2020-10-14 20:40:00 EDT
The Tampa Bay Rays and the Houston Astros meet Wednesday in American League Championship Series MLB action from Petco Park.
This will be Game 4 in a best-of-seven ALCS matchup between the Rays and the Astros. Tampa Bay took the first two installments, 2-1 on Sunday and 4-2 on Monday. In the Tuesday Game 3, the Rays went up 3-0 with a 5-2 victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks and MLB predictions at Sports Chat Place.
Tampa Bay got 5.0 innings out of starter Ryan Yarbrough in the Tuesday Game 3 matchup, with three hits, two earned, two walks, five strikeouts and two homers allowed. Joey Wendle had a nice game for the offense in that one as well with two hits, two RBI and a run.
For the Wednesday Game 4 start, Tampa Bay will send out Tyler Glasnow. In 11 starts this season, Glasnow posted a 5-1 record with a 4.08 ERA and 91 Ks in 57.1 innings of work. Over three starts in the postseason, Glasnow is 2-0 with a 4.05 ERA and 20 Ks in 13.1 innings total.
Over on the Astros’ side, Tuesday starting pitcher Jose Urquidy posted 5.0 innings with four hits, two runs (one earned), one walk and four strikeouts. Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley each posted homers in the losing effort.
In the Wednesday Game 4 starting role, Houston will go with Zack Greinke. In his 12 starts this year, Greinke posted a 3-3 record with a 4.03 ERA and 67 Ks in 67.0 innings. Over his postseason career, Greinke is 3-6 with a 4.29 ERA and 89 Ks in 100.2 innings.
The Rays are 5-1 in their last six playoff games and 4-1 in their last five versus the American League West. Tampa Bay is 6-2 in their last eight league championship games and 41-14 in their last 55 overall.
Meanwhile, the Astros are 8-2 in the last 10 playoff games as an underdog and 1-4 in their last five Wednesday games. Houston is 6-15 in their last 21 games as an underdog and the under is 5-1 in their last six Wednesday games.
PICK: I’m going to stick with the Rays in this one. Glasnow had a pretty nice regular season. He got plenty of support from his bullpen and offense and hasn’t lost a postseason start yet. Even better, when Glasnow has been on the mound, the Rays have won each of his last 11 starts. For what it’s worth, Greinke hasn’t gotten a victory in a postseason game since Game 2 of the 2015 NLDS with the Dodgers. I like Tampa Bay to power through another close game here with shutdown pitching and timely hitting taking the win in the later innings.
