Dallas Keuchel held the Rays scoreless on Tuesday.

Momma said there’d be days like this. A day after seeing their four-game win streak come to pass, thanks to a Ryan Yarbrough-like start by Dallas Keuchel, the Tampa Bay Rays will look for the series win on the south side of Chicago this afternoon.

The Rays enter play 18 games above .500, two games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the division, and still boasting the best record in the American League.

Shane McClanahan got the start for Tampa Bay and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk while striking out four across five innings. It was a bounce-back performance for the southpaw, as the only major damage against McClanahan came on a solo homer to Adam Engel in the fifth inning. He did work with runners on base throughout his start, although he held Chicago to just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. In all fairness, his final line was skewed by four hits on the infield. It was a positive step in the right direction for McClanahan, who managed to complete five innings after working to a combined 6-1/3 frames across his last two starts. The left-handed rookie lowered his ERA to 4.42 on the season with 46 punchouts across 38-2/3 innings.

Tampa Bay’s fielding wasn’t nearly as crisp as it could or should’ve been last night.

After working around trouble in the first three frames, Chicago got a break which enabled them to put two runs on the board in the fourth. McClanahan walked Andrew Vaughn with one out before Leury Garcia reached on an infield base hit placed perfectly between first and second. After Brian Goodwin struck out looking, Danny Mendick followed with a hard-hit grounder into left field. Randy Arozarena quickly came up with the play and made an accurate throw home, yet the ball hit the lip of the grass in front of the home-plate area and skipped past Francisco Mejía, allowing both runners to cross the plate. As B.A. pointed out on the broadcast, McClanahan didn’t back up the play, which allowed the second runner to cross the plate.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay couldn’t put much to any pressure on Keuchel, who scattered just four hits and a walk across seven innings. The Rays’ best chance came in the fourth when Yandy Díaz and Mike Brosseau hit back-to-back singles with one out. Díaz moved into third when Mejía flew out to the warning track, but Joey Wendle flew out to left, which ended the threat.

After that, Tampa Bay collected just one hit against Keuchel — a Randy Arozarena single to left that was promptly erased on a double play.

The Rays made things interesting in the ninth inning. Díaz hit a one-out dibbler between home and third before and Ji-Man Choi singled off closer Liam Hendriks. However, Hendriks struck out both pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe and Wendle to end the game.

Flush it, there is always the contest this afternoon.

The New What Next

The three-game set against the two best teams in the AL will conclude this afternoon with Ryan Yarbrough (4-3, 3.63 ERA) getting the majority of the innings for the Rays. He will pitch opposite of Lucas Giolito (5-5, 3.81 ERA).

Ryan Yarbrough got the start against Baltimore on Friday and allowed two unearned runs on three hits across six solid innings. He struck out six Orioles and walked none on 79 pitches (56 for strikes, 71% strike rate). The only runs to score on Yarbrough came on a third-inning two-run shot off the bat of Trey Mancini, although they weren’t marked as earned runs since they followed a fielding error by the left-hander. Yarbrough lowered his season ERA to 3.63 and moved above .500 for the first time this season. He hasn’t taken a loss since April 30 and now owns a 4.92 K/BB.

Lucas Giolito allowed two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out nine over six innings on Friday against Detroit. It was the fourth quality start over the last five appearances of Giolito, who maintains a 2.38 ERA and 0.88 WHIP during that stretch. The right-hander relies primarily on a 94 mph four-seam fastball that has some added backspin and a whiffy 82 mph changeup, while also mixing in an 86 mph slider with 12-6 movement. He is 1-0 with a 1.30 ERA in three career starts against the Rays. Key Matchups: Austin Meadows (2-3), Mike Zunino (1-3)

You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup is below.

Rays 6/16/21 Starting Lineup

  1. B. Lowe 2B
  2. Arozarena DH
  3. Choi 1B
  4. Meadows LF
  5. Díaz 3B
  6. Wendle SS
  7. Margot RF
  8. Kiermaier CF
  9. Zunino C
  10. Yarbrough LHP

Noteworthiness

— The Rays made a roster move this morning, recalling Chris Mazza from Triple-A Durham, and placing Collin McHugh on the COVID-related IL. Rays manager Kevin Cash said McHugh woke up feeling sick this morning so they placed him on the COVID list out of an abundance of caution. McHugh will take a rapid test, although he is expected to be fine.

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