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LBWMF: Rays drop series opener to the Mariners in extras, 4-3

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Partying on the party deck on a beautiful Friday night in Seattle. (Photo Credit: “Replay” Dave Drobach)

The Tampa Bay Rays battled back from a three-run deficit on Friday and inevitably found themselves in their second extra-innings ball-game in less than a week. They, however, couldn’t overcome the Seattle Mariners, dropping the 13-inning series opener, 4-3 — consequently falling back to the .500 mark. The Mariners are now 17-9 in one-run games, and 6-0 in extra innings.


What a ride! Source: FanGraphs

Seattle struck first, taking a three-run lead before an out was recorded in the fourth inning. After Sergio Romo pitched 1-1/3 scoreless frames as the opener, Austin Pruitt got into, and out of, a jam in the second, although Seattle broke through in the third inning.

With two outs, Jean Segura beat out a slow grounder to short before Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz followed with back-to-back line drive singles, giving the Mariners a one-run lead.

Then in the bottom of the fourth, Ben Gamel sent a sharp line drive the other way, past a diving Mallex Smith, who had late jump on the play but tried to make his best KK impersonation and missed by a few inches, resulting in a triple. Ryon Healy hit a weak single to center to drive in Gamel. Then another in-between liner (this time toward right-center) lead to another Smith dive and miss, as the ball bounded toward the wall.

But Austin Pruitt tightened up his game and retired 11 consecutive batters — fanning three of them — and did not allow a ball out of the infield.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay collected three hits in the first two innings against Mike Leake, including leadoff singles in each frame, but did not score. The Rays’ hitters came to the plate ready to hack away at Leake, the right-hander who pounds the zone. He may not be an imposing hurler, yet Leake has been very good of late, and played off the Rays’ aggressiveness at the plate. He coxed many a whiff, induced lots of weak contact at the worst times, and worked quickly and efficiently.

Tampa Bay didn’t get another hit until the fifth inning, when Carlos Gomez and Johnny Field went back-to-back with solo home runs to left-center — the seventh for Gomez, and sixth for Field. They pulled the Rays to within a run.

Down by a run to start the ninth, Tampa Bay rallied against closer Edwin Diaz to even up the score. Joey Wendle walked then stole second as Wilson Ramos struck out. Wendle was subsequently wild pitched to third before Matt Duffy fell behind 1-2. Yet Duffy lined an RBI single to left, which plated Field and tied the game at three apiece. Duffy wound up at third on a run-and-hit single by Daniel Robertson, however, Diaz recovered to strike both Brad Miller and Gomez out to keep the game tied. Jose Alvarado worked around an infield single in the bottom of the frame to send the contest to extras for the second time in four days.

Juan Nicasio and Dan Altavilla followed Diaz and posted scoreless innings in the tenth and the eleventh, while Roenis Elias did the same in the 12th and the 13th. Tampa Bay was able to get a runner into scoring position when Field singled to left and swiped second with two outs in the 12th, however, Smith struck out to end the threat.

After Alvarado and Chaz Roe paired up to put up a zero in the 10th, and Roe worked the 11th — punctuated by a swinging strikeout of Mike Zunino on a filthy slider (see below) — the Mariners broke through in the 13th against Matt Andriese, who pitched a scoreless 12th.

Mitch Haniger worked the count full against Andriese, then homered to right-center, ending the four-hour plus marathon.

The New What Next

Game two of the series is on Saturday. Chris Archer (3-3, 4.29 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay, pitching opposite of left-hander Marco Gonzalez (5-3, 3.60 ERA).

Chris Archer got the start for Tampa Bay on Monday, and threw six innings of shutout baseball. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven. Even though his slider was inconsistent all day — at times it showed good tilt and finish, while at other times it stayed up in the zone and looked flat — his fastball was more on point, which made his rolling sliders effective as off speed pitches. Even so, his fastball command was erratic as well, as Archer threw just 18 of 35 heaters for strikes, and just 10 of 22 first pitch strikes over his six innings of work. The right-hander is 1-2 with a 2.80 ERA in six career starts against the Mariners, and 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in three starts at SafeCo Field.

