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The New What Next: Rays 7/8/17 starting lineup and pregame notes, etc

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The photographer’s caption says it all: “I have no words. Just hearing “Careless Whisper” on repeat.” (Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

After an 8-3 loss against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays will look to get on the winning side of the ledger against the top team in the AL East.

Tampa Bay (45-43) starts play today 5-1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East. In the wildcard, the Rays are a game behind the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins for the top wild card, and a half game behind the Kansas City Royals for the final playoff spot.

One positive from last night’s ball-game: 2B Brad Miller, who was batting .194 prior to his activation from the DL, returned to the fold with a bang. Miller doubled in his first at-bat and singled home a run in his second.

One negative from last night’s ball-game: Jake Odorizzi continues to give up home runs. Opposing batters have gone yard at least once in a team-record 13 straight starts, and 20 of his past 21 — five of those games were multi-homer affairs, like last night. Because of it, Odorizzi’s ERA has ballooned 3.14 to 4.39 overall, and he has performed to a 6.69 ERA over his last seven starts (extending back to June 2) that have lasted just 35 innings. In that time, he has allowed 59 baserunners, racked up a 1.66 WHIP, and has given up 11 homers.

It just got away from me, Odorizzi said following the game. Just one of those games that’s a (bad) game. I know I’ve been going not so good, so it stands out a little bit.

The fifth inning, when the right-hander retired the leadoff hitter then allowed the next four to reach, summed up his season thus far.

(I was) just trying to get a double play earlier on, just trying to make the perfect pitch, he said. I just need to do a better job of executing, and that’s kind of the first half in a nutshell.

The New What Next

Alex Cobb (6-6, 4.01 ERA, 4.22 FIP) will get the start in the penultimate game before the All-Star Break, opposite of Rick Porcello (4-10, 5.01 ERA, 4.21 FIP).

Cobb was done in by early home runs by the Orioles in his last start Sunday at Baltimore, although he managed to give Tampa Bay a bullpen saving 6-1/3 innings of work. Aside from that start, the right-hander has given up more than three runs just three times since the start of May (totaling 78-2/3 innings). Cobb’s usage of his split-changeup continues to evolve, as he leaned on it 16.05% of the time in June (up 8% from May), while it’s depth has improved — dropping an average of 7.37 inches before it reaches the plate. He’s 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA in two starts against Boston in 2017.

Porcello held the Rangers in check for most of his start against the Rangers Monday night before Craig Kimbrel blew the save. Be that as it may, the reigning Cy Young Award winner has given up at least three earned runs in seven consecutive starts, and has been treading water for most of the season. Tampa Bay finally figured the right-hander out, and has pounded him for 13 runs (11 earned) over 10-2/3 innings this season. Key Matchups: Tim Beckham (2-5, 2 RBI), Peter Bourjos (2-7), Corey Dickerson (8-25, 4 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Evan Longoria (13-50, 5 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB), Logan Morrison (10-27, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, Shane Peterson (1-2, HR, 2 RBI), Steven Souza Jr. (7-23, HR, RBI, BB)  

You can read about the series in our preview.

Rays 7/8/17 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Dickerson DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr. RF
Miller 2B
Hechavarria SS
Peterson LF
Sucre C
RHP Cobb

Noteworthiness

— Tropicana Field, Saturday, July 22, #BaseballForever Night at the Trop 2017, do it! I’ll bring an extra special mixtape for all of you. Come to think of it, that’s a really great bad idea – I’m going to start a SoundCloud of terrible songs to share with everyone! I digress. You can find out more information about the event here.

— Fuck racism, and fuck anyone who says that confederate monuments are a celebration of (a failed) history, and not racism. If you’re too damned thin skinned to get past that opinion, kindly bugger off and don’t read this blog. Confederate monuments = monuments to scumbags and thieves.

— Because I’m as much fan of consistency as Odorizzi*, I’m again posting the following sentiment.

Rays fans, it was incredible to witness an average of +40,000 fans turn out the last two days to watch the Rays battle the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was loud and raucous, and it made me wish our home games were again like that. Guess what? The Tampa Bay Rays are in contention, and they deserve your support.

