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Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/8/2021

Boston Red Sox (93-70) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (100-62)
October 8, 2021 7:02 pm EDT
The Line: Tampa Bay Rays -125 / Boston Red Sox +105; Over/Under: 7
(Get latest betting odds)

The Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays meet in game two of the ALDS in MLB action from Tropicana Field on Friday night.

The Boston Red Sox come into this one looking to even the series up at one win apiece after a 5-0 loss to the Rays in Thursday’s series opener. Kyle Schwarber, Xander Bogaerts and Christian Arroyo each had two hits while Rafael Devers, Hunter Renfroe and Alex Verdugo all added ase hits as well to cap off Boston’s offense as a team in the loss. Eduardo Rodriguez took the loss after allowing two runs on two hits over just 1.2 innings of work before getting the hook. Chris Sale will start here and was 5-1 with a 3.16 ERA and 52 strikeouts in the regular season.

The Tampa Bay Rays will try to build off of their strong performance against the Red Sox from Thursday. Nelson Cruz and Randy Arozarena each had a solo home run while Wander Franco had a pair of doubles and an RBI. Yandy Diaz added an RBI as well while Mike Zunino had a base hit to finish off Tampa Bay’s offense as the Rays had just six hits as a team in the win. Shane McClanahan got the win after tossing five shutout innings, allowing just five hits while striking out three. Shane Baz will start here and was 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA and 18 strikeouts in the regular season.

Boston is 19-7 in their last 26 Friday games and 2-5 in their last 7 division games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 road games. Tampa Bay is 11-2 in their last 13 Friday games and 45-17 in their last 62 home games while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record.

This is a bit of an interesting proposition as the Rays have been the better team and Chris Sale struggled over his last couple of starts to close the year. However, Chris Sale is not a pitcher you get plus money with often and Shane Baz isn’t the starting pitcher I feel like laying juice with on the other side. If Boston’s going to get back in the series it has to happen here, so I’ll take my chance with the Red Sox behind Sale in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Boston +105

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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