Tampa Bay Rays vs. Seattle Mariners Betting Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners will play game two of their four-game set this Friday night from T-Mobile Park at 9:40 PM on Apple TV+.

Seattle comes into this game as the favorites, with the total opening at 7. Rays coach Kevin Cash will send Matt Wisler to the mound for the Rays, while Mariners skipper Tony La Russa will trot out ace of staff Logan Gilbert.

The Mariners won six of seven meetings last season, but the Rays have taken three of the first four matchups this season. Seattle has astoundingly covered the run line in the last 16 matchups.

Key injuries

There are no glaring injuries for either side coming into this one.

Why Rays can win

Tampa Bay has shaken their early season funk, and they’ve opened this west coast trip with four straight wins. The Rays are getting back to their old ways at the plate, getting production from all over the line up. 

Manuel Margot leads the team in batting average through the first month of the season at .303. and he’s bringing a five-game hit streak into this one, recording RBI’s in four of those. 

Matt Wisler (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will make the bullpen start for Tampa Bay. The eighth-year pitcher has been pretty stout in ten appearances this season. Wisler has only allowed two earned runs over twelve innings pitched, and he’s fanned eleven batters. He has every ingredient for a no run first inning.

Why Mariners can win

Seattle sending their ace to the hill and impressively carrying a 16-game cover streak against the Rays is more than enough to like them in this home spot tonight. They’ve dropped four in a row after a good month of April, and they need a win to stop the bleeding here.

Ty France and J.P. Crawford have jumped out to strong starts, with the former on pace to set a career-high in RBI. When newcomers Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez get going, the Mariners are going to be tough to pitch around.

Logan Gilbert (4-0, 0.64 ERA) will get the ball this evening for Seattle. The second-year pitcher looks like the real deal, and an early dark-horse for the Cy Young candidate early. Gilbert has only given up two runs over 28 innings of work, and he struck out a season-high 7 batters in his start against Tampa last week.

The Pick: Seattle Mariners ML (-120)
It’s really hard to bet against Seattle under these circumstances. The Mariners have dropped four straight, and a win here feels necessary. Gilbert has come out in peak form, and that should not slow down here at home. Seattle covering 16 times in a row feels like icing on the cake here, but I recommend ML here for safety.