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The Orioles will be looking to prevent a six-game losing streak when they host the Rays Tuesday evening.
TAMPA BAY RAYS (65-66) at BALTIMORE ORIOLES (63-68)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Tampa Bay +117, Baltimore -127, Total: 8
The Rays went into Baltimore on Monday and came away with a 6-3 victory behind a dominant performance on the mound by RHP Chris Archer. The Tampa Bay ace struck out six batters and didn’t allow a run in six innings of work and led his team to its third win in the past five games.
The Orioles, meanwhile, have now lost five straight games and 11 of their past 12. This team was widely expected to be at the top of the AL East but has really disappointed and will now be looking to just turn things around in order to enter next season on a positive note.
On the mound for the Rays in this one will be LHP Drew Smyly (1-2, 3.81 ERA, 32 K) and he’ll be trying to outduel RHP Chris Tillman (9-9, 4.31 ERA, 92 K) on Tuesday. These two teams have split victories in 14 meetings this season, but the Rays are now 5-3 when they play in Baltimore on the year. They are also 15-12 against the Orioles in Baltimore over the past three seasons. Favoring Tampa Bay is the fact that the Orioles are just 22-33 against the money line in the second half of the season this year. Baltimore is, however, 35-17 against the money line when the total is 7 to 8.5 when Tillman is on the mound over the past two seasons.
OF Desmond Jennings (Knee), C Curt Casali (Hamstring) and OF Steven Souza (Hand) are on the DL for the Rays and J.J. Hardy (Groin) will be out until at least September for the Orioles.
The Rays are coming off of a victory and they’ll now send Drew Smyly out to the mound against an Orioles team that has really struggled to get anything going lately. Smyly has allowed just three earned runs over his past two starts, but the problem is that he has pitched just 9.3 innings total in those games. He has not been able to work his way late into games and the Rays can really use some more out of him moving forward. He should continue to get better as he gets healthier.
2B Logan Forsythe (.281, 15 HRs, 53 RBIs) comes into this game on a roll, going 5-for-8 over his past two games. He also has four multi-hit performances in his past 10 games. He’ll need to continue to get on base for this Rays team. 3B Evan Longoria (.267, 15 HRs, 58 RBIs) will be eager for this matchup with Chris Tillman. He has given the Baltimore starter nightmares in the past, going 16-for-43 with six homers and nine RBIs against him in his career. He also homered against the Orioles on Monday night.
SS Asdrubal Cabrera (.262, 10 HRs, 39 RBIs) also left the yard last game with a two-run homer and he’ll be an x-factor against the Orioles on Tuesday. Cabrera is just 4-for-17 against Tillman in his career, but he does have a double and four RBIs in those meetings.
Chris Tillman has not pitched as well as he would have liked this season, but he’ll be excited to get on the mound in an effort to end his team’s struggles on Tuesday. Tillman has allowed nine earned runs in his past 19.2 innings on the mound. The Orioles, however, have lost the past two times he has pitched. He’ll be looking to change that against a Rays team that he pitched very well against in their most recent meeting, allowing just one earned run in 7.0 winnings of work. Baltimore did, however lose that game 3-1, so the team will need to give him some more run support on Tuesday.
This Orioles’ lineup has struggled against Drew Smyly, going a combined 8-for-57 against the pitcher in the past. 1B Chris Davis (.249, 35 HRs, 92 RBIs) is the only guy who has had some success against him, going 2-for-11 with two homers and two RBIs in the matchup. He has been struck out six times in those at-bats.
OF Adam Jones (.279, 24 HRs, 67 RBIs) has been slumping lately, going just 4-for-25 in his past six contests. His batting average has dropped from .285 to .279 in that time and he’ll need to start hitting if this team is going to start winning games again.
