Tigers vs. Rangers Prediction and Odds for Saturday, August 27 (Expect Low-Scoring Affair)
By Joe Summers
Kohei Arihara turned heads in the Texas Rangers' organization when he threw six shutout innings against the Minnesota Twins last week. He gets a much more favorable matchup against the Detroit Tigers today, and the Rangers are hopeful Arihara can carve out a role in their 2023 rotation.
Despite struggling in the minors with a 4.88 ERA this year, Arihara has two straight impressive major league outings. The Detroit Tigers are a pathetic 6-19 in their last 25 road games but have their own starter to evaluate in Eduardo Rodriguez.
If you remove a disaster outing against Tampa Bay in which Rodriguez allowed three runs before recording even two outs, he's got a 0.50 ERA in his last three starts.
Which promising arm will gain the upper hand? Let's check out the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook to evaluate this Tigers vs Rangers matchup:
Tigers vs Rangers Odds, Run Line and Total
Tigers vs Rangers Prediction and Pick
Both clubs are purely in evaluation mode at this point, with no shot at making the postseason but promising young rosters. Kohei Arihara seems to have revamped his pitch arsenal to fantastic results. By cutting down his fastball using and instead relying on a series of breaking pitchers, Arihara has a potentially strong arsenal with a variety of tools.
Kohei Arihara didn't throw any four-seamers or curveballs in his shutout outing today.
— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) August 21, 2022
Last year, the four-seamer was his most used pitch at 30.3% of the time, though he never used the curveball much (just 2.4% last year). pic.twitter.com/gar6BE2ZRU
The Detroit Tigers have MLB's worst lineup against right-handed pitchers this month, so Arihara has an excellent opportunity to continue making his case for a 2023 rotation spot.
Welcome back, E-rod!
— Just Baseball (@JustBBMedia) August 21, 2022
Eduardo Rodriguez is making his first start since May and he's dotting pitches! pic.twitter.com/mXJLI9c4Ui
But Eduardo Rodriguez looked excellent himself in his first start since May. If he can keep walks under control, he should find success against the Rangers. Rodriguez's specialty is limiting hard contact, ranking in the 79th percentile in hard hit percentage, and Texas' lineup is prone to disappearing for long stretches.
In three of the Rangers' last four home games, they scored two runs or fewer. I expect similar struggles against Rodriguez.
Given I have faith in both starters and limited faith in each lineup, I'm on the under in this matchup. It's 10-3-2 in Detroit's last 15 road games and 3-0-1 in Rodriguez's last four starts. Look for these trends to continue as Arihara and Rodriguez make their respective cases for next season.
PICK: Under 8 (-105)
Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.