Tampa Bay Rays vs Miami Marlins Prediction, 4/2/2021 MLB Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Rays vs Miami Marlins

Date: Friday, April 2, 2021

Location: Marlins Park in Miami, FL

TV: Bally Sports Florida

Odds/Point Spread: Tampa Bay (-135) Miami (+125)

Marlins Park is the venue where Pablo Lopez and the Miami Marlins (31-29, 2nd in NL East last year) will take on the Tampa Bay Rays (40-20, 1st in AL East last season) on Friday. The moneyline on this game has the Rays priced at -135 and the Marlins are at +125. The O/U opens at 7.5. The pitchers taking the mound are Ryan Yarbrough and Pablo Lopez.

The Rays accrued 105 doubles as a team and hit 80 balls out of the stadium last season. Tampa Bay owned a slugging percentage of .425 and struck out 608 times, while drawing a walk on 243 occasions. As a squad, the Tampa Bay Rays notched 4.8 runs per game, which had them sitting at 12th in the league. They accrued 274 runs batted in as well as 470 hits for the previous season, and their average at the plate sat at .238. They had 289 runs scored while having a team on-base percentage of .328.

The Rays finished with a team ERA of 3.57 in the previous season (3rd in the league), and their staff struck out 552 batters. Their strikeout to walk ratio was 3.29 and the pitching staff earned a collective WHIP of 1.22. Rays pitchers surrendered 70 home runs and 229 runs in total (27th in the league). Their pitching staff walked 168 opposing players and their FIP finished at 3.94 as a team last season. The Rays had sent 219 relief pitchers to the hill last season. The relievers inherited 97 base runners in the previous season and 17.5% of them ended up scoring. They compiled 23 saves for the prior year and missed out on 8 out of their 31 chances to save the game. The Rays bullpen earned a save percentage of 74.2% and stepped onto the hill in 73 save situations. The relief pitchers earned 41 holds during the previous year (5th in baseball). Rays pitchers entered the contest with runners on base in 69 contests and also 84 games with high leverage.

Yarbrough was the owner of a FIP of 3.8 and his ERA+ was 116. Ryan Yarbrough conceded 54 base knocks in 55.2 innings last season. He gave up 22 earned runs over the course of last season with a K/BB ratio of 3.7. He conceded 8.7 hits per 9 innings and his WHIP was 1.186. His earned run average sat at 3.56 and he punched out 44 hitters. Yarbrough has taken the ball for 344 frames and has earned 289 punch outs during his career. His ERA is 3.94 (151 ER's allowed) and he has a WHIP of 1.152. He has allowed 315 base hits (8.2 hits per nine innings) and has had 82 free passes. Yarbrough (28-16 record in his career) sits with a FIP of 3.87 while going up against 1,425 opposing batters in the majors.

The Miami Marlins tallied an OBP of .319 as well as a team batting average of .244 last season. They struck out on 537 instances (11th in the league) and had 472 hits. Miami was sitting with 60 HRs in the prior season to go along with 247 runs batted in. The Marlins had a team slugging percentage of .384 and they tallied 4.38 runs per outing (21st in baseball). They put up 82 two-baggers, while walking 191 times as well as putting up 263 runs.

The Marlins held a team WHIP of 1.452 and were the owners of a FIP of 5.02 as a unit last year. Their strikeout to walk ratio came in at 2.00 (451 strikeouts against 226 walks). They were sitting at 9th in the league as a pitching staff in total hits surrendered with 506. They surrendered 82 homers and they gave up 5.43 runs per 9 innings (24th in baseball). The Miami pitching staff allowed 304 runs during the previous year while having an ERA of 4.86 (272 earned runs surrendered). Miami relievers had an inherited score percentage of 31.0% out of their 115 inherited runners. Their bullpen pitchers stepped onto the mound in 53 games with high leverage in addition to 71 contests with base runners. Finishing with 23 save opportunities, the Marlins had 28 holds in addition to 5 blown saves. They ranked 3rd in the league with a save percentage of 78.3%, and they sent 215 bullpen pitchers to the mound last year. Miami had bullpen pitchers enter the game in 56 save situations and they converted 18 saves.

Lopez earned a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.3 with 59 total K's and an ERA+ of 127. His WHIP was 1.19 and he was the owner of a FIP of 3.09 last season. He took the hill for 57.1 innings last year while conceding 7.8 H/9. Lopez allowed 50 hits while he conceded 23 earned runs (3.61 ERA). Lopez (13-16 record in his career) holds a 4.47 earned run average while surrendering 8.6 hits per 9 innings. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.17 and he has faced 956 opposing batters during his MLB career. He has allowed 113 earned runs while earning a WHIP of 1.232 and being the owner of a FIP of 4.0. So far in his pro baseball career, Lopez has allowed 217 hits while totaling 200 K's in 227 innings.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Tampa Bay (-135)

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