Marco Gonzales allowed one run (un-earned) on four hits and four walks over 6-2/3 innings of work on Monday. Gonzalez has given up just two unearned runs over 19-1/3 innings in his last three starts and is 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA over his last seven, while going six-plus innings in six of those outings. This season the 26 year-old southpaw he has relied primarily on a firm 85 mph changeup with slight armside fade and natural sink, a whiffy 91 mph sinker, and a 79 mph worm killer curveball, while also mixing in n 88 mph cutter good “rise” and strong cutting action, and a 91 mph four-seam fastball. Key Matchup: Wilson Ramos (2-2)

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Mariners — a series preview

Rays 6/2/18 Starting Lineup

Robertson SS
Cron 1B
Duffy 3B
Ramos DH
Field CF
Refsnyder LF
Gomez RF
Arroyo 2B
Sucre C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

— Topper said it best:

Manager Kevin Cash has seen too many baserunning mistakes and says the Rays have to do something about it.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” Cash said after Friday’s 4-3, 13-inning loss to the Mariners. “Look, we play close games and those things are magnified. We’ve learned that over many discussions talking about it.

“We’ve got to kind of go back to the drawing board on some of the baserunning.”

The Rays made four outs on the bases Friday, and it was hard to say which was worse.

Cash seemed to absolve Mallex Smith of blame for being caught stealing to end the first. Matt Duffy was caught in an odd double play in the seventh. Daniel Robertson got picked off first after drawing a two-out walk in the 11th. Joey Wendle was doubled off first to end the 13th.

“It hasn’t been good,” Cash said. “I visited it a couple games ago. It hasn’t been good and it shows up when you’re playing tight games, extra inning games. All those little mistakes prevent you from scoring runs.”

— Mallex Smith’s energy is contagious, but he consistently gets beaten in the box (especially of late), on the base paths, and in the field. Had Smith played the above mentioned hits on a hop instead, the damaged likely would have been mitigated. Perhaps it’s time to start him in left-field, where there’s less ground to cover, and Johnny Field in center.

— Holy right-handed batting order, Batman.

LBWMF: Nathan Eovaldi blanks Oakland in return to the mound

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Nathan Eovaldi pitched like a man on fire Wednesday night. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Nathan Eovaldi’s first start in a regular-season game since 2016 on Wednesday could not have gone any better. The right-hander threw six hitless innings in Oakland, as the Tampa Bay Rays (28-26) won their fifth game in a row, 6-0 over the Athletics in a combined one-hitter. He became the 12th pitcher in MLB history to start in the majors after having two Tommy John surgeries.

Eovaldi spent last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, then missed the first two months after having arthroscopic surgery for loose bodies in his pitching elbow. Yet at long last, the flame throwing righty made his highly anticipated return to the mound and did not disappoint. After he walked the second batter of the game, Matt Olson, with one out in the first, Eovaldi went to work and retired the next 17 batters in order.

Eovaldi relied primarily on his upper 90’s fastball (topping out at 98 mph), and worked quickly and efficiently on the mound, needing just 70 pitches (46 strikes, 66% strike ratio, 32 fastball) to burn through the Athletics’ lineup. He lived at the top of the zone, and just off the plate, but brought his fastball back over the black occasionally. He also leaned on his splitter (14 thrown, eight strikes, three whiffs) and slider (nine thrown, five strikes, one whiff) when he needed a punch out, and his cutter to coax weak contact (seven ground ball and fly ball outs).

At-Bat results for Nathan Eovaldi. (Credit: Brooks Baseball)

Sure, he got some help from the fielders behind him — Johnny Field made a sliding catch in the third and then a leaping grab on Matt Joyce to end the frame, Carlos Gomez made a diving catch on Pinder’s liner in the sixth — but the fact that he was able to limit hard contact speaks volumes.

Dealing with a firm pitch-count in mind, Kevin Cash made the contentious decision to pull Eovaldi after the sixth.

It was tough, there was no doubt, but we have to do what’s right by him, Cash said. He wanted to stay but realistically he’s not getting to the ninth inning. I’ll just blame (pitching coach Kyle Snyder). I wanted to keep pitching him but Kyle told me to pull him.

Eovaldi wasn’t pleased with the decision, but understood why it was made.

