Tampa Bay Rays vs Athletics Prediction & Picks - MLB

Prediction published on 8/21/24, 5:52 PM  by Bill Christy in MLB Picks

As the Oakland Athletics (54-72) and Tampa Bay Rays (63-62) head into game three of their 4-game series tied at 1 win a piece. It has been a low scoring couple of games as the Athletics shutout the Rays in game one by the score of 3-0. Joe Boyle pitched 6 shutout innings in the win for the A’s. In game two, it was another shutout but by the Rays this time. Shane Baz went 7.2 innings while allowing just 3 hits in the win. Jose Siri hit a solo home run in the 8th before Edwin Uceta came in to close things out for the Rays. Ryan Pepiot (6-5, 3.69) will get the start for the Rays in this one. He has pitched 11.1 innings over his last 2 starts and has allowed no earned runs in that span. In fact, over his last 6 starts and 29.2 innings, he has only allowed 6 earned runs over that run. He will be opposed by the Athletics’ Mitch Spence (7-8, 4.64). Spence was knocked around for 5 runs on 4 hits over 2.2 innings during his last start which came against the Mets. He was lucky enough to avoid taking the loss with the help of his offense coming back during the middle innings. He will need to be sharper tonight if he hopes to keep the A’s in this one.