X-Rays Spex

A Below Average Rays Fan Blog

LBWMF: Rays reach 90 win plateau with 9-4 win over Toronto

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For the second consecutive season, Sergio Romo (AKA Cash $) was the ball boy in the season finale at the Trop. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

For the first time since 2013, the Tampa Bay Rays finished the regular season with a 90-72 record. Tampa Bay pulled in front of the Toronto Blue Jays for good in a three-run fifth inning Sunday afternoon, then won 9-4.

Toronto scored the first run of the game in the third against Ryan Yarbrough. Kevin Pillar came up with a two-out single, then moved into second on a passed ball. Randall Grichuk followed with a double to left, putting Toronto up by a run. Yet Tampa Bay answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning against Sam Gaviglio.

Jake Bauers led off the inning with a single to right, stole his way into second, and went to third on a wild pitch. With two outs and a runner at third, Tommy Pham walked and stole the teams third base of the game. But the responding throw by Reese McGwire ended up in centerfield, which allowed Bauers to cross the plate and Pham to move into third. Joey Wendle capped the rally with a base hit through the left side, putting Tampa Bay in front for the first time.

But, Toronto tied the game in the fifth inning against Yarbrough. With two outs, the southpaw allowed a bloop single to center to Richard Urena before Pillar doubled over the head of Austin Meadows in right, plating a run. After a six-pitch walk to Randal Grichuk, Yarbrough coaxed a fly ball out in foul territory to prevent any further damage, keeping the game even.

Tied at two entering the home sixth, Bauers collected his second hit of the day — bunting against the shift for a hit to start a go-ahead rally. Nick Ciuffo followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Bauers up to second. One pitch later Smith singled to right-center, scoring Bauers and putting the Rays ahead by a run.

Not content with just 39 steals on the season, Smith swiped second — his second of the game and 40th of the season. Smith’s 40 steals are the most for a Ray since Carl Crawford’s 47 and B.J. Upton’s 42 in 2010.

Pham — who had reached base in 33 consecutive games with his third-inning walk — tripled to left-center, stretching the lead to two runs before Wendle hit a sac fly to center, capping the three-run rally.

Still, the Blue Jays answered in the seventh inning against reliever Hunter Wood, the third Rays pitcher of the day. Wood walked Teoscar Hernandez, who went to third on a single to right by Rowdy Tellez. Hernandez ultimately came home on an RBI groundout by Aledmys Diaz to make it a two-run game.

However, the Rays tacked on three runs in the seventh on Brandon Lowe’s sac fly and Bauers’ two-run double, which put the Rays up by five. Both teams added a run on double-play groundouts the following inning.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 10 hits with three each from Bauers and Pham. Meanwhile, Austin Pruitt fired off 3-1/3 innings of one-run ball.

Wendle, who became the first Tampa Bay rookie hitter to hit .300 in a given season (and the first .300 hitter for Tampa Bay since Casey Kotchman in 2011), was lifted in the eighth inning to a standing ovation. He later came out for a curtain call.

At the end of the day, Tampa Bay’s 90 wins feels important. True, there really is not much of a difference between 90 wins and 89 wins, especially without the benefit of a postseason berth. Yet after a 1-8 and 4-13 start to the season, 90 wins feels like a revelation. Pair that with the fact that the Rays were in the running for a Wildcard spot with six games left to play, in the last week of the season. Fans and players alike caught a whiff of something they hadn’t in five long years. That whiff makes the team a much more formidable presence going into the 2019 season.

Rays skipper Kevin Cash likened it to laying the groundwork in his postgame presser, saying:

We should be very proud of the way we played this year. The things we accomplished. The groundwork we laid. But we’re not satisfied. … We need to go into this offseason, enjoy ourselves, take a month, then get back after it.

Jake Bauers responded in kind:

I’m excited to be a part of this whole organization. This is a great group of coaches. We have a great manager and a great group of 40 guys. Any time you’re generally excited to go to work and you’re excited about being able to hang out with your boys, your buddies, just go have fun and have baseball be enjoyable with guys you actually like, it’s a huge thing. We’re looking forward to next year.

So are we, Jake.