I didn’t want to shake his hand, Eovaldi said. I haven’t gone seven innings in a really long time. So we played it safe and it was good. I would have liked to stay out there until I gave up a hit but I understand the situation as well.

On the offensive end of things, Tampa Bay took the lead against Sean Manaea in the second inning, after Carlos Gomez hit a wind-blown triple into the right-field corner with one out, and Johnny Field laced an RBI double to left-field, past the outstretched glove of a diving Joyce.

Then in the third inning, C.J. Cron was hit by a pitch to start the frame, before Wilson Ramos singled with one out, and Rob Refsnyder crushed a three-run homer to right-center (his second of the year) for a four-run advantage.

Meanwhile, Wilmer Font made his Rays debut in the seventh inning, taking over for Eovaldi. He got Matt Chapman to line to short before Jed Lowrie broke up the no-hitter on a single up the middle. Font also gave Rays fans a scare when Dustin Fowler hit a towering fly-ball to centerfield that Mallex Smith caught up against the wall. No harm done, Font struck out Mark Canha to end the frame.

Font pitched well overall, hitting 97 mph with his fastball and coaxing four whiffs. As Dough Waechter noted during the broadcast, his splitter was absolutely filthy when he spotted it up. He allowed just on batter to reach in two innings of work.

Then in the eighth, Field extended the lead to five on a solo-shot, over the left-field wall, off southpaw Danny Coulombe.

Field’s solo home run | 05/31/2018

Johnny Field hammers a solo home run over the left-field wall, giving the Rays a 5-0 lead in the top of the 8th inning

It was his fifth homer of the year.

Daniel Robertson singled to right two batters later, moved up to second and third on a pair of wild pitches, and then came home on a Cron double to left-center.

Cron’s RBI double | 05/31/2018

C.J. Cron smacks a double to center field, driving in Daniel Robertson to extend the Rays’ lead to 6-0 in the top of the 8th inning

All told, Tampa Bay collected 10 hits. Eight of nine starters had at least one hit, while Ramos and Field had two hits each.

Vidal Nuno ended the game with a scoreless ninth, wrapping up Tampa Bay’s second shutout in three games. Prior to this series, the Rays had not blanked an opponent all season.

With then win, the Rays leapt past Oakland in the AL Wildcard standings. They start the day one game behind the Angels, and five games behind the Mariners, who they will face in a three-game weekend series, starting tomorrow.

The New What Next

Both teams will wrap up a four-game series on Thursday afternoon, with Tampa Bay positioning itself for a sweep. Ryne Stanek (1-0, 3.24 ERA) will start with Ryan Yarbrough (4-2, 3.21 ERA) expected to pitch the bulk of the innings. They’ll be opposed by Daniel Mengden (5-4, 2.85 ERA).

Daniel Mengdon tossed a two-hit gem Saturday against the Diamondbacks, en route to his fifth win of the season. He fanned five and issued zero walks. Mengdon continued to dominate, as he has now given up just four earned runs over his last 33-2/3 innings (1.07 ERA), including a current 17-inning scoreless streak. The 25 year-old right-hander coaxed 13 ground balls in that outing, which has been a big part of his success over this stretch. However, with only 43 strikeouts in 66-1/3 innings this season, and an insanely lucky — and unsustainable — .164 BABIP over the last 14-days, a regression is anticipated. This season he has relied primarily on his 93 mph four-seam fastball with some added backspin, while also mixing in an 85 mph slider with two-plane movement, a 93 mph sinker with little armside run and almost no sinking action, an 83 mph changeup that has some slight arm-side fade, and a 73 mph curveball. Key Matchup: CJ Cron (1-2)

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Athletics — a series preview

Rays 5/31/18 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Cron DH
Wendle 2B
Ramos C
Robertson SS
Miller 1B
Refsnyder LF
Arroyo 3B
Field RF
Stanek RHP

Noteworthiness

— A win would cap an already plus .500 month of May.

