Schmitty, Author at X-Rays Spex

The New What Next: Rays vs. Blue Jays — a series preview

April 12, 2019 By Schmitty Leave a Comment

Tommy Pham his two home runs in the series finale against the White Sox, on Wednesday.

Looking to win their fifth consecutive series of the young season, the Tampa Bay Rays will cap their nine-game road trip north of the border, when they start a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. The Rays are coming off a three-game sweep of the White Sox, while the Blue Jays are coming off a series split against the woeful Red Sox.

Tampa Bay got a much deserved day off after the team ripped White Sox hurlers for 24 runs and 38 hits over the life of the series, improving to 5-1 on their nine-game road trip.

Besides a dominant pitching staff that has performed to an overall 1.98 ERA/2.66 FIP, another key to the Rays’ fast start has been their ability to plate early runs. Tampa Bay is hitting .367 with five homers and 17 runs scored in the first inning of their 13 games.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are a team that has been blessed with a good pitching staff, yet a sputtering offense. Even though they averaged 6.5 runs per game (RPG) against the reigning World Series champs, that run production is clearly the exception, not the rule, as the Blue Jays have averaged just 3 RPG over their first 14 contests. Just two hitters have been consistently productive in Toronto’s lineup: Freddy Galvis, who is hitting .333 BA/.381 OBP/.641 SLG/1.022 OPS with three home runs (at the time of writing), and Richard Urena, who is hitting .350 BA/.381 OBP/.500 SLG/.881 OPS across 20 at-bats. Otherwise, the Justin Smoak’s and Lourdes Gurriel’s of the lineup have been quiet.

In 2018, the Rays dominated the Blue Jays, winning 13-of-19 games, and posting a +31 run differential.

This will be the first meeting of the two teams since longtime coach, Charlie Montoya, took the over reigns as the manager of the Toronto ballclub.

Rays Pitching Probables

Over the next three days Kevin Cash is expected to lean on Ryne Stanek (0-0, 1.50 ERA) — who will likely be followed by Yonny Chirinos (2-0, 0.75 ERA) in the opener — Blake Snell (2-1, 2.84 ERA), and Charlie Morton (2-0, 2.25). Montoyo will respond with Trent Thornton (0-0, 1.69), Clay Buchholz (2018, 7-2, 2.01 ERA), and Marcus Stroman (0-2, 2.41 ERA).

Ryne Stanek has opening duties for the Rays for the third time this season. The right-hander was touched for a run in Tuesday’s 10-5 win against Chicago in relief, yet has tossed three shutout innings in his previous two games as an opener.

Yonny Chirinos isn’t scheduled to start at any point this week and will instead work in relief on a temporary basis. In two outings as a starter, Chirinos has been dominant, performing to a 0.75 ERA/2.60 FIP across 12 total innings of work. It would be a reasonable guess for him to take the mound after Stanek on Friday.

Trent Thornton has pitched well in his first two starts of the season although has nothing to show for it. The right-hander has been backed with just two runs of support in his two starts even though he has held opponents to a .139 batting average while striking out 15 in across 10-2/3 innings of work. Thornton allowed two runs on three hits over 5-2/3 innings while striking out seven in Cleveland last Friday. He did have some control issues compared to his season debut, walking two hitters while throwing 92 pitches. He also has been very lucky, pitching to a .200 BABIP, so regression is expected. The Rays are hoping the luck dragons will nip in their favor on Friday. Thornton relies primarily on a 94 mph four-seam fastball, while also mixing in a hard 81 mph curveball with a ton of spin, an 89 mph cutter with natural sink and strong cutting action, and a whiffy 83 mph splitter with a lot of backspin on it.

Blake Snell allowed just a single run on six hits across the first six frames. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11.

Snell fanned five of the first six batters he faced and didn’t allow a runner beyond second base until the fifth inning when he gave up a two-out homer to left to Jose Rondon.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner got in trouble in the sixth inning, nevertheless, Mr. .083 BA wRISP did not break. Snell allowed a double to Leury Garcia to start the inning and an infield hit to Tim Anderson that glanced off of Snell’s glove, putting runners at the corners. However, the southpaw buckled down and struck out Jose Abreu, Welington Castillo, and Yoan Moncada to keep the lead intact.

