Tampa Bay Rays vs Atlanta Braves Prediction: Poor Rays will struggle again

On Sunday, Major League Baseball action will take place at Tropicana Field, featuring a matchup between the Atlanta Braves and the Tampa Bay Rays. This will be the second of three games that will be played over the course of the weekend. The Braves were victorious in their season opener on Saturday, despite it being a close game.

In their most recent series, which was played against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tampa Bay Rays had no luck at all and ended up losing all three games. On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays outhit the Braves by a score of 6-2, but they were unable to generate much of a scoring advantage. In the start, 5.2 innings were completed by Tyler Glasnow, who allowed one earned run on two hits and one walk. On Sunday, Taj Bradley will get the nod at the helm of the starting rotation for the Rays. Bradley has a record of 5-4 with a 5.27 earned run average and 76 strikeouts over 56.1 innings pitched over 12 starts this season (the first 12 starts of his career). The Tampa Bay Rays have a record of 52-21 in their last 73 games played at home and a record of 41-15 in their previous 56 interleague home games. In their last 58 games against teams from the National League East, the Tampa Bay Rays have a record of 41-17.

Last week, the Atlanta Braves competed against the Cleveland Guardians and emerged victorious in two of the three matches. During Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Atlanta scored all of their runs in the fourth inning, leading to a 2-1 victory for the Braves. Charlie Morton, the starting pitcher, worked 6.1 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out two batters. On Sunday, Atlanta's starting pitcher will be Spencer Strider. In 17 starts so far this season, Strider has a record of 10-2 with a 3.66 earned run average and 155 strikeouts across 98.1 innings pitched. In his career, Strider has played 50 games (37 starts), and he has a record of 22-7 with a 3.10 ERA. The Atlanta Braves have a record of 45-15 over the last 60 games they've played in game two of a series, while their overall record over the last 64 games is 44-20. In their last 59 games played on Sunday, Atlanta has a record of 40-19.

In this second game, I'm going to back the Atlanta Braves to win. Strider is currently enjoying a very successful stretch; over the course of his last three starts, he has a record of 3-0 with just four earned runs allowed across a total of 19.2 innings pitched. As for Bradley, he has not fared well in his most recent two starts, finishing winless while allowing 12 earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched. With the exception of a home run by Sean Murphy in the fourth inning, the Braves didn't have much going for them at the plate on Saturday. The pitching staff was successful in keeping the Rays at bay, which is good news. I believe that the Atlanta Braves have what it takes to keep their winning streak alive in game two, but I anticipate another nail-biter.