AL East rivals the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles are coming into this clash tied for second place in the division, one game behind leading New York Yankees. The Orioles won the opener of a three-game series 2-1 last night, handing the Rays a sixth straight loss. The vistitors have kept it close in each of their last three games though, and I think this is a great spot to finally put an end to their skid.


Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Birds will hand the ball to Wei-Yin Chen (1-3, 3.13 ERA) who's win-less over his last three starts. He's been particularly poor in the two most recent, giving up a total of seven runs on 19 hits with two homers over 13 innings. This will be his third start on the season against the Rays, not factoring in the decision in any of the previous two while compiling a 4.35 ERA over 10 1/3 frames. The Rays will counter with Erasmo Ramirez (2-2, 6.62 ERA) as he'll make his sixth start of the year. The 25 year old Nicaraguan owns a 3.86 ERA in two career starts against the Orioles, the most recent of which came in 2013, but he worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against the Orioles on May 3. He has the current members of the Orioles limited to a combined four hits over 42 at bats.

2. Situational - Baltimore has lost seven of its last eight Game 2 of a series and and it's just 1-5 in its last 6 after allowing two runs or less in its previous game.

3. X-Factor - Evan Longoria has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is 8-for-26 with three doubles and six walks in his career versus Chen.

Selection: This is a play on the Tampa Bay Rays +1.5 (8*)