Snell has now struck out 24 batters in his last two starts, the most he’s ever had in back-to-back outings. Snell coaxed 24 swings and misses, after a career-high 25 in his last start.

Clay Buchholz went 7-2 with a 2.01 ERA in 16 starts before his arm wore down last season and was placed on the injured list with a right flexor strain. After signing a $3-million deal with Toronto in the offseason, followed by a minor league rehab assignment to finish off Spring Training, Buchholz is ready for his first start of the season. In his words, expect a wily pitcher that tries to keep hitters off balance.

I’ve evolved into a different kind of pitcher. I’ve proven you don’t have to throw 98 to get guys out. You have to throw four pitches for strikes, mix it up, and keep guys off balance. That’s what I do.
— Clay Buchholz

Last season Buchholz relied primarily on an 86 mph cutter, and a 91 mph four-seam fastball, while also mixing in a 76 mph curveball, a 78 mph circle changeup, and a 91 mph sinker. He is 9-8 with a 2.67 ERA in 23 career outings (21 starts) against Tampa Bay.

Charlie Morton gave up a two-run shot to Yoan Moncada in the bottom of the third inning, although he otherwise kept the White Sox off balance by leaning on his fastball (both two and four-seam, 46 thrown, 29 strikes, 63% strike rate), curveball (30 thrown, 15 strikes, 50% strike rate), and his cutter (14 thrown, 11 strikes, 79% strike rate).

The two runs were all that Morton allowed across five innings of work. The right-hander scattered three hits and three walks while striking out seven.

Marcus Stroman continues to look for his first win of the season. The right-hander has recorded 18 strikeouts over his first three starts of the season. In his last start against Cleveland, Stroman surrendered three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out six across six innings. The right-hander relies primarily on his 85 mph sweeping slider with two-plane movement, a 93 mph sinker with natural sinking action, and a 91 mph worm-killer cutter. Stroman is 5-5 with a 4.58 ERA in 13 career starts against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (2-2, RBI), Ji-Man Choi (1-4), Avisail Garcia (5-9, 2B), Kevin Kiermaier (9-31, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB), Michael Perez (1-2, 2B), Tommy Pham (1-1, RBI), Mike Zunino (1-3, HR, 2 RBI)

Noteworthiness

— Free on Sunday?

On Sunday, April 14, 2019 X-Rays Spex and Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli will team up to host a shirt release celebration and Rays watch party, when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Toronto Blue Jays, in Toronto. We’re bringing all the camaraderie of the game, and some delicious foodstuffs, at one of the areas best new restaurants!

First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 pm, so be sure to get down to Golden Dinosaurs early to grab a bite to eat and an ice-cold brew. Don’t forget to snatch our newest shirt design (pictured) titled “The Legend of Dan Johnson,” so you can wear it to the Trop the following weekend when our guys take on the reigning World Series champs.

Throughout the afternoon Golden Dinosaurs will offer some select specials. We’ll also raffle off some great Rays swag between the innings, among other fantastic things.

See you April 14, and be sure to tell a friend!

LBWMF: Rays hold on to beat Chicago, 10-5, and win fourth straight series

April 10, 2019 By Schmitty Leave a Comment

365 days later, there was no snow on the ground this go around. (Photo Credit: Sarah Wright)

It has been said a win is a win is a win. And while the Tampa Bay Rays 10-5 victory over the White Sox wasn’t pretty, that they were able to put another tally in the win column is all that matters. The Rays, now 9-3 on the season, have won four consecutive series and have built a six-game cushion in the W/L columns.

For the fifth consecutive game, Tampa Bay took the lead in the opening inning. This time around Austin Meadows singled to right off Ervin Santana, swiped second, moved up to third on Tommy Pham’s fly-ball out to right-center, then scored on Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly to center field.

The team tacked on three more runs in the second inning, starting with Avisail Garcia’s solo homer to center off Santana.

We've hit two more homers since this. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/fmBz01pUWA
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2019

It was Garcia’s third career home run off Santana and his first as a Ray.

Then with two outs, Willy Adames worked a free pass before Meadows homered to right-center, capping the rally.

Austin Meadows adds to the @RaysBaseball lead with a 2-run blast in the second inning!

Catch all of this afternoon's action live on FOX Sports Sun and FOX Sports Go! #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/7Lx6Nf3OEU
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) April 9, 2019

It was Meadows’ third homer this year.

