After snapping a five-game losing skid with a 5–4 win over Baltimore on Tuesday, the Rays will try to end the home stand with a series win this afternoon. Tampa Bay can get back to four-games over .500 and take two of three from the Orioles with a victory.
The Rays did all if their damage in a five run second inning against Wade Miley, who entered the contest with a 2.60 ERA against Tampa Bay. Souza started the rally with a leadoff single to left. Then with one out, Brad Miller and Adeiny Hechavarria went back-to-back with base hits, loading the bases. After Mallex Smith singled to center, ending a 15-inning scoreless streak, Jesus Sucre hit a deep sacrifice fly to right for another run. Finally, Tim Beckham punctuated the inning with a three-run blast to left-center, putting the Rays up by five. It was Beckham’s 12th homer of the season.
Hope you didn’t miss the second inning.#RaysWin! pic.twitter.com/wpFVbxnTuh
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 26, 2017
Meanwhile, Jacob Faria bounced back with an impressive 7-1/3 inning start — his longest outing since he went eight for Montgomery at the end of 2015. There was a legitimate fear of familiarity with Faria facing the Orioles for the third time this season, yet the right-hander scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out five; holding the birds to 1-for-6 wRISP. His pitch mix kept the Orioles off balance, and though Baltimore made some noise with loud, hard contact, defensive luck — with those balls finding gloves not gaps — kept Faria in the black.
Three of @JDFaria34‘s nine starts have come against the O’s. He’s 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA against them and 5-1 on the year after last night. pic.twitter.com/ird78RrWCV
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 26, 2017
The New What Next
Alex Cobb (8-6, 3.57 ERA, 4.25 FIP) will start for the Rays this afternoon, opposite of Ubaldo Jimenez (4-6, 7.82 ERA, 6.85 FIP).
Cobb was three outs away from throwing a complete game before he gave up a two-run homer to Shin-Soo Choo. The right-hander pitched very well otherwise, leaning very heavily on his split/change. Of the 99 total pitches pitches thrown, 46 were split/changeups, 33 were fastballs, and 24 were curveballs. 34 of Cobb’s split/changeups went for strikes (74%, 26 swings, 9 swings-and-misses). He has recorded eight straight starts of at least six innings pitched. He is 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA during that stretch. A cursory tale: the Rangers had 10 balls leave the bat at 100 mph or more against Cobb — the most since June 9. That’s a lot of loud contact off someone who Cash continued to lean on because he was doing a great job “of limiting hard contact.” That, however, is not meant to take anything away from Cobb, who did a phenomenal job which the box score speaks to.
Jimenez has been inconsistent all season, but even more so in his past two starts, as the right-hander has allowed a combined 12 runs over nine innings. This season he is 0-1 with a 19.06 ERA in two starts against Tampa Bay, and 5-3 with a 4.70 ERA in 10 career starts overall. Key Matchups: Tim Beckham (1-2, 2 BB), Adeiny Hechavarria (4-5, 2B, RBI), Evan Longoria (5-19, HR, 6 RBI), Logan Morrison (6-11, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB), Shane Peterson (2-4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview.
Rays 7/26/17 Starting Lineup
Smith CF
Dickerson LF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza RF
Miller DH
Ramos C
Beckham 2B
Hechavarria SS
Cobb RHP
Noteworthiness
— A win this afternoon is critical, as the Rays head out for an eight-game road trip against the Yankees and Astros (respectively), two AL playoff contending teams. Tampa Bay starts the day 2-1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East after the Red Sox lost 6–5 in extra innings last night. In the Wildcard race, the Rays are 1-1/2 games behind New York for the top spot, and one game back of Kansas City for the second Wildcard spot.
— Kevin Kiermaier and Daniel Robertson are expected to begin their rehab assignments with the Charlotte Stone Crabs on Wednesday.
— The Rays have placed Jake Odorizzi on disabled list with a lower back strain retroactive to yesterday. Andrew Kittredge has been recalled, while Friday’s starter is TBD.
For his part, Odorizzi said has dealt with the back issue, which has impacted his ability to finish pitches, all season. Odorizzi doesn’t expect to miss more that two starts, and the 10 days rest will help calm it down.
As for a starting pitcher for Friday’s game against the New York Yankees, the Rays have a couple of option on the 40-man roster. Jose De Leon is rehabbing, but could be activated to make the spot start. Another fun option could be Brent Honeywell, who’s pitching schedule would line up with a start on Friday (last pitched on the 23rd).