LBWMF: Rays look to bounce back on Saturday following a 7-6 loss to the Jays

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Tyler Glasnow (on the mound) allowed three runs across 5-1/3 innings Friday night. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

The Tampa Bay Rays got off to a good start on Friday yet couldn’t finish off the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays squandered three leads in the 7-6 loss, leaving them with no wiggle room for mulligans in the quest for 90 wins with just two games left to play.

After a terrific month-long stretch of play, Tampa Bay has dropped four of five.

The Rays took a three-run lead in the first inning against southpaw Thomas Pannone, who previously held them to just two runs. Mallex Smith led off the game with a triple to left-centerfield, while Tommy Pham walked — extending his on-base streak to 30 games.

Joey Wendle drove in the Rays first run when he doubled down the left field line, plating Smith from third and moving Pham up 180 feet.

CJ Cron was next, sending a sacrifice fly to left and pushing the lead to 2-0. Finally, Willy Adames capped the inning with an RBI single to right-center.

Yet Toronto immediately answered against Tyler Glasnow when Teoscar Hernandez homered to right-center on the first pitch of the second inning, drawing the Blue Jays within two.

Still, the Rays stretched the lead back to three runs in the fifth inning after Smith reached on an infield hit. Even though it appeared that he was picked off first, the throw to second went off of Richard Urena’s glove which allowed Smith to scamper into third on what was scored a stolen base and an error.

Pham followed with a sac fly to right for a 4-1 advantage. However, the Blue Jays tied the game in the sixth.

Rowdy Tellez started the rally with a homer to right, then with one out Reese McGwire singled and Dwight Smith Jr. walked, chasing Glasnow. Enter Adam Kolerek.

Even though McGwire was thrown out trying to advance to third for the second out, Urena singled to left — putting two on for second baseman Jon Berti, who punched a ground ball into center field for a hit. Both Smith and Urena scored as the throw came in to second.

Tampa Bay was able to take the lead back in the bottom of the inning. Willy Adames led off with a walk, moved up to third on a one-out single to right by Austin Meadows, and came home on a safety squeeze bunt single by catcher Adam Moore off reliever Jake Petricka.

Be that as it may, the Rays scored just the one run in the frame, which allowed Toronto to take the lead back for good in the top of the seventh.

Chaz Roe started the inning by allowing a leadoff hustle double to left-center to Kevin Pillar. Yangervis Solarte grounded to third, as Roe was pulled in favor of Jose Alvarado. Tellez grounded to second but Brandon Lowe committed his first big league error, putting runners on the corners with one out. Hernandez walked to load the bases before pinch-hitter Randall Grichuk cleared the bases with a three-run triple to right.

Tampa Bay was able to get within a run on a no-doubter to center by Adam Moore, his first MLB homer in six seasons.

Smith, who was a homer* shy of the cycle, then doubled to left-center off Jose Fernandez, leading John Gibbons to call upon Ryan Tepera, the sixth pitcher of the night for Toronto. Tepera struck out Pham and Wendle and got CJ Cron to fly to right, ending the threat.

Ken Giles closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.

*Smith crushed a ball to the deepest part of the park in the sixth, just shy of the wall in center.

The New What Next

The second game of the series is on Saturday as Blake Snell (21-5, 1.90 ERA) makes his final start of 2018 opposite of fellow southpaw Ryan Borucki (4-5, 3.76 ERA).

Snell blanked Toronto across 6-2/3 innings on Sunday, allowing three hits and two walks. He struck out 11. The southpaw was outstanding once again, winning his ninth consecutive start. Snell relinquished just three singles and during his nine-start winning streak has given up only six earned runs in 46 innings. He has a sterling 1.90 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP this season.

For Snell, who became the Rays’ third starting pitcher to win the team MVP award on Friday (joining Tanyon Sturtze in 2001 and James Shields in 2011), consider this his final tuneup ahead of a potential Cy Young Award win.

Borucki was dealt a loss on Sunday even though he allowed just two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out seven over seven innings. Borucki was solid once again, limiting the opposition to two runs or fewer for his fourth straight start. Borucki was nicked for RBI doubles in the fourth and sixth innings, saddling him with the loss. He is 0-2 but with a 2.77 ERA against the Rays this season. Key Matchups: Carlos Gomez (1-2), Tommy Pham (1-4, 2 BB), Joey Wendle (1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 BB)

Rays 9/29/18 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Pham LF
Adames SS
Cron 1B
Lowe 2B
Gomez RF
Meadows DH
Sucre C
Velazquez 3B
Snell LHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Blue Jays — the final series preview of the regular season

LBWMF: Rays punish Blue Jays, 11-3; Andy Fletcher’s liberal strike zone

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Austin Meadows collected three hits in his debut with the Rays Friday night. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays struck early and often Friday night, bouncing back from a soul-crushing loss to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-3.

