The Tampa Bay Rays square off against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon to wrap up a three-game set at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. These two AL East foes will also close down their regular-season series, so here’s the best Rays vs. O’s betting pick for Game 19. 

Excluding the middle contest of this set, Tampa Bay is 16-1 against Baltimore in 2021. The Rays are firm -205 favorites for Sunday’s closer, while the O’s are +188 moneyline underdogs with a total of 10.5 runs on Bookmaker Sportsbook.  

The Rays lead the way in the American League  

The Tampa Bay Rays improved to 80-48 on the season following a 6-3 victory at Camden Yards this past Friday, extending their winning streak to five games. The Rays have lost just four of their last 20 games overall and continue to lead the AL East with the best record in the league, four games ahead of the Yankees and seven ahead of the Red Sox.

Chris Archer will get the starting call Sunday in Baltimore, his third of the season. The 32-year-old righty rejoined the Rays’ rotation last Sunday and tossed a couple of scoreless innings in a 9-0 home victory over the White Sox. He’s 6-10 with a 5.07 ERA in 19 career starts and one relief appearance against Baltimore, but Archer hasn’t met the O’s since 2018.

The Rays certainly don’t expect Archer to last for too long and will lean on their bullpen once more. Tampa’s relievers have done a terrific job over the last two weeks of action, registering a 2.53 ERA and 3.98 FIP.

The Orioles sit bottom of the American League  

The Baltimore Orioles put an end to their horrible 19-game losing streak last Wednesday. They beat Shohei Ohtani and the Angels 10-6 in the middle contest of a three-game home series. The O’s smashed the Halos 13-1 to clinch the series Thursday, but they returned to the losing track with that 6-3 defeat to the Rays last Friday.

In the last two weeks, the Orioles have posted the highest ERA in baseball (7.14). Spenser Watkins will get the Rays Sunday, and he’s 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in three starts against Tampa in 2021. The 29-year-old rookie has been charged for a loss in six straight outings, tallying a horrendous 10.52 ERA across 25.2 frames of work in the process.

The O’s have scored 51 runs over their last 13 games. They’ve smacked 18 home runs and 28 doubles while drawing only 28 free passes (.248/.301/.434 slash line).

Trends:

Tampa Bay:

  • 9-1 in the last ten games overall
  • 13-4 in the last 17 games on the road
  • 22-2 in the last 24 games against Baltimore

Baltimore:

  • 2-20 in the last 22 games overall
  • 0-6 in Spenser Watkins’ last six starts 

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles Pick

Spenser Watkins meets Tampa Bay for the third time this month. He’s yielded four earned runs on eight hits in each of their previous two encounters (ten innings pitched), while the Rays have emerged victorious on both occasions, 12-3 and 8-4.

Tampa Bay is slashing .257/.319/.449 in the last couple of weeks. The Rays have dominated the Orioles as of late and shouldn’t have any problems extending their good run of form. 

Pick: Take Tampa Bay Rays at -205      

The Total:

I’ve mentioned how good the Rays bullpen is, while the Orioles ‘pen has recorded a disappointing 5.83 ERA and 5.69 FIP over the last couple of weeks, allowing a whopping 1.84 home runs per nine innings. Hereof, I’ll go with the over, but the totals are a tricky wager because the Orioles could easily struggle to hit well in this matchup.

Baltimore has struggled against the righties all season. On the other hand, eight of the Orioles’ last ten encounters with the Rays went in the over, while six of the previous eight produced ten or more runs in total.

Pick: Go over 10.5 runs at +100