The Rays scored again the next inning, when Brandon Lowe belted a homer to left center, for a 5-0 advantage.

Thankfully this Chicago fan didn't reach over the wall…#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/IXjskdEkac
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2019

The Rays weren’t done at the plate. They added a pair of runs in the fourth, chasing Santana when Michael Perez and Adames went back-to-back with one-out doubles. Finally, with two on, Meadows hit an RBI single to right-center — the seventh, and final, run charged to Santana.

On the other side of the plate, Morton gave up a two-run shot to Yoan Moncada in the bottom of the third inning, although he otherwise kept the White Sox off balance by leaning on his fastball (both two and four-seam, 46 thrown, 29 strikes, 63% strike rate), curveball (30 thrown, 15 strikes, 50% strike rate), and his cutter (14 thrown, 11 strikes, 79% strike rate).

The two runs were all that Morton allowed across five innings of work. The right-hander scattered three hits and three walks while striking out seven.

Kevin Cash handed the ball over to Wilmer Font, who was charged with two runs (after he left the game) across 2-2/3 innings of work. The right-hander threw 57 pitches (36 strikes, 63% strike rate) and averaged 94 mph with his four-seam fastball, which hit 97 mph. Up until his final inning of work, Font showed signs of improvement, much like when he came over from Oakland last season.

(Font) did a good job. He really picked us up. It’s good to see him get out there and get his pitch count, I think he got close to mid-50s, maybe a tick higher than what we would like, but the velo was good. We needed to get to the end of the game and he got us pretty close.
— Wilmer Font

While Tampa Bay scored a run on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth, things got messy in the bottom of the frame.

After Font was pulled from the game with two outs and a pair of runners on base, Ryne Stanek, the third hurler of the day couldn’t retire a batter. The right-hander allowed an RBI single to right to Tim Anderson, then walked Welington Castillo, loading the bases. Eloy Jimenez followed with a slow roller past Stanek for an infield hit to draw Chicago within four. It made for an odd play, as Lowe and Adames collided as they attempted to field the ball.

Cash then called upon Jose Alvarado, who became the third pitcher of the inning. The typically dependable Alvarado walked pinch-hitter Jose Rondon on a full-count pitch to force home a run. Pinch-hitter Adam Engel, representing the go-ahead run at the plate, worked the count full then swung at what would have been ball four, ending the inning.

#Rays gave up 3 runs in the eighth. But Jose Alvarado Ks Engel with this 99 mph sinker to get out of the inning.

Tampa Bay leads 8-5 heading into final frame. pic.twitter.com/kU04CRzuoz
— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) April 9, 2019

Feeling the air escaping from the stadium, Tampa Bay bounced back to score two more insurance runs in the ninth when Kevin Kiermaier singled home Lowe, then Meadows walked with the bases loaded to force home the tenth and final run.

Adam Kolarek took over in the ninth inning and put together a quiet frame. All told, Rays batter collected a total of 13 hits and eight walks, while every starting position player reached base at least once.

A win is a win is a win indeed.

The New What Next

The Rays and White Sox are slated to play the final game of the series on Wednesday, weather permitting. Tyler Glasnow (2-0, 0.82 ERA) will start opposite fellow righty Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 10.00 ERA).

Tyler Glasnow went to work in the bottom of the first, against San Francisco, with a plate appearance by the former face of the franchise, Evan Longoria, looming. The right-hander quickly disposed of the first two batters on five pitches, bringing Longoria to the plate.

Glasnow promptly got ahead in the count before he spotted up a well-placed curveball on the inner third of the plate, locking up Longoria.

The first at-bat against the former face of the franchise culminated in a punch out, as the 1-2-3 first set the tone for the afternoon against the tall right-hander.

All told, Glasnow scattered three singles and allowed a walk, while striking out six. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 batters (74% first-pitch strike rate), and 59 of 82 pitches overall for strikes (72% strike rate).

Reynaldo Lopez is looking to shake off his latest start against Seattle where he allowed six earned runs and walked four across five innings of work. Lopez has yet to reach the sixth inning in 2019 after going just four innings in his first start on March 30. Lopez relies primarily on his 94 mph four-seam fastball, while also mixing in an 81 mph slider with some two-plane movement and an 84 mph changeup with a lot of backspin. Lopex is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one career start against the Rays. Key Matchups: Yandy Diaz (1-2, BB), Kevin Kiermaier (2-3)

You can read about the series in our preview.