LBWMF: Rays rally in the 13th to defeat the Athletics, 1-0

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The Rays won just their second extra inning 1-0 victory in franchise history on Monday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Tampa Bay rallied with two outs in the 13th inning for the game’s only run, as the Rays defeated the Athletics 1-0 on Memorial Day. It was their first shutout of the season, just the second 1-0 extra-innings victory in franchise history, and the third straight win as the Rays got back to .500 for the third time this season.

Chris Archer got the start for Tampa Bay, and threw six innings of shutout baseball. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven. Even though his slider was inconsistent all day — at times it showed good tilt and finish, while at other times it stayed up in the zone and looked flat — his fastball was more on point, which made his rolling sliders effective as off speed pitches. Even so, his fastball command was erratic as well, as Archer threw just 18 of 35 heaters for strikes, and just 10 of 22 first pitch strikes over his six innings of work.

Home plate umpire Paul Nauert did no favors for Tampa Bay — pinching Archer (and those who followed) on more than a few on the black strikes, and calling them for balls, yet giving Trevor Cahill the benefit of the doubt on pitches in the same location. While the strikeszone map below is incomplete, it effectively shows a smattering of pitches from Rays hurlers that should have been called strikes, but weren’t. In spite of that, Archer pitched effectively and didn’t get into trouble until the fourth and sixth innings.

Evan the incomplete strike zone map shows that Tampa Bay got pinched on more than a few calls by home plate umpire, Paul Nauert, yesterday afternoon. (Credit: Brooks Baseball)

Marcus Semien led off the fourth by lashing a sharp single to left, and Jed Lowrie followed and worked the count full. With Semien running, Archer rolled a slider at the top of zone that Lowrie swung through for strike three. The pitch was handled perfectly by Jesus Sucre, who fired a laser down to second, where Joey Wendle slapped a quick tag on Semien, well ahead of the bag, to complete a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play.

The timing of the double play was fortuitous, as Matt Olson shot a 1-0 fastball into the right-center gap for a double. It would have plated the go ahead run had Semien reached second safely, but with the bases empty before the hit, Archer was able to instead make a good pitch and coax a tapper out of Chad Pinder to end the frame unscathed.

Then Jonathan Lucroy led off the sixth with an infield single before Archer fell behind Matt Joyce 3-0. He, however, battled back to a full count and got the former Ray to pop out to Matt Duffy. However, Archer walked Semien and Lowrie to load the bases, eliciting a mound visit by Kyle Snyder with starter Sergio Romo warming in the ‘pen — giving the right-hander a chance  to collect himself.

Archer threw a first pitch slider to Olson, who chopped into the shift for an odd looking, yet effective, 6-4-3 double play.

Oakland also had another great opportunity to win the game in the ninth, yet Matt Andriese entered with two on (Lowrie double off the wall, Olson walk against Jose Alvarado) and none out, and got the next three batters in order to send the game to extra innings. Sucre helped in the inning, pouncing on a sacrifice bunt that took a fortunate hop to get the force at third. The play was reviewed, but the call was confirmed.

Sucre also prevented a pair of wild pitches in that inning.

Andriese went on to pitch three perfect innings ahead of Ryne Stanek, who pitched a scoreless 12th.

Meanwhile, two outs into the top of the 13th, Johnny Field started the go ahead rally by grounding an infield hit into the hole at short. Semien fielded the play, but couldn’t come up with it. Sucre followed by driving a single into center, pushing Field up to second. Mallex Smith then got ahead of Chris Hatcher 2-0 before he lined a fastball over the head of Lowrie and into right-center for another single. The throw home from Stephen Piscotty was too late to beat the head-first slide of Field, who scored from second.

Stanek came back out in the bottom of the frame and got the first two outs sandwiched around a Semien walk. Cash called on Venters to face Olson, and after a seven pitch battle — including a 71 mph curveball at the top of the zone — Oakland’s first baseman went down on a foul tip strikeout to end the game, earning Venters his first save since August 22, 2011.

The New What Next

The Rays can get over .500 for the first time since Opening Day on Tuesday with Blake Snell (6-3, 2.78 ERA) starting opposite Daniel Gossett (0-2, 6.28 ERA).

