The Tampa Bay Rays will look to stay hot when they square off against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. The Rays (27-26) have won six straight games, their longest winning streak of the season. They have moved into second place in the American League East, six games behind the Yankees.
On Tuesday, Tampa Bay will hand the ball to Taj Bradley (4-3, 4.61 ERA). The Rays have won three of his last four starts. Bradley will be opposed by the Twins' Joe Ryan (4-2, 2.68).
Sportsbooks have set Bradley's total strikeout player prop at 5.5 (Over +120, Under -150), while Ryan's is 5.5 (Over -164, Under +125). The SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every MLB game 10,000 times, rates Bradley Under 5.5 as a 3-star play on its five-star scale and Ryan Over 5.5 as a 4-star play.
However, the model has found better value elsewhere on Tuesday's 15-game schedule. There is one pitcher strikeout player prop at plus-money that the model has rated at 5 stars and two others rated at 4.5 stars. Here they are:
Brady Singer Over 3.5 strikeouts (-161) vs. Royals (7:40 p.m. ET)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Model projection: 4.9 strikeouts
Singer (5-3, 4.88) will be facing the club with which he spent the first five seasons of his career. This is a reachable total for him; he has gone Over 3.5 strikeouts in six of 10 starts this season. In 68 career games at Kauffman Stadium, he has a 3.30 ERA and is averaging almost a strikeout per inning (347 strikeouts in 381.1 innings). He has gone less than 5.0 innings in just two starts this season.
Mike Burrows Over 3.5 strikeouts (+116) vs. Diamondbacks (9:40 p.m. ET)
Rating: 5 stars
Model projection: 4.9 strikeouts
This is the model's best pitcher strikeout prop for Tuesday. The 25-year-old Burrows (0-1, 7.20) makes just the second start of his season (and Major League career). And while he does not have a large sample size, he has shown swing-and-miss stuff at the minor league level. In 291.1 minor league innings, he has 332 strikeouts.
Max Meyer Over 4.5 strikeouts (-111) vs. Padres (9:40 p.m. ET)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Model projection: 5.6 strikeouts
The 26-year-old Meyer (3-4, 4.15) has shown improvement in his second full season in the majors. He has gone Over 4.5 strikeouts in seven of 10 starts this season, including a 14-strikeout performance in a win against the Reds on April 21. According to Baseball Savant, Meyer ranks in the 77th percentile in whiff percentage (29.3) and in the 75th percentile in strikeout percentage (26.4).