Personally, I traveled from St. Petersburg to Chicago — almost 2,000 miles, mind you — to attend the series. From there, it took me 45 minutes to travel from Bucktown (where I stayed) to Wrigleyville, by rail, and then back again. I didn’t complain when I was cramped like a sardine on the Blue and Red CTA Lines. Matter of fact, I hate being touched by strangers, although I remembered where I was and why, and I was thankful for the opportunity to watch may favorite baseball team take on the World Series champions some 2,000 miles from home — give or take 30 miles.

I wasn’t alone.

Friends, Steven Souza Jr. is right! The upcoming series against Boston is HUGE, and the good guys can make up some ground in the AL East and postseason standings going into the break. They want need it rockin’ and loud under the big top this weekend.

Not to pat myself on the back, but if I can literally stand on my feet for the better part of seven hours, from Tuesday morning into the late afternoon — including the ingress and egress into and out of the Friendly Confines, as well as the time spent standing in the bleacher section, under the centerfield scoreboard — then you can make the short or longer trek from wherever you live (be that in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, etc) to the Trop, to root on our team.

Boo-hoo, the bridge is long.

Suck it up, and show up late if you have to.

But the traffic is terrible!

No shit! But it’s not Rays fault that the City of Tampa and/or FDOT designed an intentional bottleneck on the east side of the Howard Franklin Bridge, which makes it hard to get into and out of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties during rush hour. Pro tip: show up a little late, or take the Gandy Bridge, which has been made much quicker on the Pinellas side.

In the end, the players shouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment associated with an apathetic fanbase. Quit making excuses, and get out to the Trop!

*You know, because Odo consistently gives up homers.

Announcing: 2017 #BaseballForever Night at the Trop

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(Credit: City of St. Petersburg marketing department)

Mark your calendars, Rays fans! The 2017 Baseball Forever Night at the Trop is just around the corner, scheduled for Saturday, July 22. Join civic leaders and Baseball Forever campaign managers as the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Texas Rangers!

The game starts at 7:10 pm, and Mayor Kriseman will throw out the first pitch.

Earlier this year, Baseball Forever — the city’s official initiative to keep the Rays in the Sunshine City — made their pitch to the ball-club, and your attendance will continue the momentum, to show the Rays just how much we support our hometown team.

Choose from one of the following ticket options:

$25 Lower Level ticket with a Rays Hat ($55 value)
$10 Upper Level ticket only ($19 value)

Additionally, the first 15,000 fans to enter the stadium will receive a FREE DJ Kitty onesie!

Tickets can be purchased online at Raysbaseball.com/BaseballForever (fees may apply) — ***USE THE PROMO CODE: BF1

More information can be found at the Baseball Forever homepage.

LBWMF: Tampa Bay Rays power past Baltimore Orioles, 10-3

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This scrappy group of players plated 10-runs, and belted four homers on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays plated 10-runs, belted four homers, and blew out the Orioles in Baltimore on Saturday, 10–3.

After a one hour and 12 minute rain delay, Tampa Bay charged out the gate early against Orioles’ RHP Dylan Bundy. Mallex Smith kicked things with a hard hit single up the middle, then scored all the way from first on Evan Longoria’s hit-and-run base hit right-center. After Corey Dickerson flew out to deep left center, Logan Morrison blasted a two-run homer to center (his 23rd, tying a career high) for a three-run lead.

But the Orioles got on the board in the second inning against Jake Odorizzi, who again battled on the mound. Mark Trumbo walked with one out, then went to second on Wellington Castillo’s infield hit that Longoria couldn’t handle. Craig Gentry capped the rally with an RBI single to center, scoring Trumbo to make it 3–1. Odorizzi, thankfully, was able to limit damage, although he needed 36 pitches to get through the frame.

Sensing another “uh-oh” type of game, the Rays immediately answered in the third with back-to-back, two-out homers from Morrison and Steven Souza Jr. — the 11th time this season they have hit back-to-back homers, adding to the team’s club record.

Morrison’s 24th homer of the season was massive, landing on Eutaw Street at Camden Yards. He’ll receive a plaque for the feat.

To be a part of this ballpark for the rest of its existence is pretty cool, Morrison said after the game.

Yet the Rays weren’t done, and in the fifth inning Souza beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball before Wilson “the Buffalo” Ramos joined in on the fun by belting a three-run homer into the bullpen in left-center off reliever Alec Asher.

Ramos’ towering three-run homer

Wilson Ramos skies a three-run home run to left-center field, extending the Rays’ lead to 8-1 in the top of the 5th inning

The Orioles got two runs back on Jonathan Schoop’s two-out homer off Odorizzi in the fifth. The right-hander has now given up at least one homer in 13 of his 14 starts.

