Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros

Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 1.78 ERA) vs Gerrit Cole (20-5, 2.50 ERA)

Game Odds - Houston -280, O/U 7

Series - Tied 2-2

 

Pitching

Tampa Bay Rays
 
Rays are sending Tyler Glasnow to the mound for Game 5 but he is expected to be limited to 90 pitches. In Game 1 Glasnow lasted just four innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking three and striking out five. Injuries aside this season, Glasnow was outstanding as he demonstrated the elite stuff that made him one of the top pitching prospects in baseball a few years ago.  He is a true boom or bust play today because of his strikeout upside however the lineup he will be facing is one that have beaten some of the best of pitchers.
 
Houston Astros
 
Gerrit Cole was in Cy Young form during Game 2 as he tossed 7.2 shutout innings while striking out 15 Tampa Bay hitters. This performance was no fluke as Cole was dominant all year long, finishing with a 20-5 record while striking out 326 hitters over 212.1 innings. Tampa's offense is one that is better aginst LHP than RHP so it would not shock me to see another shutout type performance tonight.
 

Hitting 

Tampa Bay Rays
 
It hasn't been the best series for Tampa hitters given the eilite pitching they have run into but three hitters to note have actually done some damange. Tommy Pham is 9-for-21 (.429) with two home runs and an OPS of 1.169. Pham collected two-hits in Game 2 when facing Cole so maybe he keeps up this hot hitting even in a tough match up. Next, Avisail García is 6-for-17 (.353) with a home run and an OPS of .882. In Game 2 against Cole however, Garcia was 0-4 with two strikeouts. Lastly we have Willy Adames who is 5-for-14 (.357) with two home runs and an OPS of 1.328. Of those not hitting well, if the Rays are to make noise tonight, I think we need to see Austin Meadows step up here. Meadows is hitting just 3-for-19 with nine strikeouts in this series.
 
Houston Astros
 
Houston has had one of the leagues best offenses all season so it shoud be no shock that somebody like Jose Altuve is hitting .313 with two home runs and an OPS of 1.165 or Alex Bregman hitting .385 with a home run and an OPS of 1.192. Yordan Alvarez has three doubles to go with his .375 average while Yuli Gurriel continued his career year by hitting .333 during this series. It hasn't been all great however for Houston as George Springer , Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa are a combined 7-for-48 with 14 strikeouts.
 

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