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

AL East rivals will meet up again on Wednesday night when the Boston Red Sox host the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays have won the first two games of this series, and both games have featured plenty of offense.

Tampa Bay comes into this game with an 88-51 record, and they are going to win the AL East barring a major collapse. The Rays have been playing great baseball since the beginning of August, and they are making life difficult on the Red Sox.

Boston is in a fight for a Wild Card spot in the American League, and they can’t afford to continue losing games. The Red Sox are still 79-62 on the year, but they have been trending in the wrong direction of late.

The Tampa Bay Rays are the slight betting favorite in this matchup at -108 on the moneyline.

Rays Offense is Red-Hot

The Tampa Bay Rays offense is red-hot once again, and this was the formula that was used to reach the World Series a season ago. Tampa has scored 23 total runs already in this series, and they have plenty of power in that lineup.

Randy Arozarena was the star of the postseason for Tampa Bay a season ago, and he is leading the team with a .276 batting average. Brendan Lowe has belted a team-high 33 home runs, and the Rays are able to strike quickly on offense.

Shane McClanahan is on the mound for Tampa Bay in this game, and he is 9-5 with a 3.76 ERA so far this season. The Rays also feature a terrific bullpen, and they can shut down an opponent when given a lead.

Eovaldi Needs to Pitch Well

Boston is sending Nathan Eovaldi to the mound on Wednesday night, and they are going to need him to deliver a signature performance. Eovaldi is 10-8 with a 3.73 ERA so far this season, but he has the potential to completely shut down an opposing team.

Boston has not had any trouble scoring runs in this series, and that was how they were winning games to begin the season. The offense will show up once again, but the Red Sox need the pitching staff to take some pressure off.

Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts have been getting some help at the plate in this series, but these are still the two biggest bats in the lineup. Devers leads the way with 33 home runs and 101 RBIs, while Bogaerts is the spark plug that is hitting a solid .298.

Boston Beats Tampa Bay

The Boston Red Sox are desperate for a victory, and they have the perfect pitcher on the mound on Wednesday night. Boston can’t keep trying to outscore the Rays as that strategy has not been working in the first two games.

Tampa Bay has built up a massive lead in the AL East Division, but this hot run is going to end at some point. Look for the offense to cool off for the Rays in this game, but they will still be able to keep this one close.

Expect another terrific matchup, but this time it will be the home team that picks up the win. Bet the Boston Red Sox moneyline as they are able to sneak past the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night and win this game by one run.

Player Prop

Enrique Hernandez (-380) Over 0.5 Hits

Hernandez was having his best month of the season in August before he was sidelined because of COVID-19. Prior to his absence, the Boston centerfielder was hitting .305 (25-for-82) for the month with a robust .926 OPS.

He was a little rusty last night as he returned to the lineup and went 0-for-5 in the Bosox 12-7 loss to Tampa Bay. But we’re not expecting Hernandez to stay down for long as his 14 hits against Rays’ pitching this season is the second most versus an opponent other than Toronto (18).

With the Red Sox looking for a bounce back win today, we’ll take Hernandez (-380) to pick up the offensive production and collect at least one hit.

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