The Tampa Bay Rays are back at it Friday following their 7-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Out of sight, out of mind. They’ll welcome the San Francisco Giants into the Trop for the first time since 2004 — only the second time in the Rays 15 year history. It’s a homecoming of sorts: The Giants were slated to call The Trop home 21 years ago this month. I still have my St. Pete Giants shirt somewhere, but that’s neither here or now.
The reining World Series champions have fallen on hard times this year. Faced with injuries and inconsistent play, the Giants sit at the bottom of the NL West, 10 games out of first and 11 games under .500. As of Thursday, San Francisco had lost eight-of-11 and 23-of-33. The culprit? An inconsistent offense that’d been held to three or fewer runs in nine of the past 11 games. What’s more, the Giants had the worst record in the majors from May 14 through Wednesday, 24-44.
Madison Bumgarner: Per Rotowire, “Bumgarner pitched eight scoreless innings and did not factor in the decision Saturday against the Cubs.” Since the All-Star Break, has pitched 15 innings of one-run ball. He is 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA on the road this season and has never faced the Rays. Three current Rays have faced Bumgarner, while only one (Kelly Johnson, 6-17) has had any success against the Giants RHP.
Tim Lincecum: Per Rotowire, “Lincecum fell to 5-11 on the year Sunday as he gave up two earned runs on four hits over seven innings. He walked two and struck out ten.” Lincecum continues his steady regression first noted a few years back. Once regarded as a pitcher that could ramp up the velocity of his pitches into the upper 90’s, Lincecum’s fastball averages somewhere between 90 and 93 MPH and tops out somewhere in the mid 90’s. A cautionary tale of sorts, Lincecum has rediscovered his change-up/splitter, throwing it for strikes close to 84% of the time. The Freak is 2-6 with a 4.40 ERA on the road this season. The no-hitter was his first road win since his first start of the season. Key match-ups: Sam Fuld (2-3), Ryan Roberts (3-12, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB).
Barry Zito: Per Rotowire, “There is a chance that Zito could be skipped for his next scheduled start Sunday against the Rays, CSN Bay Area reports.” The Giants are winless in Zito’s nine road starts this season and have not won a game on the road that he has started since his 7-2/3 inning shutout performance at St. Louis in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (2-6, HR, RBI, BB), Kelly Johnson (2-5, RBI, BB), Ryan Roberts (5-14, 2B, 3 BB).
Noteworthiness
- The series is tied at 3-3, while the Rays lead 2-1 at Trop.
- The Giants have won two in a row following a 1-8 stretch.
- As a team, Tampa Bay is hitting .262 with Wil Myers hitting .331, James Loney hitting .316, Ben Zobrist hitting .275, and Evan Longoria hitting .273.
- The Rays pitching staff has an ERA of 3.76, with the starters at 3.79 and the bullpen at 3.70. Chris Archer has allowed 46 hits and 18 earned runs, while striking out 47 over 67.2 innings for a 6-3 record and a 2.39 ERA.
- In each of the six games the Giants have lost when Bumgarner took the mound, San Francisco has scored one run or less. Furthermore, Archer hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs since his season debut on June 1 — a span of 10 starts.
- The Rays start the day one game out of first following Boston’s 8-7, come from behind, win against the Mariners.