Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview/Player Prop

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will continue their four-game series on Wednesday night, and the road team is looking for a win. Tampa Bay has won the first two games of this series, and they continue to control the American League East Division.

Boston has now lost three straight games overall, and their record has fallen to 75-59 on the year. The Red Sox were in control of the AL East in the first half, but things have not gone well since the All-Star Break.

Tampa Bay has now won nine straight games overall, and they are pulling away from the pack in the division. The Rays are 84-48 at home this season and are 20 games over the .500 mark when playing at home in 2021.

The Boston Red Sox are the betting favorites on the moneyline at -118 over the Tampa Bay Rays in game three of the series on Wednesday night.

Sale Back on Mound For Boston

Chris Sale has been terrific for the Red Sox since returning to the rotation from injury, but this is going to be the toughest test that he has faced. Sale has gone 3-0 with a 2.35 earned run average, and he will be a key as the season moves along.

On offense, the Red Sox are going to be a bit short-handed as this team is currently dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. Xander Bogaerts was removed from the game on Tuesday night, and he has been the one player that sets the table for Boston.

Boston hasn’t scored more than five total runs in the last five games, and that has made it hard to compete with teams in the AL East.

Rays Cruising on Offense

The Tampa Bay Rays advanced to the World Series a season ago on the strength of the offense, and they are starting to find that formula again. Tampa Bay has scored 36 total runs over the last five games, and they are finding plenty of power.

Brandon Lowe leads the Rays with 31 home runs, and Austin Meadows has driven in 93 runs to lead the way. This is a team that doesn’t have any MVP candidates, but the lineup is loaded with talent.

Drew Rasmussen will be starting on Wednesday night, and he is 1-0 with a 3.09 ERA this season. Rasmussen will be looking to get five innings in before the bullpen takes care of the rest.

Tampa Bay Stays Red-Hot

The Boston Red Sox have the right pitcher on the mound to end this losing streak, but they are also facing a red-hot offense. Chris Sale is going to pitch well on Wednesday night, but it’s hard to see him completely taking over this game.

Tampa Bay will use a number of pitchers to get through this game, and the Rays are going to continue to put up some runs. The winning streak is going to end at some point, but it’s not going to happen on Wednesday night.

Bet the Tampa Bay Rays -1.5 as they continue their recent surge by beating the Boston Red Sox by at least two runs on Wednesday night.

Player Prop

Alex Verdugo (-260) Over 0.5 Hits

While the Red Sox fall from the top spot on the AL East can be tied to many things, it certainly hasn’t been due to a lack of production from Verdugo.

The former Dodger outfielder put together his best month in August as he hit .341 (30-for-88) to raise his season average from .271 to .284. His OBP (.410) and Slugging (.489) were also up significantly over July.

And the 25-year-old lefthander has especially enjoyed facing righthanded pitching with a .328 batting average compared with .208 against lefties. Facing Tampa righthander Drew Rasmussen following an 0-for-4 effort last night should be a welcome sight.

We’ll go with Verdugo (-280) tonight to pick up the Bosox offense with at least one hit versus the Rays.

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