The Tampa Bay Rays hit the road Friday ahead of a long 10-day, 10-game road trip. First stop, the south side of Chicago for a four game wrap-around series against the 11-12 White Sox. The Rays are coming off a 3-4 home stand — one in which they dropped two consecutive games to the Twins, the first home series loss against Minnesota since 2006. Thursday marked the AL-leading 11th time a Rays starter didn’t work more than five innings — the eighth time in the last 10 games since Cobb went on the disabled list. That’s not an achievement I’m comfortable touting.
Suffice it to say, Tampa Bay is finding it hard to string together a few victories with a starting rotation hampered by several injuries. The Rays have dropped three of four thanks in large part to the struggles of its starting staff. The short outings have found Maddon and Co depending on a worn out the bullpen — one which has thrown 70 2-3 innings this season, among the most in the American League.
As with the Rays, the White Sox are also dealing with pitching injuries. They also went 3-4 (in their last seven) on their road trip through Texas and Detroit. Chicago had a chance to secure a winning trip Thursday against the Tigers, but the Sox couldn’t do much even with 11 hits. They left eight men on base in a 7-4 loss.
Erik Johnson: Erik John is a pitcher who’s improved after every start this season, and the Rays will face him for the first time, Friday night. The 24 year-old righty has four solid pitches; a fastball that sits in the low 90s, a good slider, change-up, and a curve — the latter pitches being much improved. His mid-season promotion to Winston-Salem last season, combined with the improved command of his pitches — allowing him to lower his walks considerably (10 BB in 49.1 IP) — gave Johnson the tag of one of the best pitching prospects in the White Sox system.
John Danks: Danks is 0-2 with a 4.05 ERA in three starts against the Ray,s extending back to 2011. Still Danks has been solid thus far, having given up only eight runs in 25-1/3 innings of work in 2014. Danks has relied less on fastball and curve ball this season, while increasing his dependence on the change-up and cutter. Because of it, his K% is down slightly, though he’s been able to induce weak contact. Key Match-ups: David DeJesus (9-25, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB), Yunel Escobar (5-9, RBI), Desmond Jennings (1-2, 2B, 2 BB), Sean Rodriguez (6-12, 2B, 2 3B, 4 RBI).
Andre Rienzo: Rienzo is another young righty who the Rays have never faced. He features a good 90-96 MPH fastball with plenty of life — particularly when up in the zone, a solid 11-5 curve ball in 76-79 mph range, and a cutter which he uses against lefties. Rienzo does have some command issues. He rarely locates his fastball to edges of the zone, and doesn’t demonstrate the ability to push ball down in the zone. If the Rays hitters don’t expand their strike zone, forcing Rienzo to throw strikes, they could have some fun Monday.
Noteworthiness
- Ryan Hanigan has thrown out 36.5 percent of runners trying to steal over his career, including 3-of-7 this season.
- Gordon Beckham went 0-for-4 in his season debut Thursday after missing 22 games with a strained oblique muscle.
- Marc Topkin writes,
“The White Sox have been quite offensive thus far, going into play Thursday leading the AL in runs, hits and on-base plus slugging percentage, and ranking second in homers. Cuban import Jose Abreu has been impressive, with seven homers, as has rookie INF Marcus Sieman. OF Dayan Viciedo and SS Alexei Ramirez rank at the top of the AL in batting. The rotation, though, is a bit in question, especially with ace LHP Chris Sale (flexor muscle strain) and LHP Felipe Paulino (rotator cuff inflammation) on the DL. The bullpen,” anchored by RHP Matt Lindstrom, has been solid.”
- White Sox lead the series against Rays 69-54 (35-24 at US Cellular Field).
- Juan Carlos Oviedo made his first major-league appearance since Sept. 21, 2011 on Thursday. He pitched 1-1/3 scoreless innings against the Twins, walking two and striking out two on a pair of filthy change-ups. Though Oviedo’s fastball command was missing in his first game back, Joe Maddon was impressed with his splitter. “Obviously I was really happy to be out here today for my first game since 2011,” Said Oviedo following his appearance. “Right now, I just need to keep working so I can really command my fastball.”