MLB Monday Results: Tampa Bay Continues to Make History With Unbeaten Start
Rays Become First Team in 36 Years to Open Season 10-0
MLB betting favorites enjoyed a profitable start to the week, going 10-4 on Monday. The Chicago White Sox got things going with a 4-3 matinee victory over the Minnesota Twins, using four scoreless innings from its bullpen to help ace Dylan Cease improve to 2-0 on the season. The Tampa Bay Rays joined in on the action, as they edged the Boston Red Sox 1-0 to move to 10-0 in the MLB standings. Let’s take a deeper look at those MLB Monday results and more in our betting recap.
Rays Continue to Make History With Perfect Start
Tampa Bay became the first team since the 1987 Brewers and the seventh in baseball’s Modern Era (since 1901) to begin the season with 10 consecutive wins. The rest of that club includes the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1962 Pirates, 1966 Indians, 1981 Athletics and 1982 Braves, with the last two having started a record 13-0. The 2003 Royals (9-0) previously owned the longest season-opening winning streak in the Wild Card era.
Brandon Lowe’s eighth-inning home run off Chris Martin proved the difference for the Rays, who were a -155 pregame favorite. While the Rays have now outscored opponents by 58 runs, the highest run differential through 10 games in the Modern Era, Monday marked the first time they did not cover the run line (-1.5).
In just over a week, Tampa Bay has leapfrogged the New York Yankees as the favorite to win the American League East, moving from +335 to +140. The Rays’ World Series odds (+2200 to +1200) have jumped significantly as well.
Reigning Cy Young Winner Hit Hard
Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara was tagged for nine runs in just 4.1 innings in a 15-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. It marked the most runs allowed by a reigning Cy Young winner since Max Scherzer on June 17, 2014 (allowed 10 ER vs. Royals) and the third-most since 2000. Alcantara, who was coming off a three-hit shutout of Minnesota to boost his odds of a Cy Young repeat, saw his ERA skyrocket to 5.79 through three starts.
Philadelphia tagged him for five runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth. How significant was that? Consider this eye-opening MLB stats: Alcantara didn’t allow more than six runs in a game in 32 starts last season.
In doing so, the Phillies covered the total (8) with plenty of room to spare and cashed in as a +110 underdog.
Slim Pickings for Underdogs
The Washington Nationals were the biggest underdog (+210) to win, defeating the Los Angeles Angels 6-4 at home. Much-maligned southpaw Patrick Corbin (6-19 in 2022) picked up his first win of the season, tossing five innings and allowing four runs. The Nationals (4-7) erupted for 14 hits.
Elsewhere in MLB Monday results, the Chicago Cubs (+130) defeated the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Nico Hoerner’s walkoff single in the 10th inning, while the Colorado Rockies (+120) outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 behind 13 hits, including a 3-for-4 day from second baseman Alan Trejo.
Heaney Passes Ryan in Texas Record Books
Left-hander Andrew Heaney struck out nine straight batters in an 11-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, passing Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for most consecutive strikeouts in a single game (Ryan had seven in a row on July 7, 1991). Heaney also tied the AL record for consecutive strikeouts in a single game, set by former Detroit Tigers pitchers Doug Fister (2012) and Tyler Alexander (2020).
Heaney finished with 10 strikeouts in five innings, blowing past his projected total of 6.5. It was just the sixth time in club history that a pitcher recorded double-digit strikeouts in five or fewer innings. The 31-year-old had 17 previous starts with at least 10 strikeouts, including three last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He signed a two-year, $25 million contract with Texas over the offseason.
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