Texas (36-38) at NY Mets (47-29)
When: Friday, July 1st 2022
Where: Citi Field,
New York, NY
Time: 7:10 ET | TV: MLB.tv
Opening Odds: New York -174/8.5
The Texas Rangers will continue their quest to get back to the .500-mark when they begin a three-game series Friday night at the New York Mets. After a brutal start to the season, Texas was a win away from getting to .500 but suffered a 2-1 loss at the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon after winning five of their previous seven games. The Rangers – nor anyone else in the AL West – is going to catch the Houston Astros, so the wild card is the goal now. Texas is only four games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the final AL wild card spot entering Thursday’s action. Adolis Garcia, Nate Lowe and Marcus Semien have paced the offense with solid performances in June. Each are hitting at least .287 for the month with seven home runs each.
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Texas will get a Mets team that is licking their wounds from a season-high three-game losing skid. The Astros swept the Mets in a two-game interleague set and New York has mustered just three runs in the last three games. The big problem is hitting with runners in scoring position, where they are 2-for-25 during the current skid. New York’s lead over the surging Atlanta Braves in the NL East is down to just three games entering Thursday’s action. New York is just 4-6 in their last 10 games and are hitting only .208 in that span with a team ERA of 4.11. This is the first meeting between the teams since the 2017 season when the split four games.
Pitchers: Rangers – Glenn Otto (4-3, 5.31) | Mets – Chris Bassitt (6-5, 4.01)
Glenn Otto is making his 16th career start and first against the Mets. After missing a few turns in the rotation because of COVID-19, Otto was not sharp in allowing six runs on six hits in just two innings of a 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Otto is much better on the road, posting a 2.57 ERA in four starts away from Arlington.
Chris Bassitt has faced the Miami Marlins in his latest two outings and allowed three runs in each over 13 1/3 innings of work. In his previous start on June 14, Bassitt shutout the Milwaukee Brewers over eight strong innings. Bassitt has seen the Rangers plenty of times from his time with Oakland and boasts a 5-2 record with a 3.07 ERA in 13 career appearances (nine starts).
I’m tempted to take the Over in this one, but the Mets bats are struggling right now. That being said, I can’t lay -175 on them. Texas has played better than New York over the last 10 games and are worth a shot as a big dog.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free MLB Picks page for today.
Pick: Rangers +155
