Tampa Bay Rays vs Minnesota Twins MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 9/3/21

The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays meet Friday in MLB action at Tropicana Field. The Twins look for a win after splitting their last eight games. The Rays look for a win after winning 13 of their last 16 games.

The Minnesota Twins have scored four runs in their last three games and three or less runs in six of their last seven games. The Twins have lost seven of their last nine games when scoring three or less runs. Jorge Polanco leads the Twins with 130 hits and 78 RBI while Luis Arraez and Josh Donaldson have combined for 190 hits and 91 RBI. Randy Dobnak gets the ball, and he is 1-6 with a 7.83 ERA and 25 strikeouts this season. This will be Dobnak’s first career game against the Rays.

The Tampa Bay Rays have scored 10 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six of their last eight games. The Rays have won eight straight games when scoring four or more runs. Randy Arozarena leads the Rays with 120 hits and 59 RBI while Austin Meadows and Brandon Lowe have combined for 208 hits and 171 RBI. Michael Wacha gets the ball, and he is 2-4 with a 5.70 ERA and 91 strikeouts this season. Wacha is 1-1 with a 7.15 ERA and 10 strikeouts in his career against the Twins.

The Twins are 1-5 in their last 6 games following an off day and 2-5 in their last 7 road games. The Rays are 7-1 in their last 8 during game 1 of a series and 51-18 in their last 69 games as a favorite. The under is 5-0-1 in Twins last 6 overall. The over is 7-2-1 in Rays last 10 home games. The Twins are 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.

I’m not thrilled with either of these pitchers, as Dobnak has allowed 30 hits and 19 runs in his last 17.1 innings. Wacha has allowed 41 hits and 22 earned runs in his last 23.1 innings. Yuck. With that said, the Twins are the Twins, a team ready for the season to end, while the Rays remain one of the hottest teams in baseball. Only option here is to side with the Rays and the RL for max betting value.