Baseball Betting: It is expected to be a marquee pitching matchup on Friday night on MLB Network as the Boston Red Sox visit the Tampa Bay Rays. Jon Lester should get the call for Boston while David Price goes for the Rays. Both teams are trying to decide if they are still in the race in the American League so this series will be huge. The MLB trading deadline is next week so each team has to determine if they will be buyers or sellers. And the most talked about player on the trade market just happens to be Friday’s probable starter, David Price. Let’s look at this matchup on Friday and baseball picks.
Probable Pitchers – Lester vs. Price
Lester has been solid all season as he has an ERA of under three. He hasn’t always gotten great run support so his record is not that much above .500. He is normally better at home than on the road and he won’t be able to give up many runs on Friday if the Red Sox are to have a chance in this one. Lester has pitched really well lately against the Rays giving up just four runs in his last three starts against them.
David Price is 10-7 on the season with a 3.06 ERA. He is red hot of late as he has won his last five starts. He is 3-0 in his last three starts with a 1.09 ERA. He has actually been better on the road than at home. He is 4-5 this season with a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts. He has a 4.20 ERA in two starts against Boston this season. He is 10-6 in his career against the Red Sox with a 3.06 ERA.
Game Notes
These teams have split their last ten meetings overall with the last three going under. The Rays have won six of the last ten at home in this series with three of the last five going over. The teams played a three-game set in Tampa back in May and the Rays swept the series.
Baseball Picks
The way that Lester and Price are going right now this looks like it should be a low scoring game so we’ll go with the under.
