I thought the Rays would fare much better against Cody Anderson the second time around. But credit the Indians rookie for pitching a terrific game again last night, and props to the Indians for coming up with a good game plan to confuse the TB hitters. Anderson threw far more changeups than he did in his debut and superbly kept the Rays hitters off balance in the process. I’ll go the small chalk route for the Tuesday free play.
MARINERS (Montgomery) @ PADRES (Kennedy)
Take: PADRES -115
Mike Montgomery has been stellar for the Mariners since finally getting called up for his shot. Montgomery was a very hot prospect coming through the Royals organization, but injuries and control issues stymied his progress. The lefty had basically become a bounce around minor leaguer and was off most radar screens. But Montgomery has been terrific since getting his chance and he looks to maintain the hot run tonight at Petco.
Montgomery does fit a pretty good fade angle here. Playing against pitchers off their first ever complete game shutouts has done reasonably well over the years, and the rookie southpaw is a qualifier on that count. I’m not a great believer in blind angle follows, and need more to line up in that direction. I do think there’s some solid footing here though, as this Padres lineup is at least capable of doing some damage to lefties, particularly at home. It clearly doesn’t always play out that way, but I can definitely see some of the righty thump on the Padres getting some good licks in tonight.
Ian Kennedy will work for San Diego here. Kennedy seems to be back to his old self following a very difficult start to the season. Kennedy is off a loss in which he surrendered a very damaging grand slam after being betrayed by some bad defense. But Kennedy has been mostly good of late and he’s facing a bad offense here. The Mariners have been a flop with the sticks and they’ve been terrible almost all season at delivering with men in scoring position.
San Diego has not been a powerhouse at home and Seattle has actually been better on the road than at Safeco. Montgomery is a hot pitcher, so he’s no snap to fire against right now. But I see this line being a bit on the cheap side and I don’t mind the aforementioned angle as a viable support feature here. I’ll look to play the Padres for the Tuesday comp.
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TWO 2* MLB BEST BETS loaded.