Monday MLB: Tampa Bay Rays (61-50) at Los Angeles Angels (65-44)
Not many teams were happier to see the Boston Red Sox get swept in New York than the Tampa Bay Rays, who are now just 1.5 games behind Boston and Texas for the AL wild-card lead.
The Rays, who recently swept Boston themselves, are swinging hot bats, having homered in a franchise-record 14th straight game with Dioner Navarro’s two-run shot in Sunday’s loss in Seattle.
This series in Anaheim matches the two most adept base-stealing teams in baseball, with the Rays, behind Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton, leading the majors in steals and the Halos second. In fact, Tampa Bay and L.A. are the only two clubs with triple digits in steals.
“They bring a running game that’s the best in baseball, and in the middle of the lineup they’ve done damage,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Los Angeles used to own this series, but Tampa Bay took two of three from the Angels in St. Petersburg from June 9-11, outscoring them 23-10. The Rays took the season series last year, 6-3, en route to the AL pennant. The Angels had dominated the previous two seasons, going a combined 13-4 against Tampa Bay.
The Rays, who have not won a series in Anaheim since May 1999, have opened as -124 moneyline favorites on WagerWeb.com for tonight’s game behind Matt Garza (7-8, 3.63). Opponents are hitting .195 against Garza in his last three starts, and he allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings versus Boston on Tuesday.
L.A. counters with Sean O’Sullivan (3-1, 4.24). He has been up and down from the minors this season.
The Angels won’t have Torii Hunter for the Tampa Bay series. Hunter hopes to play several minor league rehab games this week, testing his adductor muscle strain in his right side.
MLB Betting at WagerWeb.com
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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