We’ve got a bunch of guys who are quick to forget a loss, manager Kevin Cash said. They bounced right back and put pressure on the defense and the pitchers right out of the gate.

The Rays remain mathematically alive in the AL Wildcard race, although they will need help from the Twins and Orioles this weekend, as they sit 6.5 games behind the Athletics and 8 games behind the Yankees with 9 games remaining.

Austin Meadows, the 23-year-old outfielder that was acquired at the trade deadline in the Chris Archer deal, came up big, collecting three hits while driving in three and scoring twice. Meadows replaced Ji-Man Choi, who was pulled due to a knee soreness in the sixth inning and singled in his first at-bat, cashing in a pair of runs, before he swiped second and scored later in the inning.

In the inning that followed, Meadows drove in Mallex Smith from second when a ground ball found its way through a hole in the left side of the infield. Two batters later, he came around to score when Joey Wendle doubled to center.

Meadows finished the night 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a one-out double in the ninth.

I felt pretty good up in the box (Thursday night), Meadows said. I thought I felt good as well tonight. … I was able to pull out three hits right there and help the team.

Smith affected the outcome once more, reaching base three times and scoring two runs while plating one. He was pulled from the game in the seventh inning with an ankle injury that he sustained running into the outfield wall to make a catch in the fifth.

The defensive change was a precautionary move as Rays manager Kevin Cash expects Smith to be in the lineup Saturday afternoon.

Tommy Pham continued to prove his worth in the lineup, pushing his on-base streak to 23 games with a 2-for-3 night, which included a pair of walks, two RBI and a run scored.

After the game, Pham spoke to why he has been so productive in spite of getting banged up since the trade deadline:

I’ve been driving the ball. There haven’t been as many ground balls as earlier in the season. I think that’s key for me, using the whole field because I hit the ball hard, and when I use the whole field, it’s kind of hard to defend.

According to Aaron Rose (MLB.com) Pham has increased his average launch angle by 2.9 degrees since joining the Rays on July 31, according to Statcast™. Coming into Friday night, it had led to 10.6 percent fewer ground balls and an OPS 286 points higher than the .730 he posted with St. Louis this season.

All told, the Rays plated 11 runs on 15 hits and eight walks, again without the benefit of hitting any homers.

The New What Next

Tyler Glasnow (2-6, 4.22 ERA) will get the start for the Rays on Saturday after a disastrous seven-run, two-thirds inning performance in his last start against Toronto. He’ll pitch opposite of Thomas Pannone (3-1, 3.77).

Tyler Glasnow allowed the only hits on the night and struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing the right-hander to pick up his first victory with Tampa Bay in nine starts. The only other baserunner against Glasnow came on a one-out hit by pitch of Rougned Odor in the first inning. Odor later swiped second base and moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. He, however, struck out Adrian Beltre with two outs to escape the threat.

After the rough first inning, Glasnow found a rhythm on the mound and retired the next 11 batters he faced — taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

But with two outs In the bottom of the fifth, the right-hander allowed an infield single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa for Texas’ first hit on the night.

Be that as it may, outside of a bad start against the Toronto Blue Jays on September 5, in which he allowed seven runs and lasted just two-thirds of an inning, Glasnow has been strong for the Rays, allowing one run or fewer in five of his nine starts, and yielding two hits or fewer in five starts.

He was outstanding. I liked everything, Rays manager Kevin Cash said. I thought he was out of rhythm in the first inning, and I thought he did a nice job of kind of calming the situation down, getting the ball over the plate. He had the breaking balls, the fastballs going, and he threw some changeups. … He’s done just outstanding. The runs he’s given up, it seems like they come off solo home runs a lot, which is fine. Keeping guys off base, and if they’re going to get you, you’d rather it be a solo shot. With the exception of Toronto, we’ve been in every single game. He’s given us an opportunity to win every single game that he’s been out there.

