On the heels of six consecutive losses, the Tampa Bay Rays will return to the Sunshine State, Monday, for a four game series against the Miami Marlins. The first two of the four will take place at Marlins Park, whereas the final two will cap things off at the Trop.
What was once a certainty, that the Rays would walk away with the Citrus Series title, has now become murky. At 28-28, the Marlins are exceeding everyone’s expectations (hyperbole withstanding) — especially at home. The Marlins have the best home record (20-11) in all of baseball, while the Rays have vastly underperformed on the road. Tampa Bay has gone 11-20 away from the Trop, having dropped their last eight road games.
Besides the fact that Tampa Bay won all four meetings against Miami last season, a handful of things favor the Rays. First, Tampa Bay has strung together five consecutive wins (and 13 of-their-last 14) against the Marlins. Also, despite their MLB leading home record, the Marlins have dropped four straight at Marlins Park. What’s more, they lost ace RHP Jose Fernandez, reigning NL rookie of the year, to Tommy John surgery. A caveat however: the rest of the pitching rotation has been solid, and Miami’s offense — led by OF Giancarlo Stanton (.311 BA, 16 HR, 51 RBI) — ranks second in the NL in runs.
Randy Wolf: The Rays, as a team, have accrued all of 1/3 of an inning of work against Randy Wolf in the last three years — back in 2012, when Wolf was a member of the Orioles. Wolf was signed by the Marlins following the announcement of Fernandez’s season ending surgery. After a couple of relief outings, Wolf put together a 5 IP/9 H/6 R/4 ER outing against the Brewers in a 7-1 loss May 25th. The 37 year-old LHP has a fairly hittable fastball, curveball, and change up — especially when he leaves those pitches up, on the glove side of the plate.
Henderson Alvarez: Alvarez left Wednesday’s start in Washington with right elbow stiffness, saying he’s had the same feeling in two of his last three starts. Overall, he is 0-5 with a 6.28 ERA in his career against Tampa Bay. Key match ups: Desmond Jennings (4-10, 2 HR, 4 RBI), Matt Joyce (2B, 2 RBI), Evan Longoria (6-10, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-6, HR, 2 RBI), Ben Zobrist (6-14, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB).
Tom Koehler: The Rays last faced Koehler a year ago when he posted a very good 8 IP/7 H/3 R outing, resulting in a Marlins’ loss. Though he’s coming off a pair of losses, his last start resulted in a seven inning, three-run quality outing. What can be expected out of the Marlins 27 year-old RHP? The Rays need to be prepared for a mid 90’s fastball with good run, and an quality 12-6 curve ball with a lot of depth.
Key match ups: Desmond Jennings (2-2, BB), James Loney (1-3, 2B), Jose Molina (1-3), Ben Zobrist (1-4).
Jacob Turner: The Rays have never faced Turner, who’s described by John Sickels of Minor League Ball as being, “A 6-5, 210 pound right-handed hitter and thrower, born May 21, 1991. Turner can hit 95 MPH but usually works at 90-93, using a two-seamer to generate sinking action and ground balls rather than pure velocity. He mixes in a curveball and changeup, both rated highly-positively by scouts, and he’s added a cutter this spring. With a four-pitch arsenal and a good feel for his craft, he has the upside of a number two starter. His velocity has returned to normal over the last six weeks and the Tigers are pleased with the progress of his secondary pitches.”
Noteworthiness
- It’s a loss of confidence more than anything else right now with our guys. They need our support & they will get it. It’s not complicated. — Joe Maddon (via Twitter)
- Maddon went on, “I truly believe our offense is better than this.” Playing the role of contrarian, Evan Longoria noted that the morale is there, so is belief they can turn it around, but the concern is that they get too far back, and dig too deep a hole. “We’re not playing good baseball, we’re not doing the little things right,” said Longoria. On the subject of the offense, Longoria continued, the “Confidence level isn’t there.”
- James Loney has a team-leading .293 average, 26 points higher than the next regular. He collected three hits over his final seven at-bats of the weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. Loney has struck out just four times in his past 10 games.
- Shocker, Jose Molina went hitless in six at-bats in the series against the Red Sox, and has just four hits in his last 27 (.148) with no runs and no RBI.
- Ouch. Tampa Bay has 14 consecutive starts without a win for Rays starters, matching the longest stretch since 2010-11.
- Ben Zobrist is 9-for-18, with two homers in five games at Marlins Park.
- Adeiny Hechavarria has a modest four-game hitting streak, with two of those having been multi-hit contests. He went 5-for-11 (.455) in the Braves series. Hechavarria has been going the other way with his swings, something he did early in the season when his average flirted around .300.