The Tampa Bay Rays shuffled the roster once again on Wednesday, placing right-handed pitcher Matt Andriese on the 10-day DL with a mild groin strain, and recalling right-handed pitchers Austin Pruitt and Ryan Garton, and outfielder Mallex Smith from Triple-A Durham.
RHP Matt Andriese has been placed on the 10-day DL with a groin sprain.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 31, 2017
Hurlers Chih-Wei Hu and Hunter Wood were optioned back to Durham and Montgomery respectively.
Andriese is not expected to miss much action, but with two off-days (Thursday, June 1 and Monday, June 5) in a five day stretch it seemed wise to add a few more arms to the ‘pen.
Pruitt was on the Opening Day roster, but was demoted to Triple-A after he posted a 7.52 ERA and 3.72 FIP over 20-1/3 innings. Since, however, Pruitt has allowed just one earned run on four hits over 8-2/3 innings with the Bulls.
Smith takes the place of OF Peter Bourjos, who was placed on the 10-day DL with tennis elbow on Tuesday, on the 25-man roster. The addition of the speedy outfielder restores the Rays four-man bench.
In other disabled list news, 2B Brad Miller is scheduled to start a short rehab stint tonight with the Class-A Charlotte Stone Crabs.
The New What Next
After falling to Texas last night, the Rays seek to take the rubber match, and win their fifth consecutive road series, tonight in Arlington. Chris Archer () will get the start, opposite of Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0–0, 3.97 ERA, 4.80 FIP).
Archer allowed two runs on five hits and a walk over 7-2/3 innings on Friday. He struck out 11. The right-hander, who is poised to break the club record for strikeouts in a month, has now recorded double-digit strikeouts in four of his last five starts. His 51 strikeouts in May leave him three behind David Price’s mark, set in June 2014. He has slashed 3.82 ERA/1.06 WHIP/51:10 K:BB in 33 innings over that stretch.
Bibens-Dirkx at 32 years old is making his first Major League start, writes Neil Solondz (Rays Radio Blog). In four relief appearances, Bibens-Dirkx has allowed only eight hits and three walks over 11.1 innings. The 32-year old made his big league debut after 11-plus seasons in the minor league system earlier this month in a game against the Mariners.
You can read more about the series in our preview, and I’ll post the starting lineup upon availability.
Rays 5/31/17 Starting Lineup
Dickerson DH
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr RF
Rasmus LF
Beckham SS
Norris C
Robertson 2B
RHP Archer