Texas Rangers vs Tampa Bay Rays Prediction, 4/15/2021 MLB Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Texas Rangers vs Tampa Bay Rays

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2021

Location: Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL

TV: Bally Sports Sun

Odds/Point Spread: Texas (+161) Tampa Bay (-175)

Jordan Lyles and the Texas Rangers (4-7, 5th in AL West) are headed to Tropicana Field on Thursday where they'll take on the Tampa Bay Rays (5-6, 4th in AL East). The Rangers open this game at +161 while the Rays are priced at -175. The over/under opens at 8.5. The expected starting pitchers will be Jordan Lyles and Rich Hill.

Texas is slugging .347 and have been called out on strikes 121 times, while drawing a walk on 29 occasions. They have 43 RBI's and 81 base knocks for the season, and their team batting average is .225. The Rangers have compiled 12 doubles as a squad and have knocked 10 baseballs out of the park. They have accumulated 44 runs scored while holding a team on-base percentage of .298. As a squad, the Texas Rangers are knocking in 4.0 runs per game, which puts them at 24th in the league.

The Rangers hold a team ERA of 4.50 for the year (16th in the league), and their staff has rung up 90 batters. Their pitching staff has walked 34 opposing players and their FIP comes in at 4.91 as a team on the year. They have a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.65 and their pitching staff sits with a WHIP of 1.33. Rangers pitchers have given up 17 home runs and also 55 runs in total (11th in MLB).

The Rangers relief pitchers have a save rate of 50.0% and stepped onto the hill in 8 save situations. The relief pitchers have inherited 12 runners so far this year with 33.3% of them earned a run for their team. Rangers pitchers have gone to the mound with players on base 5 times in addition to having 6 appearances in high leverage situations. The Rangers have dispatched 34 relief pitchers to the hill so far this year. The relievers have racked up 3 holds this year (23rd in MLB). They have recorded 2 saves so far this year and have missed out on 2 of 4 save opportunities.

Lyles has taken the ball for 977 frames and has totaled 741 strikeouts thus far in his career. Lyles (45-66 mark in his career) holds a FIP of 4.62 while he has faced 4,318 batters during his time in the major leagues. His ERA is 5.21 (566 ER's allowed) and he has a career WHIP of 1.442. He has surrendered 1,069 hits (9.8 hits per 9 innings) and has 340 walks.

Tampa Bay has 11 home runs on the season as well as 43 RBIs. They have recorded 21 doubles, while walking 37 times and racking up 45 runs. The Tampa Bay Rays have tallied a team OBP of .305 as well as a batting average of .221 for the year. The Rays hold a team SLG% of .374 and they are scoring 4.09 runs per contest (19th in baseball). They have struck out on 108 occasions (10th in MLB) and are sitting with 81 hits.

The Rays have a WHIP of 1.341 in addition to having a FIP of 3.21 as a staff so far this season. Their K/BB ratio is 3.53 (106 strikeouts vs 30 free passes). They are sitting at 3rd in the league as a pitching staff in total hits given up with 103. They have given up 9 dingers and they give up 5.72 runs per 9 innings (27th in MLB). The Tampa Bay pitching staff have conceded 63 runs over the course of the season while holding an ERA of 4.90 (54 earned runs relinquished).

Tampa Bay has called on relief pitchers to step onto the hill in 7 save opportunities and they have come away with 3 saves. They are ranked 25th in baseball with a save rate of 42.9%, and they have dispatched 36 relievers to the mound for the season. Their bullpen pitchers have come in 21 times in high leverage situations and also on 13 occasions with base runners. Tampa Bay relievers have an inherited score percentage of 29.4% out of their 17 inherited runners. Sitting with 14 save situations, the Rays have 7 holds and 4 blown saves.

So far in his career, Hill has allowed 812 hits while he has accumulated 1,046 punch outs in 986 innings. He has conceded a total of 419 earned runs while earning a WHIP of 1.221 and having a FIP of 3.9. He has a K/BB ratio of 2.67 and he has faced 4,132 hitters so far in his MLB career. Hill (68-44 career mark) has a 3.82 ERA while giving up 7.4 hits per nine innings.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Texas (+161)

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