The Rays, however, continued to pile it on, scoring on doubles by Smith and Dickerson, and giving them double digit runs for the eighth time this season.

On the mound, Erasmo Ramirez followed Odorizzi and gave the Rays three scoreless innings. Erasmo has now thrown four scoreless frames since transitioning back to the bullpen.

Finally Adam Kolarek, who grew up in the Baltimore area, threw a scoreless ninth in his second big league appearance; make that two innings of work without a run.

The New What Next

The Rays will go for the death blow against the Orioles on Sunday, in the series finale. Alex Cobb (6-5, 3.73 ERA, 4.01 FIP) will get the start for Tampa Bay, opposite of Kevin Gausman (4-7, 6.07 ERA, 5.19 FIP).

Cobb flirted with a no-hitter in his start against the Pirates on Tuesday, pitching into the seventh inning without allowing a hit. Josh Harrison broke up his bid, but he still tossed eight scoreless innings and earned his fourth consecutive quality start.

Gausman has struggled with his control at points this season, but he is coming off his best outing of 2017 against Toronto. The right-hander didn’t relinquish a run for the first time this season, and allowed just four hits over 5-1/3 innings. Gausman held the opposition without an extra-base hit and allowed just two base runners past first. He wasn’t as efficient over his last couple of innings, and his pitch count hit 99 before he was removed one out into the sixth. Be that as it may, his ERA still sits at an unsightly 6.07 for the season (5.19 FIP). Key Matchups: Evan Longoria (7-24, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Trevor Plouffe (4-9, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Wilson Ramos (2-6, HR, RBI), Jesus Sucre (1-3, 2B, RBI)

You can read more about the series in our preview.

Rays 7/2/17 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Dickerson LF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza DH
Beckham SS
Featherston 2B
Sucre C
Bourjos RF
Cobb RHP

Noteworthiness

— Hey look, someone from ESPN noticed the Rays for something other than trade rumors! BFD.

LBWMF: Tampa Bay Rays rally to beat the O’s in 10, 6-4

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Ladies and gentlemen, the quality start machine that is Jacob Faria. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays squandered an early two-run lead, yet rallied in the 10th inning when Steven Souza Jr. hit a three-run homer against Darren O’Day to put them up by three. Alex Colome bent, but didn’t break, to close out the game, as the Rays beat the Orioles, 6-4.


How about this for Toad’s wild ride? Source: FanGraphs

The Rays built a two-run lead against Chris Tillman in the second inning, thanks to Wilson “the Buffalo” Ramos, who sent a spinner, that caught too much of the plate, to deep centerfield — his first home run as a Ray.

The long-ball followed Steven Souza Junior’s single to left.

But Baltimore got on the board in the third inning, taking advantage of a rare error by Adeiny Hechavarria. Wellington Castillo led off the rally when he hit a screamer off the right hand of Hechavarria. Two batters later, Castillo scored on a double to left-center by Joey Rickard, making it a one run game.

Tillman was much better than he had been all season until the sixth inning, when the Rays found themselves with an excellent opportunity to blow the game open. Both Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison hit singles, and Souza walked to load the bases with none out.

With the specter of the Buffalo looming on deck, Orioles skipper Buck Showalter called upon the hard throwing Miguel Castro to take over, lifting Tillman. Ramos worked a favorable 3-1 count before he grounded into a 5–2–3 double play. Then, with a pair of runners now in scoring position, Tim Beckham struck out to end the threat.

Given new life, Baltimore did what they should have, and immediately answered when Rickard homered to left on a 2–1 pitch off Faria, tying the game at two. The Orioles took the lead in the seventh.

Adam Jones lead off the frame with a double to right, then ended up at third on a throwing error by Souza. Mark Trumbo immediately singled to left, giving the Orioles their first lead of the game. After Faria coaxed a double play ball, ending his outing, Tommy Hunter entered in relief and got the final out of the seventh.

All told, the right-handed Faria gave up just four hits and two earned runs over 6-2/3 innings, while striking out six. It was his fifth consecutive quality start to begin his big league career.

Marc Topkin said it best in today’s edition of the Tampa Bay Times,

Rookie starter Jake Faria passed another test in his crash course on being part of a big-league rotation, handling the challenge of facing the same team in a second straight start, and the potent Orioles at that, in hitter-friendly Camden Yards.