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

Rays 4/10/19 Starting Lineup

Meadows RF
Pham LF
Choi 1B
Lowe 2B
Garcia DH
Kiermaier CF
Robertson 3B
Zunino C
Adames SS
Glasnow RHP

LBWMF: Blake Snell, Rays stymie ChiSox, 5-1

April 9, 2019 By Schmitty Leave a Comment

Blake Snell tore through the White Sox’s lineup on Monday, allowing one just one run across six innings. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

On Monday, Blake Snell threw six impressive innings en route to the Tampa Bay Rays eighth win of the season, 5-1, on the south side of Chicago.

The Rays bats swarmed early, scoring two runs in each of the first two innings against right-hander Carlos Rodon, who previously allowed just two earned runs total in his first two starts.

In the first inning, Yandy Diaz singled to right-field, Tommy Pham walked — extending his on-base streak to 43 games — and Daniel Robertson hit a single to right, loading the bases. After Avisail Garcia went down swinging on a 93 mph fastball on the inside corner, Guillermo Heredia walked, forcing home the game’s first run. Ji-Man Choi followed with a sacrifice-fly that Adam Engel ran down in left-center, preventing an extra-base hit.

Then in the second inning, Willy Adames led off with a double to left-field before he was wild-pitched into third base. Pham walked for the second time in as many innings, and Robertson followed with a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt for an RBI hit, extending the lead and moving Pham up 90 feet.

Playing chess. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/V3GDTa14ig
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 8, 2019

After Robertson and Pham swiped second and third (respectively), the Pham came home on a Garcia’s RBI base hit for a four-run advantage.

Yet while Tampa Bay had chances to add on more, the team left a lot of chicken on the bone — stranding 13 men on base (.188 BA wRISP), despite collecting 11 hits and eight walks. Suffice it to say, it made for a frustrating 5-1 win.

Be that as it may, the Rays were able to tack on one last run against reliever Carson Fulmer in the eighth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Austin Meadows, capping the scoring. On the bright side, they have scored four or more runs in five of their last seven games — inching their runs per game (RPG) average up to four after starting the season with 2.75.

Snell allowed just a single run on six hits across the first six frames. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11.

Snell fanned five of the first six batters he faced and didn’t allow a runner beyond second base until the fifth inning when he gave up a two-out homer to left to Jose Rondon.

Nails. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/rLbWDD3dpJ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 8, 2019

Snell has now struck out 24 batters in his last two starts, the most he’s ever had in back-to-back outings. Snell coaxed 24 swings and misses, after a career-high 25 in his last start.

Oh that's just not fair, @snellzilla4.#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/BW3ZpL9u7h
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 8, 2019

Hunter Wood, who was recalled from Durham, followed Snell and threw three scoreless innings, for his first big league save. Wood struck out three, allowing just three hits.

It was awesome. I was grateful to get the opportunity to go in, and kind of hopefully prove myself. I want to be here and I want to help this team out any way I can. … I know the bullpen was kind of running low so it was really big to step up and save the bullpen for a day.
— Hunter Wood

The New What Next

The Rays look to win their fourth series in a row on Tuesday afternoon with Charlie Morton (1-0, 1.64 ERA) on the mound. He’ll pitch opposite of Ervin Santana (2018, 0-1, 8.03 ERA).

Charlie Morton is looking for his third consecutive quality start as a member of the Rays. In two starts this season, the right-hander has struck out 14 batters across 11 innings and has a 1.64 ERA. In two career outings against the White Sox (totaling 12-2/3 innings of work), Morton has been good, going 2-0 with a respectable 3.55 ERA.

Ervin Santana, who the White Sox signed to a minor league deal, only made two Cactus League appearances in his extended Spring, and in doing so he gave up six runs on 12 hits across nine innings. Given his late start, he’s remained in Arizona to keep working to get ready for when the White Sox would need a fifth starter. Santana relies primarily on his 83 mph slider, a whiffy 91 mph four-seam fastball with natural sink, and an 85 mph changeup with slight cut action and a lot of backspin, while also mixing in a 91 mph sinker. Santana is 7-7 with a 5.31 ERA across his career against the Rays. Key Matchups: Avisail Garcia (7-27, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Mike Zunino (3-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB)

You can read about the series in our preview.

