{"id":23474,"date":"2012-06-28T09:47:45","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T14:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=23474"},"modified":"2012-06-28T09:47:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T14:47:45","slug":"mlb-predictions-2012-detroit-tigers-vs-tampa-bay-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/mlb-predictions-2012-detroit-tigers-vs-tampa-bay-rays-23474\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Predictions 2012: Detroit Tigers vs. Tampa Bay Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Tigers (36-39) and Tampa Bay Rays (40-35) will open up a four-game American League series on Thursday night at Tropicana Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET<\/p>\n

Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Detroit Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera is one of the hottest hitters in baseball<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Detroit suffered a 13-9 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, and will now travel from the Lone Star State to Sunshine State.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s some bright signs, but just an ugly game,\u201d stated Tigers manager Jim Leyland at the conclusion of the contest.\u00a0 The Tigers have posted a 36-27 (.571) record on the road since August 11 of last year, which is the third-best winning percentage in the majors in that situation.\u00a0 Third baseman Miguel Cabrera continues to perform at the plate, batting .330 with eight home runs and 38 RBI over his last 45 games.\u00a0 Detroit is 5-5 as a road underdog of +100 to +125, with the \u201cover\u201d going 8-2 in that situation.<\/p>\n

Tigers starting pitcher Max Scherzer (6-5, 5.12 ERA) has watched the club drop three of his last four efforts, including a 4-1 setback on the road to the Pittsburgh Pirates last time out, giving up three runs and three hits over six frames.\u00a0 The right-hander is 4-3 with a 5.01 ERA in nine road outings, serving up nine home runs in 50.1 combined innings.\u00a0 In three career starts versus the Rays, Scherzer has tallied an 0-2 record and 3.06 ERA.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay returns home after a dismal 3-6 road trip, which included a three-game sweep by the Kansas City Royals.\u00a0 \u201cA lot of really closely contested games, and it speaks to the spirit of our club,\u201d commented Rays manager Joe Maddon.\u00a0 The Rays are now set to play 17 of their next 21 games at home, but have gone 8-14 in their last 22 contests at Tropicana field.\u00a0 Tampa Bay is 6-8 as a home favorite of -125 to -150, while the \u201cunder\u201d is 7-5 in that situation.<\/p>\n

Rays starting pitcher James Shields (7-4, 3.99 ERA) has watched his club drop his last two outings, but has a great chance to turn things around against tonight\u2019s opponent.\u00a0 The right-hander is 5-0 with a 3.51 ERA in eight career starts versus the Tigers, serving as the only AL opponent that he\u2019s never lost to.\u00a0 In seven home starts this season, Shields has compiled a 2-2 record and 3.51 ERA, issuing six walks and 41 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Rays due to their 7-0 record in Shields\u2019 last seven home starts against losing opponents, while the Tigers are 2-7 in series openers.<\/p>\n

Make sure to check out our Major League Baseball picks<\/a> all season long and get the most up-to-date betting odds at Bookmaker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Tigers (36-39) and Tampa Bay Rays (40-35) will open up a four-game American League series on Thursday night at Tropicana Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays\u00a0 Detroit suffered a 13-9 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, and will now travel from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[151,48,86,100,2010,150],"class_list":["post-23474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-american-league","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-james-shields","tag-max-scherzer","tag-miguel-cabrera","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23475,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23474\/revisions\/23475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}