Blake Snell blanked the Red Sox on three hits over six strong innings on Thursday, fanning eight and walking two. By shutting down a tough Boston lineup, the southpaw kept his strong start to the season rolling — collecting his sixth victory of the campaign and lowering his ERA to 2.78. Despite averaging a 3.79 ERA over his 218-1/3 career big-league innings coming into the season, Snell’s 1.02 WHIP and 3.21 K/BB over 58-2/3 innings this season certainly look like the real deal in the early goings of the 2018 campaign.

Daniel Gossett allowed just one unearned run on four hits and a walk with five punch-outs over seven innings in a hard luck loss Wednesday against the Mariners. That was the best start of the season for the 25 year-old right-hander, who previously allowed five and four runs (respectively) over 7-1/3 innings of his first two outings this season. So far he has relied primarily on his 94 mph four-seam fastball that is bereft of movement, and a hard 89 mph worm killer slider, while also mixing in a 93 mph sinker with little arm-side run and sink, a firm 86 mph changeup with slight cut action, and a whiffy 81 mph curveball. Gossett is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in one career start against the Rays (totaling seven innings). Key Matchup: CJ Cron (1-3)

You can read more about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Athletics — a series preview

Rays 5/29/18 Starting Lineup

Miller 1B
Cron DH
Wendle 2B
Ramos C
Duffy 3B
Smith CF
Robertson SS
Gomez RF
Field LF
Snell LHP

TNWN: Rays look for series win against Baltimore on Sunday; pregame notes

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The Tampa Bay Rays look to win the series against the Orioles on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Anthony Ateek/X-Rays Spex)

After a 5-1 win over the Orioles on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays look to win a series against Baltimore on Sunday. A victory also would bring Tampa Bay (24-26) within a game of .500 ahead of the jaunt out west to Oakland and Seattle.

For the third straight game, Tampa Bay will start a right-handed reliever against Baltimore’s right-handed heavy lineup. Sergio Romo (1-1, 4.66 ERA) will start the game for the second time in this series, and fourth time in the last nine days — becoming the first pitcher to do that since Claude Osteen (July 17-25, 1975). He allowed a run on Friday after a two-out strikeout-wild pitch, the only run he’s allowed opening a game.

The strategy has worked by an large. Aside from Romo’s work, Ryne Stanek looked phenomenal on Saturday. Starting his first game since he was in Double-A Montgomery (2016), Stanek needed just 21 pitches to retire all five batters he faced on a groundout, three swinging strikeouts, and a fly-ball out. The right-hander topped out at 101 mph on multiple occasions, and of his 21 pitches 14 went for strikes with eight swings-and-misses (57% SwStr%). It was, without a doubt, his best performance as a Ray, and allowed him to drop his ERA to 4.05 (down from 5.40).

All told, Tampa Bay’s relievers first strategy has been fruitful, with Romo and Stanek performing to a combined 4.2 IP/1 ER/2 H/2 BB/10 K line.

Austin Pruitt is slated for the bulk of the innings against Baltimore, although Tampa Bay will also have an extra arm in the bullpen the next few days.

Following last night’s game, Anthony Banda was been optioned back to Triple-A Durham in order to make room for the hard throwing Nathan Eovaldi in the rotation, but in the interim, the Rays have called up RHP Jaime Schultz to fill that roster spot.

Kevin Gausman (3-3, 3.48 ERA) will take the mound against the Rays. Gausman fanned 10 in 6-1/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday. He allowed nine hits and one walk in the no-decision against. Gausman was staked to a two-run lead when he left the game, but Baltimore’s ‘pen gave it up. This was Gausman’s sixth quality start on the season, and perhaps his most impressive of all, as he recorded a career-high 25 swinging strikes against a befuddled White Sox lineup. He now has an excellent 3.87 K/BB and 3.48 ERA over 62 innings of work. He allowed two runs on 11 hits over 7-1/3 innings against Tampa Bay on the 11th, and is 6-5 with a 3.48 ERA in 13 career starts against the Rays. Seven of those starts came at the Trop, where he is 3-3 with a 3.46 ERA. Key Matchups: CJ Cron (5-14, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB), Matt Duffy (2-4), Wilson Ramos (3-12, HR, RBI), Rob Refsnyder (3-8, 2B, BB), Mallex Smith (3-10, 3B, BB), Denard Span (6-13, 3 2B, 3 RBI), Jesus Sucre (2-6, 2 2B, 1 RBI), Joey Wendle (1-4)