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

Rays 4/9/19 Starting Lineup

Meadows LF
Pham DH
Choi 1B
Lowe 2B
Diaz 3B
Kiermaier CF
Garcia RF
Perez C
Adames SS
Morton RHP

Noteworthiness

— Willy Adames collected three hits and is 6-for-11 since his 1-for-27 start. Yandy Diaz has hits in nine of his 10 games played.

— Rays manager Kevin Cash said both Brandon Lowe, who tweaked an ankle running the bases, and Yandy Diaz, who hit his head diving back into second, were fine.

— According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) … Tommy Pham walked in the first inning to extend his team-record streak of reaching base to 43 games, crossing the halfway point to Ted Williams’ 1949 record of 84.

— Tampa Bay has given up two runs or fewer in nine of the team’s 11 games, and have allowed just 20 runs total. Yet, of the 20 runs, 11 have come via the long ball. The bullpen overall has allowed just 10 runs across 44 innings.

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

April 8, 2019 By Schmitty Leave a Comment

The Rays took two-of-three from the Giants over the weekend. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays finished off the San Francisco Giants in time to catch a flight to the south side of Chicago, where they will face the White Sox in a three-game series, starting Monday. For the first time in their history, the Rays have won their first three series of the season. The White Sox dropped two-of-three in a weather-shortened series against the Seattle Mariners.

In spite of a miniature pitching meltdown in the middle game of the series against the Giants, the Rays took the set thanks to solid pitching and opportunistic hitting. Rays hurlers held San Francisco to a .156 batting average overall and gave up just three two-out runs. Meanwhile, the bats which averaged just 2.75 runs per game (RPG) over the first four ballgames averaged 4 RPG against San Francisco, which is not an easy feat seeing that the Giants overall ERA to start the season was sub 2.50. It didn’t hurt that Tampa Bay lowered its strikeout rate while increasing its wOBA, wRISP batting average, and BABIP incrementally from series-to-series.

Meanwhile, after coming up with a big win against Seattle on Friday, the White Sox were drubbed by the Mariners on Saturday and Sunday The south-siders were outscored 21-7 in those two games. The pitching staff hasn’t been very good, performing to an overall 5.40 ERA/4.16 FIP — 4.70 ERA/3.73 FIP by the starters, 7.48 ERA/4.93 FIP by the relievers. Even though Chicago’s offense is better than Tampa Bays, you cannot expect to win games when you give up a bunch of runs.

Pitching Probables

Over the next three days, Kevin Cash will throw Blake Snell (1-1, 3.46 ERA), Charlie Morton (1-0, 1.64 ERA), and Tyler Glasnow (2-0, 0.82 ERA). Rick Renteria is expected to respond with Carlos Rodon (1-1, 1.59 ERA), Ervin Santana (2018, 0-1, 8.03 ERA), and Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 10.00 ERA)

Blake Snell retired his first 12 batters (eight on strikeouts) before Trevor Story led off the fifth inning with a base hit. He, however, was promptly picked off by Snell. Chris Iannetta (sixth inning walk) and Story (infield hit in the seventh) went down as the only other batters to reach against the southpaw, who played off of the Rockies aggressiveness.

Utilizing a similar plan to the last time he faced Colorado, Snell tied a career-high 13 strikeouts across seven innings — seven coming on his curveball. The left-hander induced 25 swings and misses (37% of the 67 strikes thrown), more than he had in any start last season.

Snell’s pitching breakout:

Fastball: 36 thrown, 29 strikes, 7 whiffs
Curveball: 29 thrown, 16 strikes, 7 whiffs
Changeup: 23 thrown, 13 strikes, 7 whiffs
Slider: 16 thrown, 9 strikes, 4 whiffs

Carlos Rodon was sharp in his second start of the season, striking out nine hitters across six innings of work. He has also found his control thus far, walking just two batters in 11-1/3 innings. Rodon relies primarily on his 92 mph four-seam fastball and a whiffy 84 mph slider with short glove-side cut and has some two-plane movement, while also mixing in a firm 85 mph changeup. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-2, RBI), Yandy Diaz (1-3, 2 RBI)

The White Sox didn’t list a probable starting pitcher for Tuesday’s home game against the Rays, although it’s likely that Ervin Santana would be the one to fill that slot.

