Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers 8/4/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Tampa Bay Rays will open a series on the road at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have had some flashes this season, but are still in the midst of a rebuild, and will miss the playoffs again this season. After losing four of their last five, the Tigers dropped to 42-64 which leaves them 14 games back. Tampa is in one of the best divisions in baseball and trails the Yankees by 14 games, but are still very much in the hunt for a wildcard spot at six games over .500 at 55-49. Find out who else is in the playoff hunt with our MLB previews.

Tampa Bay has relied on pitching and defense to get them into the playoff mix, they’re 22nd in the MLB in scoring offense averaging 4.09 runs per game. The offense has had some issues and doesn’t really have a true super star. Left fielder Randy Arozarena leads the team with 47 RBIs and at just 27-years-old has become a part of the Tampa Bay future.

The Rays pitching staff has continued to reload with talent, and left-hander Jeffrey Spring is a decent part of that. Spring is 3-3 but has a solid 2.70 ERA this season and was promoted to be a backend starter. Spring allowed three runs on six hits in his last outing, striking out five and walking one, but the Rays managed just one run and he was handed the loss. 

The Tigers offense is the worst in the MLB, at least in terms of scoring offense, averaging a dismal 3.23 runs per game. Detroit added Javy Baez at the deadline last season, and then re-signed him to a massive deal, but he’s struggled this season hitting just .221 but does lead the Tigers in home runs (10) and RBIs (40).

The right-handed Drew Hutchinson will get the start for the Tigers and hope to build off a short, but strong outing his last timeout. Hutchinson is 1-4 with a 4.53 ERA and 1.39 WHIP this season and it was questionable whether he would make his scheduled start after an injury. He allowed a run on two hits in five innings and struck out 3, but the Tigers lost to the Bluejays 5-3.