ODDS ANALYSIS
If things couldn’t get more bizarre for the Orioles they’ll travel to Tampa due to unrest in downtown Baltimore to take on the Rays in a three-game ‘home’ set starting Friday.
The O’s will play as the home team in their series with the Rays at Tropicana Field wearing home whites and getting last at-bats.
This coming after Wednesday’s contest with Chicago was closed to spectators due to safety concerns from rioting in the city.
The O’s have felt right at home with eight victories in 12 games at Tampa over the last two seasons, including two of three to open 2015. The O’s cashed the over in five straight and are 13-6-1 overall with two of three earlier meetings with the Rays going over the total.
The Rays have to clear some obstacles as well. The team was ready to play the middle set of a nine-game road trip before a change of plans had them scrambling to get back to Florida after knocking off the Yankees in extra-innings Wednesday. The Rays won their last five games at The Trop before starting their nine-game roadie improving their home record to 6-6. Tampa Bay has been a safe bet this season in the black 2.65 units while playing the under 12 times in 22 games with each of their last five falling under the total.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Tampa Bay’s Alex Colome (0-0, NA), who missed a good portion of spring training due to visa problems followed by a case pneumonia, made his fourth rehab appearance Sunday and got the win for Triple-A Durham with six innings of one-run ball.
Colome won his only career start against the Orioles allowing one run on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 5.2 innings in a 5-2 victory on June 27, 2014.
Baltimore’s Chris Tillman (2-2, 7.58 ERA) was lit up for seven runs on five hits, including a homer, and five walks in 4.1 innings taking the loss against the Blue Jays last Thursday. He’s given up 22 hits and 13 walks for a 1.84 WHIP in just 19 innings in his four starts.
The O’s are 4-0 in Tillman’s past four starts against the Rays and he’s surrendered only five runs in those games allowing just 16 hits. He allowed one run over 6.2 innings in a season-opening 6-2 win in Tampa on Apr. 6.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“It’s tough. Everyone knows how much we like playing in front of our fans, how important baseball is to the city of Baltimore. It goes to show how bad this really is, that we actually have to move it. You know, better safe than sorry.” – Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman who will start Friday’s ‘home’ game in Tampa due to the civil unrest in Baltimore
LIVE BETTING or SITUATIONAL BETTING
The Orioles just want to play baseball. They were sequestered for their own safety for a few days with the public unrest in Baltimore and had two games postponed. A third was played in an empty stadium and, following a scheduled off-day Thursday, they are ready to go, even if they had to travel to Florida for their ‘home’ games. Look for the O’s to come out firing with plenty of emotion and energy and Rays starter Alex Colome is the unlucky victim. The O’s are scoring plenty of runs recently and we like that to continue with some early fireworks.
PROP TALK
Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis is flashing his hitting stroke from two seasons ago when he clobbered 53 home runs, drove in 138 and hit .286 and the O’s are pretty happy about that. Davis homered in each of his last two games and three of four raising his total to five with his power surge. He’s batting .400 in a four-game hitting streak lifting his average to .268 for the year and looks as comfortable at the dish as he has recently. He gets plenty of chances batting behind Adam Jones in the lineup and so far he’s delivered. Look for Davis to spearhead the O’s offense by knocking in a few runners Friday.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Orioles will play for just the second time in five days and the first in front of spectators when they suit up for a ‘home’ game in Tampa. It’ll be interesting to see how the club responds after being in the middle of public unrest at home in Baltimore. The O’s have been hot riding a three-game winning streak into the series behind the production of Chris Davis and Adam Jones, who is among the league leaders in average and RBIs. Starting pitching has been a concern and Chris Tillman has alternated good and bad starts over his first four. If the trend continues he’s in for a good outing Friday.
The Rays are hoping the return of James Loney bolsters an offense that hits just .238 while scoring fewer than four runs a game. Tampa scored six times on 22 hits in a three-game series that spanned 31 innings at New York. They avoided a sweep by scoring the winning run on Loney’s RBI single that didn’t leave the infield in the 13th inning Sunday. Starter Alex Colome makes his season debut and although he has decent career numbers, it’s a small sample size and the O’s are scoring 8.4 runs over their last five games. Colome doesn’t make it thru the fifth inning and the O’s win again in Tampa.
Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 3
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