AL East Showdown – Tampa Bay at Baltimore

MLB BASEBALL BETTING – Game Match-Up 5/13

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles 7:05 ET

After a wild game on Tuesday night that featured poor starting pitching and tremendous work from the bullpens, the Tampa Bay Rays (15-19, -$551) and Baltimore Orioles (14-19, -$326) will do battle once again from Camden Yards on Wednesday. BetOnline Sportsbook has all of the online betting action you need for this and all of the games on tap on Hump Day. Last night, neither Tampa Bay’s Andy Sonnanstine nor Baltimore’s Mark Hendrickson lasted longer than six outs, as the two combined to give up 12 runs in just four innings of work. After that, the two bullpens combined to throw a whopping 15 straight innings of shutout baseball.

Tonight, the oddsmakers have made the visiting Rays -120 favorites, while the ‘total’ is high once again at 11 over +100 on the MLB Odds.

No one really figured that RHP Jeff Niemann was going to last too long in Tampa Bay’s rotation this season with super stud LHP David Price waiting in the wings at AAA Durham. He’s been relatively effective this season, and that paired with the struggles of Sonnanstine have to make Rays bettors wonder whether Niemann is in the rotation for good. Niemann was touched up for a pair of runs in 3.1 innings in Yankee Stadium in his last outing, but kept the Rays in the game long enough so they could pick up an 8-6 victory. In his only career outing against the O’s, Niemann gave up six runs in 5.1 innings in Tampa Bay’s 6-0 defeat. Don’t let those numbers fool you, though. The 6’9” righty allowed five of those runs before he recorded his first out. Since then, his ERA has been a respectable 4.08.

RHP Brad Bergesen will take the hill for his fifth career start on Wednesday night. So far early in his career, the 23-year old has done well enough to keep his O’s in games. He’s 1-0 with a 4.98 ERA, and though none of his outings have been spectacular this season, he has only allowed more than three runs once. Baltimore bettors are 3-1 and +$200 with their rookie righty on the mound this season. This will be his first career outing against the boys from the Bay.

After a 2008 season where the Rays won the final 12 games of the season series, Baltimore has seemed to turn the tables on the defending AL champs. The O’s are 4-2 in six games this year, but it’s hard to bet against Niemann in this spot. The ‘total’ in this game seems rather ridiculous, though. Yes, both teams have the ability to score runs in bunches, and yes, both bullpens were overworked last night, but both teams had Monday off, and save Brian Bass, who pitched four innings yesterday, all of the arms in both pens should be available for work again. The Orioles are 6-3-1 in their L/10 for ‘under’ bettors, and though this won’t be a 1-0 duel by any stretch of the imagination, the idea of seeing a dozen runs on the scoreboard is difficult to see tonight.

Rose’s Recommendation: 2* Under 11 -120

(Rating Scale: 1* – 5*)