MLB Over/Under Best Bet: Plenty of Tampa Bay Ray K’s on tap versus Danny Salazar tonight

With Jake Odorizzi and Danny Salazar on the hill in game two of the Rays-Indians series in Cleveland, the under is pretty tempting, sitting at 9.5.

Very happy with last night’s performance, as after failing to grab a weekend sweep in Sunday afternoon’s under loss, I was able to go 2-0 on a pair of over bets. Just want to keep it going, so let’s move on to Tuesday’s best bet.

Zylbert’s 2017 MLB Over/Under Betting Record: 26-19-4 (57.8%), +525

Yesterday’s Results: Archer vs. Carrasco Over 7.5 (WIN), Colon vs. Bolsinger Over 9 (WIN)

*Each bet graded as if it were to win 100 dollars/units

Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Indians

Jake Odorizzi vs. Danny Salazar

UNDER 9.5 (-120) (via OddsShark)

Yesterday evening, I picked up a win in the Rays-Indians series opener with the over hitting fairly early in the ballgame, but for tonight’s contest, I foresee the opposite outcome.

With Jake Odorizzi and Danny Salazar slated to take the ball for game two, and given the relatively high line for this matchup, it looks like the under may be the bet to make here.

Let’s first highlight the bigger constant of these two 27-year-old right-handers, Jake Odorizzi, who has been nothing short of marvelous since an unspectacular season debut against the Yankees on April 4.

In his last four starts, Odorizzi has surrendered two runs or fewer each time out, with the under prevailing in all of those games. Over Odorizzi’s last three, the opposition has failed to score more than one run with him on the mound, hitting a miniscule .154 within that span.

Since debuting in the big leagues in 2012, Odorizzi has made three starts against the Tribe, en route to posting a 2.92 ERA. With the under listed as high as 9 here, something resembling even close to that track record would put us in good position for the win.

That would especially ring true if Salazar can contribute some of his more typical work tonight, though that hasn’t really been happening much as of late. The hard-throwing five-year veteran has failed to make it past the fifth inning in three of his last four tries, registering only one quality start during this stretch.

He’s still been piling up the K’s, however, having logged a whopping 53 strikeouts in only 36 1/3 total innings of work, compared to 18 walks. That’s exactly the main reason to get excited about Salazar entering this assignment, as Tampa Bay leads all of baseball in punch-outs as a team. Thus, you have to think an overpowering pitcher like Salazar will be in a very favorable position in this one versus a team that is very much prone to the whiff.

The beauty of this particular line being so high is that even if one of these two starters falters, the other pitcher is more than capable of churning out a lengthy dominant outing, which could play a huge role in cashing this under either way. We’ll see how it unfolds after first pitch at 6:10 p.m. ET.

*Always check back to see if additional action has been added.