Faria became just one of three pitchers since start of 2013 to begin his career with five straight quality starts; Mashiro Tanaka (2016) and Odrisamer Despaigne (2005) are the other two. He also leads MLB rookies with with 35 strikeouts and a 2.23 ERA, while his 7.00 K/BB ratio ranks third in American League behind Corey Kluber and Chris Sale.

Brad Boxberger made his first appearance of the season in the eighth inning, after being recalled from the DL. Boxy looked like the dominating Boxy of old, fanning the side on 13 pitches and looking really good along the way. He spotted his zippy fastball, which touched 95 mph on multiple occasions, and because of it, his changeup was all the more effective — with a good 12-16 mph of separation from the fastball.

(Credit: Brooks Baseball)

Equally as important, Boxberger spotted his pitches and threw them for strikes. Welcome back, Brad!

With the prospect of the Rays dropping their third consecutive game quickly emerging, they did something wholly unexpected against the Orioles A-bullpen — Tampa Bay tied the game in the ninth against Brad Brach, who hadn’t blown a save in over a month. Pinch-hitter Shane Peterson worked a two out walk, then went to second on a balk. Peter Bourjos entered the game to pinch-run for Peterson, although not that it really mattered, as he was wild pitched up to third. Hechavarria then became one of the heroes of the ball game when he hit an RBI single to left — his fourth hit of the night — tying the game.

Jumbo Diaz sent the game into extra innings after he pitched a perfect ninth…well, perfect on paper. Diaz got very lucky because he left two very hittable spinners over the heart of the plate to Johnathan Schoop — two glaring mistakes, as Ramos clearly called for the sliders to be in the dirt each time. Schoop got ahead of the first hanging slider, hooking it just foul down the left-field line, then just under the second slider, popping it up over the infield. Diaz caught a break, and the Rays took advantage by taking the lead in the 10th.

Against Darren O’Day, Corey Dickerson walked to start the frame, then advanced to second on Longoria’s groundout. After LoMo was intentionally walked, Souza belted a 3–2 pitch over the center-field wall, which was just the second homer O’Day has allowed this season.

The homer was of course ironic because the slugger has said before that he takes intentional walks in front of him personally.

Finally in the bottom of the 10th, Alex Colome — after allowing a leadoff homer to Mark Trumbo on the first pitch of the at-bat — closed out the game by notching his 21st save. It wasn’t easy, although nothing with El Coballo ever is. It, however, provided him with some reassurance that he was over whatever ailed him during three consecutive rough outings.

I think I’m back, Colome said after the game. I feel really good, I got my strike zone every time, my cutter was great.

The New What Next

The Rays will go for the series win Saturday afternoon when the face the Orioles in the second of the three games. Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 4.00 ERA, 5.48 FIP) will get the start, opposite of Dylan Bundy (8-6, 3.73 ERA, 4.75 FIP). Interestingly enough, today’s matchup features pitchers who have allowed homers in 10 and 11 consecutive games respectively. For his part, Odorizzi did some extensive work during his bullpen sessions to straighten out a mechanical flaw that had him falling toward first base when he delivered the pitch, which disrupted his line to home plate and led to inconsistencies in his delivery. It will be interesting to see if the extra work pays dividends.

You can read more about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 7/1/17 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Dickerson DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza RF
Ramos C
Peterson LF
Hechavarria SS
Featherston 2B
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

— Rays skipper Kevin Cash has been chosen as a coach for the 2017 All-Star Game by AL manager, and good friend, Terry Francona.

— Tim Beckham, who tweaked his ankle during last night’s ball-game, isn’t in this afternoon’s lineup. Instead, Taylor Featherstone will take over at second base, hitting ninth in the lineup.

The New What Next: Rays Vs. Orioles — a series preview

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It would be nice if the Rays could go on a tear going into the All-Star Break. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

After posting their second consecutive series loss, the Tampa Bay Rays hope to turn their fortunes around in Baltimore, where they’ll start a three game series against the Orioles on Friday.

(Stats: ESPN)

In spite of the loss to the Bucs, the Rays have won 12 of their last 21 games and remain relevant in the AL East. The offense has been very good of late, averaging 5.89 runs per game over their last 19 games. The bullpen, however, has struggled to a 6.26 ERA over the last 10 games, even though it hasn’t really hurt the bottom line. Tampa Bay does need to get the ‘pen under control, or they could start to slide if the offense goes into an extended slump.

