Orioles vs. Rangers Prediction and Odds for Tuesday, August 2 (Don't Trust the Pitchers in AL Showdown)

The Baltimore Orioles are ready to move on after trading away fan-favorite Trey Mancini to the Houston Astros yesterday.

Despite leaning more towards selling than buying at the trade deadline, the Orioles are still surprisingly in the hunt for an AL wild card spot. It will be a tough road ahead if they want to achieve the feat, but with a record above .500, it's a possibility.

A step in the right direction would be a second-straight win over the Texas Rangers after beating them on Monday night by a final score of 7-2.

Let's take a look at the odds via WynnBET Sportsbook for tonight's game.

Orioles vs. Rangers Odds, Run Line, and Total

Run line:

• Orioles +1.5 (-195)
• Rangers -1.5 (+160)

Moneyline:

• Orioles +113
• Rangers -123

Total:

• 8.5 (Over -125/Under +105)

Orioles vs. Rangers Prediction and Pick

Believe it or not, this is one of the tougher games to handicap on the MLB board for tonight.

Both starting pitchers have similar numbers. Jordan Lyles enters the game with an ERA of 4.56, and Spencer Howard sports an ERA of 5.93. Both offenses rank in the middle of the pack over the last month, and both bullpens rank in the top half of the Majors since the start of July.

With all that being said, I'm going to back the OVER in this one.

I can't fully trust either starter. Both are susceptible to get lit up on occasion, and all we need is for one of them to have a subpar performance and we'll be flirting with cashing the OVER. Lyles allowed six earned runs against the Rays a couple of weeks ago, and five earned runs against the Mariners in Mid-July. Those weren't the first times this season both pitchers got rocked.

Let's sit back and hope at least one of the two starting pitchers implode tonight.

Lean: OVER 8.5 (-120)

You can track Iain's bets on Betstamp here.