Thomas Pannone allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six across seven innings on Sunday. Pannone got off to a shaky start after giving up two runs in the first inning, though he managed to bounce back and finish his day with six consecutive scoreless frames. The 24-year-old has appeared in just 10 games this season for Toronto (four starts) and owns a 3.77 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 21 punchouts through 31 innings. Pannone has appeared in two games against the Rays this season, allowing two runs on four hits across 2-2/3 innings. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-2), Joey Wendle (1-2, 2B)

Rays 9/22/18 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Pham LF
Duffy 3B
Cron 1B
Wendle 2B
Adames SS
Meadows RF
Gomez DH
Sucre C
Glasnow RHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Blue Jays — the penultimate series preview

Noteworthiness

— Ji-Man Choi is not expected to start Saturday.

— After being tossed from Thursday’s game, Carlos Gomez went to the clubhouse and posted several tweets criticizing the performance of home plate umpire Andy Fletcher. Gomez didn’t back down Friday, accusing Fletcher of missing “more than 30” pitches.

He’s the one that should have been thrown out last night because he’s the only one who didn’t do his job, Gomez said.

Gomez will likely be punished by the league, although he does have a point. Fletcher did have a rather liberal strike zone Thursday night as illustrated by Brooks Baseball.

Note: green “dots” are balls, red “dots” are strikes.

Rays bounce back to defeat Athletics, 7-5; TV deal rumblings

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It had the feeling of a postseason ballgame at the Trop on Saturday night, as the Rays bounced back to beat the Athletics, 7-5. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

With the game tied late at four runs apiece, Jake Bauers hit a go-ahead three-run home run to right off Jeurys Familia, as the Tampa Bay Rays evened the series against the Oakland Athletics with a 7-5 victory Saturday night.

The Rays needed a win in order to stay relevant, and that’s exactly what they got. As Orestes Destrade once said of the improbable run by the 2011 Rays, “Probable no, possible yes” — a mantra we at X-Rays Spex have staked ourselves to until the tragic number, etc tells us otherwise.

It would appear that Kevin Cash feels the same, although he also noted an added benefit of playing in games that matter, saying:

We want to be playing baseball games in these types of series for many years to come. We have a bunch of guys here who are gonna be here for many years to come and it’s a core group. Any lesson, any win, any tough loss that they can pull something positive from it will benefit us in the long run.

Tampa Bay took leads of 2-0 and 4-2 in the second and sixth innings, yet Oakland battled back to tie each time.

Familia entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and walked both Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe to set up Bauers for the dramatic three-run, go-ahead blast — his 11th homer of the season.

Familia’s sequence of pitches which set up the homer was questionable at best, starting Bauers off with two off-speed pitches which had the rookie expanding his zone early as he got down in the count 0-2. Yet Familia tried to sneak a thigh-high 96 mph fastball over the inner third of the plate, past Bauers, and well … the rest is history.

It feels pretty damn good, excuse my language, Bauers said. It’s been a pretty long month for me personally, to contribute to a win like that and let emotions out in a positive way, it feels pretty good. … I think (the bat flip) might have felt better. It’s nothing to do with disrespect or showing people up, it’s just purely letting out a lot of pent up emotions out. Hitting a game-winning home run is a big thing, whether you’re 100-for-100 or 0-for-100. … The homer felt great; the bat flip felt better.

Brandon Lowe initially put the Rays ahead, 2-0, with a two-run homer off of Dean Kiekehefer, his fifth of the season.

Yet Oakland ground away at Yonny Chirinos, cutting the lead to 2-1 on a Jed Lowrie RBI single in the third, and tying the game on a Matt Olson solo homer in the sixth. Chirinos, however, settled down in the fourth inning and, at one point, retired 10 in a row and kept Tampa Bay in it.

The Rays responded in the bottom of the sixth when Wendle drew a leadoff walk and scored on Kevin Kiermaier’s RBI triple into the right-field corner.

Bauers followed with a sac-fly to right, scoring Kiermaier and putting the Rays up by two. Nevertheless, Oakland bounced right back in the top of the seventh to even the score again. Mark Canha doubled off reliever Adam Kolarek to score Marcus Semien and cut the lead to one. Canha later scored from third on a passed ball with two outs.

Oakland threatened once more in the top of the eighth inning, loading the bases with one out against Vidal Nuno, yet the southpaw caught Marcus Semien looking at strike three, and Andrew Kittredge coaxed a ground out from Canha to end the threat.

