The San Francisco Giants and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Saturday in MLB action from Tropicana Field. Here’s a Giants vs Rays prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game. We will examine:
- The San Francisco Giants recent form and player performance
- The Tampa Bay Rays recent form and player performance
- Recent betting trends and streaks involving the San Francisco Giants
- Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Tampa Bay Rays
- Recent betting trends in games played between the Giants and Rays
- A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Giants vs Rays game
San Francisco Giants Betting Preview
The Giants took on the Washington Nationals this week. San Francisco managed to stave off the sweep with a 7-1 win Wednesday following a pair of losses. On Friday versus Tampa Bay, San Francisco took a tough 2-1 loss. Keaton Winn went 5.0 innings in the start with two earned on five hits and three walks.
In the starter role for the Saturday matchup, the Giants will send out Logan Webb. This year in his three starts Webb is 0-1 with a 4.86 ERA and 13 strikeouts over 16.2 innings. Webb is 42-33 with a 3.44 ERA in 116 games (113 starts) during his MLB career.
Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview
Over on the Rays’ side, they played the Los Angeles Angels in their last series. Tampa Bay lost 7-1 Monday but then came back for wins 6-4 and 4-2 to take the set. On Friday the Rays got 4.0 innings with four hits, two walks and no earned from starter Jacob Waguespack. Harold Ramirez managed three of the team’s six hits, along with a pair of runs.
As starting pitcher for Saturday’s matchup, the Rays are going with Ryan Pepiot. This year in two starts Pepiot is 1-1 with a 4.63 ERA and 14 Ks in 11.2 innings. Pepiot is 6-2 with a 3.00 ERA in his career over 19 games (12 starts).
Tampa Bay Rays Team Facts
- The Rays have won each of their last seven games against National League opponents following a win.
- The Rays have failed to cover the run line each of their last four day games against teams that held a losing record.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Rays’ last three home games.
- The Rays have led after 3 innings in each of their last five day games against NL West opponents.
San Francisco Giants Team Facts
- The Giants have lost each of their last six day games against teams that held a winning record.
- The Giants have failed to cover the run line in each of their last six day games against American League opponents.
- The Giants have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three games against American League opponents.
- The Giants have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last nine road games against American League opponents.
- The Giants have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last five road games.
Giants vs Rays Prediction
I’ll take a stab on the Giants here. Webb has been pretty good in two of his three starts so far this year. The one outlier was 3.2 innings with five earned on seven hits and two walks versus the Dodgers. Outside of that Webb has four earned in 13.0 innings in his other pair. If he’s on point again Saturday, San Francisco should be set up pretty well.
In Friday’s matchup the Giants couldn’t do much with the Rays pitchers—despite facing six different arms on the evening. Thairo Estrada was the only team player with multiple hits (2-for-4). The good news is that the pen was solid (3.0 innings; no earned; one hit; no walks; three Ks) between Landen Roupp and Ryan Walker. The bats need to get moving on Saturday.