Santana, who the White Sox signed to a minor league deal, only made two Cactus League appearances in his extended Spring, and in doing so he gave up six runs on 12 hits across nine innings. Given his late start, he’s remained in Arizona to keep working to get ready for when the White Sox would need a fifth starter. Santana relies primarily on his 83 mph slider, a whiffy 91 mph four-seam fastball with natural sink, and an 85 mph changeup with slight cut action and a lot of backspin, while also mixing in a 91 mph sinker. Santana is 7-7 with a 5.31 ERA across his career against the Rays. Key Matchups: Avisail Garcia (7-27, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Mike Zunino (3-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB)

Glasnow promptly got ahead in the count before he spotted up a well-placed curveball on the inner third of the plate, locking up Longoria.

The first at-bat against the former face of the franchise culminated in a punch out, as the 1-2-3 first set the tone for the afternoon against the tall right-hander.

Noteworthiness

— After starting the season on a 1-for-27 skid, Willy Adames went 3-for-7 in the last two games of the series against the Giants. Mike Zunino, however, has collected just two total hits with the Rays.

— Tommy Pham continued his on-base streak with Tampa Bay, reaching base five times. Pham has now reached base safely in 42 consecutive games (extending back to 2018).

TNWN: Rays look to bounce back from 6-4 loss with a series win on Sunday

April 7, 2019 By Schmitty Leave a Comment

The Rays, who have averaged four runs per game over the last five games, appear to be waking up at the plate. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

After a 6-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays look to win their first road series of the season this afternoon.

Source: FanGraphs

The six runs the Giants scored on Saturday were the most allowed by the Rays since Opening Day (5). Prior to Saturday’s contest, Tampa Bay’s bullpen had allowed just four runs in 31 innings, yet then gave up six in six frames.

There is a bright side though: the Rays’ offense, which has averaged four runs per game (RPG) over the last five games, appears to be waking up. Compare that to the 2.75 RPG Tampa Bay averaged over the first four games. After being mired in a 1-for-27 stretch of frustrating at-bats, Willy Adames — who entered Saturday’s ballgame as a pinch hitter — went 2-for-3 on the day with a run scored.

Adames said he hopes the showing was the start of something.

I was not thinking a lot when I got to the box. I wasn’t thinking of my hands, my feet. I was just seeing the ball and hitting it. …I think I needed a day like that to get my confidence back.Hopefully keep it going (Sunday).
— Willy Adames

Ji-Man Choi also had productive day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. All told, Tampa Bay went 3-for-7 wRISP (.429 BA) with two two-out runs.

Another superlative, Jeff Samardzija — who had been incredulous at the Rays usage of openers — was knocked out of the game in the fifth inning. Perhaps, if he had an opener in front of him, Samardzija wouldn’t have had to face Austin Meadows (1-for-5), Tommy Pham (0-3, BB, run, RBI sac-fly), and Choi three times. I digress.

The New What Next

Yonny Chirinos (1-0, 1.29 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay, pitching opposite of Drew Pomeranz (0-0, 3.60 ERA).

Chirinos gave up one run on two hits with no walks across seven innings of a win over the Astros on Sunday. He struck out six and walked none. The lone run he relinquished came on a third-inning Jake Marisnick homer with two outs. Otherwise, the tall right-hander coaxed a ton of weak contact to pair with his strike-throwing (88 pitches, 60 strikes, 68% strike rate) which kept the Astros’ bats at bay.

Pomeranz yielded two solo homers across five innings in his season debut against the Dodgers on Monday. The 30-year-old southpaw is 4-3 with a 3.98 ERA in 11 career appearances against the Rays. Last season Pomeranz went 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA across 9-1/3 innings against the Rays, having allowed four homers. He relies primarily on a firm 81 mph knuckle curveball with 12-6 movement and a whiffy 92 mph four-seam fastball with little natural movement, while also mixing in a whiffy 92 mph sinker with some arm-side run. Expect the Rays to load the lineup up with righties, as Pomeranz’s splits have the hurler performing to a career .329 wOBA against right-handed hitting as opposed to a .279 against southpaw batters. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-2, HR, 2 RBI), Avisail Garcia (3-5, 2B), Guillermo Heredia (2-4, HR, 3 RBI, BB), Daniel Robertson (1-4, HR, RBI)

You can read about the series.