Even though Sergio Romo allowed a solo homer to Chapman in the ninth, he got the final three outs of the ballgame to preserve the victory.

The New What Next

The Rays will look for the series win on Sunday afternoon with Diego Castillo (3-2, 3.31 ERA) taking the mound as the opener. Jalen Beeks (4-1, 5.57 ERA) should see some mound time as well. There is also the possibility that Tyler Glasnow could pitch on regular rest. They’ll be opposed by Mike Fiers (12-6, 3.29 ERA).

Beeks boasted neither fastball command or control Monday night. After escaping a pair of threatening situations in his first two innings of work, Francisco Lindor hit a one-out single to right, and Michael Brantley doubled to right-center. Jose Ramirez followed by looping a ball into shallow centerfield that fell beyond Brandon Lowe and in front of Smith for a double, chasing Beeks after 2-1/3 innings (51 pitches, 33 strikes, 65% strike rate, 8/13 first-pitch strikes) and making it 4-2. That made for the third consecutive short outing by the right-hander after he built up his arm back in August.

Fiers allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven in six innings on Tuesday. He picked up the win. His remarkable run since getting traded to Oakland continued, as the right-handed Fiers is now 5-0 with 42 strikeouts across 39.2 innings (seven starts) in an Athletics uniform. He has won six straight decisions overall, and only needed 84 pitches (56 strikes, 66% strike rate, 18/22 first-pitch strikes) to cruise to this quality start. Fiers is 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA in four starts against the Rays, and 1-1 with a 7.31 ERA in three career starts at Tropicana Field. Key Matchups: Ji-Man Choi (1-3, 2B), Matt Duffy (2-7), Mallex Smith (1-3), Jesus Sucre (2-5)

Rays 9/16/18 Starting Lineup

Smith RF
Duffy 3B
Choi DH
Cron 1B
Lowe 2B
Kiermaier CF
Adames SS
Bauers LF
Sucre C
Castillo LHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs. Athletics, part two — a series preview

Noteworthiness

— Ahhh, September baseball games that matter… Tampa Bay has used 16 pitchers over the past 18 innings, allowing seven runs over that stretch while striking out 20.

— In “No shit, Marc Topkin” news, on Sunday the Rays’ beat writer (for the Tampa Bay Times, one of the area’s biggest cheerleaders for the fleecing of taxpayers out of almost a billion dollars) iterated something that both Noah Pransky (WTSP News) and X-Rays Spex discussed months ago, when news of the team’s new TV deal with SunSports initially leaked to the public.

As Topkin writes:

As quiet as it’s been about the rich new TV deal that’s long been under discussion, might the Rays might feel getting it done — and news leaking of how much they’re getting — could hurt their negotiating position over their share of costs for the new stadium?

Back toward the start of the season we wrote:

It has been widely speculated that a new TV contract could be a significant step toward the team being able to afford a new stadium, while also giving the Rays an opportunity to increase the payroll. However, there is reason to pump the brakes on that point of view.

As Noah Pransky (Shadow of the Stadium, WTSP News) writes, they always knew that money was coming. That is, while the Rays will have a ton of new revenue pouring in, it’s plausible that the “new” money will have been budgeted already.

“Its likely not “new” revenue that the team is all of a sudden going to commit to payroll or a new stadium; they are revenues the team was already budgeting.”

Pransky also noted (Twitter link) that the TV deal probably will not change much on the stadium front. The Rays did not want the financial numbers to go public for a reason: it would reduce the team’s leverage by making the case for public subsidies even harder.

It’s easy for payroll hawks and stadium proponents — on either side of the bay — to get excited about the news, although it’s probably wiser to be cautiously optimistic.

If anything, Topkin’s 46-word prognosis lends an air of legitimate media credibility to what we, and others, have been saying (even if it was months after the fact).

LBWMF: Rays drop critical game to the Athletics in extras, 2-1

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Tommy Pham scored the Rays only run Friday night. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Rays dropped a tight extra inning contest to open the critical three-game set against the Athletics on Friday, as Oakland defeated Tampa Bay, 2-1. Tampa Bay starts the day nine-games back in the AL Wildcard race with 16 left to play, with the loss diminishing their already slim hopes of playing relevant baseball in October.

We understood where we were, where we stood, third baseman Matt Duffy said after the game. I guess still mathematically there’s hope. We understood how big each one of these games was. A little discouraging.

