Mets Bash Rays 10-4, Sink DarkHorse's -160 Favorite

The Mets made mincemeat of our Rays pick, rolling into Tampa and torching the home side 10-4 in a game that was never really close. So much for that Griffin Jax pitching advantage—New York's bats turned the Trop into their personal batting cage, hanging a crooked number that exposed every hole in Tampa's staff. Meanwhile, Justin Hagenman, the guy we questioned coming off a 60-day IL stint with a rib injury, did enough to keep his team in striking distance while the Mets' offense did the heavy lifting.

We laid -160 on the Rays banking on superior team ERA, home cooking, and Jax's supposed edge. Instead, we got boat-raced. The 7-3 recent form? Didn't show up. The .230 opponent batting average? Looked more like batting practice. When you're giving that much juice and your horse gets run off the track by six runs, there's no sugarcoating it—this one stings.

Credit where it's due: the Mets came to play, and Hagenman's rust didn't matter when your lineup plates ten. Sometimes the numbers lie, sometimes the bats just get hot. Tonight was the latter, and our Rays sank like a stone. Tough loss, but we move.