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Orioles — a series preview, part three

Rays 5/27/18 Starting Lineup

Miller 1B
Cron DH
Wendle 2B
Ramos C
Robertson SS
Smith CF
Gomez RF
Arroyo 3B
Refsnyder LF
Romo RHP

Noteworthiness

— Per Thomas Bassinger (Tampa Bay Times):

The Rays have gone four games without hitting a home run, their longest drought of the season. Only two teams have had longer droughts — the Reds, who went six games without a homer, and the Brewers, who went five games.

Heading into Saturday’s game, the Rays had hit 46 home runs, the fifth fewest in baseball. Willy Adames, who was optioned back to Triple-A Durham on Thursday, was the last player to hit one (May 22).

Teams who haven’t hit a home run in a game have lost twice as often as they have won. The Rays are 6-15.

— As we posited on Friday, Kevin Cash confirmed that the Rays will close out games by committee, with the team using some combination of Jose Alvarado, Chaz Roe and maybe Sergio Romo.

I don’t think we’re in a position to name a closer right now, Cash said. We’ve learned over many years of doing this that games are won and lost in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, and we want to be prepare to use who we feel is best equipped to get those outs right then and then we’ll figure out the ninth when that time comes.

— Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio):

Wilmer Font has also officially joined the Rays after arriving during yesterday’s game. The right handed reliever was acquired in a trade with the A’s on Friday. Ironically, he’ll be making his return to Oakland right away on the upcoming road trip, where Font said his family is still living as of now.

Tampa Bay Rays 5/24/18 starting lineup and pregame notes

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The Rays will have Wilson Ramos back in the lineup tonight after missing a game with a bruised left hand. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

After dropping three straight, the Tampa Bay Rays look to salvage the series finale with Boston, and get back on the winning side of the ledger. All three of the Rays’ last three losses have come by three runs or fewer, after getting back to the .500 mark on the last road trip.

The Rays will have Wilson Ramos back in the lineup tonight after he missed a game with a bruised left hand. Meanwhile, SS Willy Adames is back in the lineup for the final time before being sent back to Triple-A Durham, as Joey Wendle is set to return from paternity leave on Friday.

Tampa Bay is 3-9 against Boston this season, and all but one of those defeats have come by three runs or fewer. The Rays are 19-16 against teams other than the Red Sox.

The New What Next

Blake Snell (5-3, 3.07 ERA) will start for the Rays tonight, pitching opposite of Rick Porcello (6-1, 3.39 ERA).

Blake Snell didn’t put together a perfect inning until the sixth, yet he made big pitches when he needed to, holding the Angels scoreless until the fifth when Andrelton Simmons hit a two-run, two-strike single to center with one out — cutting the lead to four runs. Still, the southpaw stranded leadoff doubles in the second and third innings, and held Los Angeles to 1-9 with runners in scoring position.

After the Simmons single, Snell retired his next seven batters, collecting three punch outs along the way. He scattered four hits and two runs over 6-2/3 innings, walking three and fanning eight. Snell threw 70 of 114 pitches for strikes (61% strike rate).

Rick Porcello allowed three runs over 7-2/3 innings against Tampa Bay on April 29th, and won his last start against Baltimore, giving up three runs in six innings. Overall, Porcello is 14-8 with a 3.23 ERA in 26 starts against the Rays, and 8-3 with a 2.43 ERA in 14 starts at the Trop. Key Matchups: CJ Cron (3-11, 2B, BB), Matt Duffy (5-16), Brad Miller (13-46, 6 2B, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB), Rob Refsnyder (1-3), Daniel Robertson (1-3), Denard Span (17-46, HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB)

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Red Sox — a series preview, part four

Rays 5/24/18 Starting Lineup

Span LF
Cron DH
Duffy 3B
Ramos C
Miller 1B
Robertson 2B
Smith CF
Field RF
Adames SS
Snell LHP

Noteworthiness

— According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) the Rays may have some clarity on their pitching plans, with the possibility of using reliever Sergio Romo as the game “opener” for all three games against the Orioles this weekend.