But we still have two more games. And there’s a lot to play for, for everybody in this room really other than chasing down these guys, so we’re still going to go out there with the same mindset.

Diego Castillo opened the game and delivered two perfect innings, striking out four. Ryan Stanek worked around a walk for a scoreless third, setting up Ryan Yarbrough to pitch the bulk of the innings.

Yet Oakland opened the scoring against Yarbrough in the top of the fourth, when Matt Chapman doubled with one out and scored on a two-out infield single from Matt Olson, that squirted just beneath the glove of a diving Willy Adames. Nevertheless, the Rays answered in the bottom of the inning when Tommy Pham reached on a two-out to out bloop double to center and Joey Wendle singled to left, scoring Pham and tying the game.

Former Ray Edwin Jackson worked five strong innings for Oakland before Shawn Kelly tightroped his way through a scoreless sixth when Tampa Bay had a golden opportunity to break the tie.

Mallex Smith led off the inning with an infield single before Matt Duffy laid down a bunt which the Athletics struggled to field, putting runners on first and second. The right-handed reliever wild pitched both runners into scoring position, but Ji-Man Choi struck out and Pham popped out leaving the Rays with one out to play with against Oakland’s mighty ‘pen. After Wendle was intentionally walked, Willy Adames struck out looking to end the frame.

The at-bat of the game, Adames said, and I didn’t get the job done.

Chaz Roe, Adam Kolarek, and Andrew Kittredge got key outs in the middle innings to keep the Rays within striking distance, and Jose Alvarado struck out the side in a perfect eighth.

For the Athletics, Ryan Buchter and Lou Trivino kept Tampa Bay off the board in the seventh and eighth innings.

Sergio Romo followed with his first appearance since September 4th, retiring Oakland in order in the ninth on 12 pitches. Meanwhile, Blake Treinen took the mound in the ninth for Oakland and hit Brandon Lowe with one out. Lowe advanced to second when Kiermaier grounded out to first, and the Rays got a second chance when Chad Pinder tripped over the left-field bullpen mound after chasing down Jake Bauers’ popper in foul territory. But Bauers popped out to send the game into extra innings.

Instead of leaning on Romo in the top of the tenth, Rays skipper Kevin Cash called on Jaime Schultz who surrendered the go-ahead homer to Davis to open the inning.

I definitely didn’t execute, Schultz said after the game. My plan is to go up in the, and I let it leak out over the plate right to his strength. He is a threat anytime. You’ve got to be cautious. The guy has 41 home runs, now 42.

All told, the Rays used nine pitchers and allowed only three hits, although the third hit proved costly.

Everything bullpen-wise worked really well; we didn’t get any points for them, Cash said.

Treinen returned to the mound for the tenth and retired the Rays in order to end the game.

The New What Next

The Rays and Athletics will continue this important series Saturday evening at Tropicana Field. Ryne Stanek (2-3, 2.58 ERA) is slated to open the game for Tampa Bay while Yonny Chirinos (4-5, 3.81 ERA) will likely throw the bulk of the innings. Like the Rays, Bob Melvin will utilize the opener strategy with Liam Hendriks (0-1, 5.94 ERA) taking the mound for Oakland.

Stanek will make his 52nd appearance of the season (his 26th start). The right-hander threw one scoreless inning with a walk on Friday night.

Chirinos allowed three earned runs on seven hits across 6-1/3 quality innings in a win over Baltimore on Sunday. He struck out six. Chirinos turned in the equivalent of a quality start, getting through his six-plus frames on an efficient 94 pitches (59 strikes, 63% strike rate, 16/25 first-pitch strikes). The right-hander has generated mixed results since assuming his current role, but he’s been sharper of late — considering Sunday’s line, Chirinos has allowed four earned runs over 13-1/3 innings while generating a 3.67 K/BB over his last two turns on the mound.

Hendriks will make his fifth start of the season in the opener role. The right-hander has allowed just one hit and no runs in his last three outings in that capacity, but Hendriks is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA in 19-1/3 innings in his career against Tampa Bay.

Rays 9/15/18 Starting Lineup

Smith RF
Duffy 3B
Choi DH
Pham LF
Wendle SS
Kiermaier CF
Lowe 2B
Bauers 1B
Ciuffo C
Stanek RHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs. Athletics, part two — a series preview