<p>Coming off a sweep of St. Louis earlier this week at home the Rays begin a three-city road trip with a stop in Minneapolis for three games with the Twins at Target Field starting Friday night. Drew Rasmussen takes the pill for Tampa Bay here against lefty Devin Smeltzer for Minnesota.</p>
<p>Who do we like here for our <b>free baseball betting pick</b>?</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds</h2>
<p>Friday’s baseball betting lines opened Tampa Bay and Rasmussen at around -120 over Minnesota and Smeltzer, with an over/under of 8.5 runs. Early betting action then flipped the Twins into -120 favorites.</p>
<h2>Rays-Twins MLB Betting Preview</h2>
<p>Tampa Bay just swept three games from St. Louis by scores of 4-2 (in 10 innings), 11-3 and Thursday 2-1. Just before that the Rays dropped two of three games to the White Sox but just before that they won the last two games of a series against Texas. So Tampa is 6-2 over its last eight games.</p>
<p>At 34-23 the Rays trail the first-place Yankees by seven games in the AL East but they also lead the AL wild-card race by a half-game over second-place Toronto and 4.5 games over third-place Boston.</p>
<p>Minnesota, meanwhile, just dropped two of three games at home to the best team in Baseball, the Yankees, losing Thursday’s series finale 10-7 after blowing a 7-3 lead. And sometimes games like that leave a mark.</p>
<p>Just before that the Twins took two of three games at Toronto but just before that they lost the last three games of a series in Detroit. So Minnesota is just 3-6 over its last nine games.</p>
<p>At 33-26 overall the Twins’ lead in the AL Central is down to three games over second-place Cleveland.</p>
<p>This series is the second meeting between these teams this season. Six weeks ago the Twins took two of three from the Rays in St. Pete.</p>
<h2>Friday's Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p>Lefty <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/277853&quot; title="Devin Smeltzer Pitching Game Stats">Smeltzer</a> is 2/5 on quality starts this season. Last Sunday he gave up two runs and four hits, including two solo home runs, over four innings of an 8-6 Minnesota victory over Toronto. And over his four starts previous to that he allowed just four runs 16 hits through 24 innings.</p>
<p>The Twins are 3-2 with Smeltzer this season and that’s a game worse than they should be.</p>
<p>This will be Smeltzer’s first career action against Tampa Bay.</p>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/357296&quot; title="Drew Ramussen Pitching Game Logs">Rasmussen</a> is only 2/11 on quality starts this year but he’s also got four what we’d call “near misses.” Last Saturday he tossed seven innings of three-hit, shutout ball against the White Sox, getting 21 outs on just 81 pitches, although the Rays lost that game 3-2. That performance was certainly welcome, after Rasmussen gave up eight runs and three home runs over his two previous starts, covering 11 innings.</p>
<p>Tampa is 8-3 with Rasmussen this season, which sounds about right.</p>
<p>Over two career relief appearances against the Twins Rasmussen allowed three earned runs and five hits through three innings.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks </h2>
<p>Tampa Bay is batting .258 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .321 team OBP and a .369 team slugging percentage.</p>
<p>Minnesota is slashing .252/.325/.418 against right-handed pitching. The Twins have also scored at least seven runs four times over their last six games.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens </h2>
<p>The Rays bullpen owns a 3.10 ERA this season, along with a 1.14 WHIP.</p>
<p>The Minnesota pen owns a 4.03 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.<br />
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<span style="font-size:14px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1605291">Tampa Bay at Minnesota 6/10/21 Betting Stats</a>
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<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
<p>The Rays are 13-10 on the road this season and 9-5 against left-handed starters.</p>
<p>The Twins are 18-13 at home and 21-19 against right-handed starters.</p>
<h2>Totals Report </h2>
<ul>
<li>The unders are 29-24 in Rays games this season.</li>
<li>The overs are 28-26 in Twins games.</li>
<li>The unders are 15-13 at Target Field this season.</li>
<li>The overs are a combined 8-6 with Smeltzer and Rasmussen this season.</li>
</ul>