The Orioles have had a tough go of it over the back half of the first-half of the season, yet they still sit just 4-1/2 games out of first in the AL East. They’ve played some of their best baseball at home, where they are 24-14 — compare that to their 14-25 record away from Camden Yards. Baltimore’s pitching staff seems to be turning a corner, as they’ve allowed (on average) just 3.25 runs per game over a four game stretch. However, they went just 4-12 and allowed a whopping 8.56 runs per game over their previous 16 games. If they have any hope of staying in the playoff race, they will need their pitching staff to do what it has done over the last week.

(Stats: FanGraphs)

Over the next three days, Kevin Cash will lean on Jacob Faria (3-0, 2.10 ERA, 2.71 FIP), Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 4.00 ERA, 5.48 FIP), and Alex Cobb (6-5, 3.73 ERA, 4.01 FIP). Buck Showalter will counter with Chris Tillman (1-5, 8.39 ERA, 6.39 FIP), Dylan Bundy (8-6, 3.73 ERA, 4.75 FIP), and Kevin Gausman (4-7, 6.07 ERA, 5.19 FIP).

(Stats: FanGraphs)

Pitching Matchups

Faria has recorded a quality start in all four of his previous outings, allowing just six earned runs in 25-2/3 innings in that span. His command wasn’t as crisp in his last start as it had been over his previous three, yet it wasn’t terrible. All told he posted a solid 6 IP/5 H/3 ER/1 BB/108 pitch (74 strikes) line, in an outing where he was undone by a hit batsman and a pair of long-balls on two mistake pitches. He kept the Rays in the game, and if that constitutes a bad start I’ll gladly take it.

Tillman has struggled with walks and home runs this season, and owns an 11.14 ERA in June with 40 hits allowed, 13 walks and seven home runs over just 21 innings. Moreover, the right-hander has allowed at least three runs in each of his past nine starts — including five runs (four earned) on eight hits against Tampa Bay last Sunday — and owns a disastrous 8.39 ERA and 2.18 WHIP for the season. Key Matchups: Tim Beckham (1-4, RBI, BB), Peter Bourjos (1-2), Taylor featherstone (1-1, 2 RBI), Evan Longoria (20-66, 4 2B, 3B, 9 HR, 14 RBI, 6 BB), Logan Morrison (6-17, 2B, 3B, RBI, BB), Wilson Ramos (3-11, 2B, RBI, BB), Mallex Smith (1-1, 2 BB), Steven Souza Jr. (7-22, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Jesus Sucre (1-2)

Odorizzi, in a food poisoning induced haze, coughed up four earned runs on seven hits over 5-1/3 innings against the Orioles on Sunday. It was the first time since May 16 that he had allowed more than three earned runs in a start. Now healthy, he should be more effective on Saturday.

Bundy will be working on some extra rest as the Orioles monitor his workload; the right-hander has already racked up 27-1/3 innings through five starts this month, and 99 on the season. He is looking to bounce back from a difficult month after he recorded a 5.94 ERA in June, with opponents posting an .882 OPS against him. To his credit, Bundy limited the Rays to three runs on five hits (including a pair of homers) over seven innings on Saturday. He struck out eight. Key Matchups: Tim Beckham (2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Evan Longoria (4-11, 2 HR, 2 RBI), Logan Morrison (3-10, 2B, BB), Mallex Smith (1-2, BB)

Cobb flirted with a no-hitter in his start against the Pirates on Tuesday, pitching into the seventh inning without allowing a hit. Josh Harrison broke up his bid, but he still tossed eight scoreless innings and earned his fourth consecutive quality start.

Gausman has struggled with his control at points this season, but he is coming off his best outing of 2017 against Toronto. The right-hander didn’t relinquish a run for the first time this season, and allowed just four hits over 5-1/3 innings. Gausman held the opposition without an extra-base hit and allowed just two base runners past first. He wasn’t as efficient over his last couple of innings, and his pitch count hit 99 before he was removed one out into the sixth. Be that as it may, his ERA still sits at an unsightly 6.07 for the season (5.19 FIP). Key Matchups: Evan Longoria (7-24, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Trevor Plouffe (4-9, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Wilson Ramos (2-6, HR, RBI), Jesus Sucre (1-3, 2B, RBI)