MLB (1 Pick)
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3:40pm est: D-Backs ML (3 Units)
Rays are rolling out the bullpen for today and Zack Littell opens things up. He has a 6.57 ERA in 2023 and is making his first start of the year. This marks his 5th start of his career and first since 2021. The numbers are ugly. In those 4 starts combined: 8IP and 12 ER. Littell began the year with TEX, got traded to BOS, DFA'd by BOS, then signed by TB. He's allowed a run in 5 of his 8 relief appearances for the Rays. He's coming off his best outing, allowing 1 ER in 2.2 IP vs the Royals but that's just the Royals for you. AZ will get a chance to jump ahead early and this TB Rays bullpen isn't nearly as good as years past. Their 3.83 ERA ranks in the middle of the pack.
Brandon Pfaadt starts for AZ. He gets the call up after being sent down to AAA after struggling to being his MLB career. This is the D-Backs #3 ranked prospect 24th in the MLB. He has a career ERA of 3.04 in 20 AAA Starts. He was also the first minor league pitcher to strikeout more than 200 batters in a season as he K'd 218 during the 2022 campaign. He appears to have regained his form and confidence in the minors. He's allowed a combined 5 ER in his last 3 starts (18.2 IP) while striking out 23 batters.
He can be a bit susceptible to the long ball but the roof will be closed at Chase Field today. Much easier to leave the park when it's open. The Rays are also in a 5-way tie ranking 21st with just 21 Homeruns in June. The KC Royals have the least at 18. TB's offense in general ranks 16th in OPS this Month and have been quiet recently. They've failed to score more than 4 Runs in 4 straight games. They managed to score 3 runs in the 9th last night as AZ blew the save and 2 run lead but they had just 2 hits leading up to that inning.
The East Coast teams tend to struggle on the West Coast and Vice Versa. TB is 2-6 in their L8 trips to AZ, they're 2-5 L7 interleague games, and 3-7 L10 interleague road games. They're also "just" 21-18 on the Road and we say "Just" because they're 34-10 at Home. They're 0-4 following a Win too.
D-Backs are 4-1 following a Loss, 19-9 L28 overall, 7-2 L9 interleague games, and 4-1 L5 interleague Home games.
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