Posted at 11:30 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle  +108 BET365 +105 Sportsinteraction +105  888Sport +105

L.A. Angels +108 over Tampa Bay

6:50 PM EST. Both of these starting pitchers have posted sparkling numbers to begin the season, but those surface stats do not always tell the whole story. To that end, we’ll start with the Rays’ Zack Littell (RHP - TAM), who is 1-0 and sports a tidy 1.17 ERA through three starts this season, but his WHIP is a much more pedestrian 1.30, and his xERA, while fine at 3.74, is not elite.

Littell’s biggest problem thus far is his propensity to run up his pitch count, which includes a 99-pitch effort in just 4.1 innings in his turn last Wednesday against the Angels. Littell allowed just one run in that start, but he gave up six hits and walked three while also generating a puny seven swings and misses on the 99 pitches he threw. Dude was laboring, and Littell was playing with fire, but he just didn’t get burned as the Rays bullpen bailed him out.

That last point is the exception and not the rule, by the way, as Tampa has the worst bullpen in baseball with manager Kevin Cash being forced to give them the most half-hearted of endorsements: "It's not coming easy for them right now. It's tough, and all we can do is continue to give them the ball, continue to support them, and trust that they'll get themselves right."

Meanwhile, Reid Detmers is finally living up to the pedigree that comes with being a top-10 pick, as he turned in another gem in his last start, giving up three hits in a 6.1-inning shutout of the Red Sox in which he struck out seven. Detmers now has 26 punchouts to just six walks in 17.1 IP, and he’s fooling hitters with an elite swing-and-miss rate of 16.4%. Detmers has taken a leap forward this season, but it’s important to remember that he’s not even 25 yet, and so many prospects that were drafted during the pandemic had their development stunted during that time. Detmers’ ability to miss bats and keep hitters off the bases (his WHIP is a dazzling 0.81) makes him an enticing underdog. Yeah, we’ll bite.

Sherwood

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