Its a Paul Skenes Wednesday! Today, the Pirates (1-5) are in Tampa, FL to take on the Rays (4-1) in Game 2 of this series.
Paul Skenes will be opposed by Ryan Pepiot for Tampa Bay.
Last night, Tampa blanked the Bucs, 7-0. Brandon Lowe went yard and drove in three as Tampa rolled to their fourth win in five games. Shane Baz gave up seven hits but pitched six scoreless innings to get his first win of the season.
Lets dive into today’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Pirates at Rays
- Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
- Time: 1:10PM EST
- Site: George M. Steinbrenner Field
- City: Tampa, FL
- Network/Streaming: SNP, FDS
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Pirates at the Rays
The latest odds as of Wednesday:
- Moneyline: Pittsburgh Pirates (-125), Tampa Bay Rays (+105)
- Spread: Pirates -1.5
- Total: 7.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Pirates at Rays
- Pitching matchup for April 2, 2025: Paul Skenes vs. Ryan Pepiot
- Pirates: Paul Skenes (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
Last outing: 3/27 @ Miami - 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks - Rays: Ryan Pepiot (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Last outing: 3/28 vs. Rockies - 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks
- Pirates: Paul Skenes (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Pirates at Rays
- The Rays have won 3 straight home games
- 4 of the Rays’ last 5 home games have stayed under the Total
- The Pirates have failed to cover the Run Line in 3 straight matchups against the Rays
- Pittsburgh is now 1-5 on the Run Line this season
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for today’s game between the Pirates and the Rays
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday’s game between the Pirates and the Rays:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
- Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Tampa Bay Rays at +1.5.
- Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
- Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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- Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
- Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
