Tampa Bay Rays vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Rays to beat Cardinals again

Tampa Bay and St. Louis will play game 3 of the series at Tropicana Field. The first two games went to the Rays. Will they win the third game again? Let's pick a few options to bet on at once.

Tampa Bay has a great balance at home

Kevin Cash's team has a 20-13 home balance through the first two games of their home series with St. Louis – only three teams in the American League have a better one. Tampa Bay is also fourth in the conference in total wins-losses (33-23).

The second game of the series with the Cardinals, unlike the first (4-2), was very easy for the Rays, 11-3. All of the team's runs came in five complete innings by Corey Kluber. Relief, represented by Jason Adam, Luke Bard, and Shawn Armstrong, worked a no-hitter. Offensively, left fielder Randy Arozarena was most effective, with 4 RBI, and second baseman Vidal Brujan had 3 RBI.

Tampa Bay's starting pitcher for the third game of the series against St. Louis is the team's best, Shane McClanahan, 6-2, and a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts.

St. Louis tired on the road

The upcoming game will be the Cardinals' last on the road. Before meeting with Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field, Oliver Marmol's team played their most historically competitive opponent, the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field and won three of five games there, 5-7, 14-5, 1-6, 7-4, 5-3. The Cards are fifth in the National League standings with a 32-25 balance.

Miles Mikolas, 4-3 and a 3.02 ERA in 11 starts, will start on the pitcher's mound for the Cardinals in Game 3 of their series with Tampa Bay.

Head-to-head encounters

The score in the season series is 2-0 in favor of Tampa Bay.

The last time the rivals crossed paths was in the 2017 championship. Tampa Bay then won two games out of three.

Expert Betting Tips

With Shane McClanahan on the mound, Tampa Bay has hardly lost a game this season. St. Louis is too experienced a team to allow a second consecutive defeat with a wide margin, but they are also unlikely to win the third game of the series. After this game, the Cardinals will face a home series with Cincinnati, where they can pick up a win.

Prediction: a win for Tampa Bay.

Betting options:

• Tampa Bay To Win + Total Under (9.5) for 1.96;
• St. Louis ITU (3) for 1.725;
• Tampa Bay Handicap (-1) for 1.80.

TelecomAsia Sport is looking for tipsters for Australian soccer (AFL). Contact [email protected] for more information.