and striking out 10.
Isaac Paredes went three for three in the win, and even though Tampa Bay left 22 runners stranded on base, they were still able to pick up the victory.
Tampa Bay is the favorite Tuesday playing at home. They are -107 to win while the Brewers’ moneyline sits at -103. The runline features Milwaukee +1.5 (-215), and the over/under for total runs is seven.
Brewers’ Star Pitcher Ready To Return
Milwaukee’s star pitcher Brandon Woodruff hasn’t pitched since the end of May. Originally out with an ankle injury, Woodruff then suffered from Raynaud’s Syndrome, which caused him to lose feeling in some of his fingers.
After a dominating minor league rehab performance, Woodruff is ready to get back on the mound Tuesday. Prior to the injured list stint, Woodruff was 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and had 53 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work.
Woodruff and the Brewers are hoping he gets back to his 2021 level. Despite going just 9-10 last year, he had a 2.56 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and had 211 strikeouts in 179.1 innings of work.
Even if they can get a pitcher somewhere in between, it will help the Brewers as they look to extend their divisional lead. Coming into play Tuesday, they are 42-33, a half-game ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.
Offensively, the team is led by shortstop Willy Adames. In 204 at bats, he is hitting just .216/.286/.485, but he leads the team with 15 home runs. He also has 39 runs batted in (second on team) and 36 runs scored (second).
Rays Look To Stay Hot At Home
After their sweep against the Pirates, the Rays once again showed their dominance playing at Tropicana Field. While they are just 15-17 on the road, the Rays have been strong at home, going 25-15.
While Tampa Bay is tied for the fifth-best record in the American League, they, unfortunately, sit fourth in their own division. With such a loaded division, Tampa Bay knows that every win is important and will look to use their home-field advantage to take the first game of this brief series.
On the mound for the Rays will be righty Shane Baz. In three games this season, he is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, and he has 15 strikeouts in 13 innings of work.
He has taken no-decisions in his last two outings. In those games, he pitched a combined 10.2 innings, allowing just one earned run on a combined six hits while striking out 13.
Despite only having 98 at bats, Isaac Paredes leads the team in home runs with 10. He is also hitting .255/.315/.612 with 21 runs batted in and 17 runs scored.
Randy Arozarena (.255 avg, 7 HR, 32 RBI, 32 R) and Ji-Man Choi (.287 avg, 6 HR, 35 RBI, 22 R) have arguably been their best hitters to date.
Take Milwaukee To Win
This one is a tough one to call. Milwaukee has played well as of late as they have won seven of their last 10, have gone 5-2 in their last seven road games, and they are 8-4 in their last 12 interleague games against the American League.
Still, it might come down to the effectiveness of Brandon Woodruff. If he pitches at all like he did last year, the Brewers absolutely are the right play here. If he pitches as inconsistently as he did to begin the year, then it might be a little more dicey.
While Woodruff may not be able to go overly deep into this game, the Brewers bullpen, led by Josh Hader and Devin Williams, is certainly deep enough to cover some of the slack.
Taking the Brewers on the runline is an easy play, but the most value may be taking Milwaukee to just win this one outright on the road, where they are currently 23-18.
Take Milwaukee at -103 on the moneyline.
