The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Saturday in MLB action from Tropicana Field. This will be the second installment in a three-game weekend series. In the Friday opener, the Rays took a six-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers played the Braves this week, winning two of three in that series. On Friday versus the Rays, Los Angeles was out-hit 13-9 in a 9-3 defeat. Noah Syndergaard put up 6.0 innings in the start with six earned on eight hits and a walk.
For the starter job on Saturday it’ll be LA’s Clayton Kershaw. This year over 10 starts Kershaw is 6-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 69 Ks in 57.1 innings. Kershaw is 203-91 with a 2.49 career ERA in 411 games (408 starts).
Tampa Bay Rays
Over on the Tampa Bay side, they played the Blue Jays in their last series and won three of the four installments. On Friday the Rays scored in six of eight innings on the way to the victory. Cooper Criswell did the bulk of the pitching on 4.0 innings, one earned, four hits and three walks.
It’ll be Tyler Glasnow in the starting role Saturday for the Rays. This will be Glasnow’s season debut. He’s 20-20 with a 4.00 ERA over 106 career games (67 starts).
The Dodgers are 72-24 in their last 96 in game two of a series and 40-15 in their last 55 Saturday games. LA is 49-20 in their last 69 interleague games.
Meanwhile, the Rays are 36-16 in their last 52 interleague games and 37-15 in their last 52 overall. Tampa Bay is 39-12 in their last 51 at home.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stay with the Dodgers here. It’ll be interesting to see what Glasnow can do after a long absence from Tropicana, however. As for Kershaw, he’ll need a bit of a bounce-back from his last two outings. In that pair he combined for 7.2 innings with six earned on 12 hits and four walks, going 0-2. In the Friday game, LA couldn’t make much noise on offense despite a decent nine-hit total. That said, if Kershaw can get a quality start in the books, the Dodgers batters may be able to pull out a win in game two.
