Rays plus $1.45 at Yankees
Jacob Faria is one of my favorite young pitchers. And I’m going to back him at this nice ‘dog price against another young pitcher, Jordan Montgomery.
I like Montgomery, too. But not as much as Faria, who has a 2.67 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and has held batters to a .222 average while turning in eight quality outings in his nine starts. Tampa Bay is 4-1 in Faria’s five road starts. The Yankees have never faced Faria giving him an element of surprise advantage.
The Yankees are hot with six straight victories. They are going for a series sweep and own the highest home winning percentage in the American League.
So you know why the oddsmaker has shaded New York so high.
But two of the Yankees’ wins in this series have been by a run in games that could have gone either way. Aaron Judge hasn’t done anything since the All-Star break with 23 strikeouts in 53 at bats and only nine hits.
The Rays have some underrated punch with Lucas Duda – who has hit two homers in two games for the Rays since coming from the Mets filling in for injued Logan Morrison – Corey Dickerson, Evan Longoria and Steven Souza Jr.
