MLB Betting – Rangers at Yankees

Texas Rangers (+155) vs New York Yankees (-175, 8.5 o/u)

The Texas Rangers (51-27, 23-15 Away) will look for a fifth straight win over the New York Yankees (37-39, 21-18 Home) tonight when they send right-hander Nick Martinez to take on Masahiro Tanaka at Yankee Stadium (7:05 PM Eastern).

The Rangers needed over seven hours to take the first the three game set (9-6) due to a rain delay. Last night’s affair was a much more expedited 7-1 romp for the visitors. Adrian Beltre launched his 11th homer of the season in the first, a two-run shot that would prove to be the winning runs.

Texas has now outscored New York 29-11 in the last four head-to-head.

The Rangers are running away with the AL West thanks, sitting ten games up on second-place Houston. They’ve been road warriors all season and have kept that up of late, winning eight straight and 15 of the last 18 away from home. They’re also 29-8 in the last 37 overall.

“We’re having fun with each other. We’re really pushing each other to I think another level, emotionally and physically. I think for all of us and that’s exciting to see because we have an unbelievable balance in this clubhouse and out on that field that nothing’s going to push us over the top, and nothing’s going to take us all the way down”, said pitcher Cole Hamels, who recorded the win on Tuesday, to the Associated Press.

Martinez (1-1, 5.54 ERA) will be making just his third start of the season tonight after taking a no-decision in an 8-7 win over Boston last Friday.  He has a 1-1 record against the Yankees with a 4.00 ERA in three career starts. He has the good fortune of facing a Yankee team stuck in neutral. The Yanks have now dropped three straight and five of eight. They sit nine games back of Baltimore in the AL East and are two games under .500.

Tanaka has been one of the few silver linings for the Pinstripes this year. In 15 starts this season, the 27-year-old righty is 5-2 with a 3.01 ERA.  He has won his last two starts, but comes into tonight’s game on four days’ rest.

At some point, both these teams’ streaks will come to an end. Playing at home and with a favorable pitching matchup, I like the Yanks to emerge with a win tonight.

Pick: Yankees (-175).

(Photo Credit: Arturo Pardavila III, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)