Rays vs. Reds prediction and odds for Monday, April 17 (Fade Tampa Bay)

The Rays have cooled off a bit after the clubs historic start to the season. The team has dropped two of three after starting 13-0 on the year.

Tampa Bay heads to Cincinnati to face the rebuilding Reds and get back to the team’s dominant ways. However, is it worthwhile bet with the team set as a road favorite with Jalen Beeks toeing the rubber for the team?

The Reds will hope flame throwing prospect Hunter Greene can maintain his control and spark an upset of Tampa Bay.

Here are the odds for Monday’s matchup:

Rays vs. Reds odds, run line and total

Rays vs. Reds prediction and pick

The Rays send out the opener Beeks, who has struggled so far this season in limited action, struggling to find a punch out pitch with only five strikeouts in six innings of work. While Cincinnati has a ton of work to do in the bullpen (more on that in a bit), the offense has been solid, 12th in batting average at .253 and eighth in walk rate at over 10%.

If Beeks is going to be unable to punch out Cincinnati batters, who can work counts and also put the ball into play at a high level, that opens up avenues for the Reds to plate runs against the Rays.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s offense is due to cool down after an insane start to the season and I think it can continue against Greene, one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the bigs at 23 years old but has struggled with some poor variance in the field so far in his second season. Greene has a 5.14 ERA through three starts, but a Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) of 2.47, meaning that Greene needs some helps from his teammates in the field.

He has struck out 23 batters in 14 innings, though, he is an overpowering pitcher, and I believe that this is a perfect storm for a breakout performance.

I’ll take the Reds as small home underdogs.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.