The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off a huge 5-2 win, by way of a series loss, against the Oakland Athletics. And though the Rays dropped the first two games to the red hot Athletics, two very important things happened; the good guys were able to beat a team with its undisputed ace on the mound, and they were able to limit the league’s highest scoring team to eight runs total. That is, the pitching may have finally stabilized. Moving forward, the wayward Red Sox make their way into the Trop Friday for a three-game set.
Much like the Rays, the Boston Red Sox are scuffling. Sitting two games over Tampa Bay, Boston (20-26) is in the throes of a six game losing streak. The struggling pitching staff has put pressure on the lineup to produce, meanwhile the bat heavy lineup averaged just 3.3 runs per game in their series against the Blue Jays. The Red Sox have been outscored 37-16 during their slump, having scored more than three runs only twice in that stretch. To add insult to injury, the starting rotation has an 8.89 ERA over a five game span.
Chris Archer will take the mound against John Lackey in the first game of the series. Saturday’s 5-1/3 inning outing halted a four start stretch, where Lackey went 3-0 with a 2.17 ERA — Including an April 29th start against Tampa Bay where he went eight solid innings innings in a 7-4 win against Tampa Bay. Prior to that fateful outing, the Rays touched the mouth breathing pitcher for a 1-2 record over his last four starts, with an 8.84 ERA (including the playoffs). Jake Peavy will get the start against David Price in Saturday’s contest. The Sox are 1-3 in Peavy’s last four starts, including a 2-1 loss to the Rays on May 1st. Though Peavy pitched well in that game, he’s given up five or more runs in two-out-of-three subsequent outings.
Per Reuters, “The Rays had scored four times during a four-game losing streak before matching that in the 11th on Thursday, capped by Sean Rodriguez’s three-run blast, to beat red-hot Oakland 5-2. Tampa Bay All-Star Evan Longoria, batting only .191 since April 25, started the rally with a single. Boston slugger David Ortiz has 11 homers, but comes in 0-for-15 in his last four games with zero RBIs in seven.”
John Lackey: As I wrote at the end of April, You know what to expect out of Lackey: poorly located fastballs and hittable cutters, and a put away curve-ball. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (6-26, 2 RBI), Yunel Escobar (8-18, 2 2B, RBI, 3 BB), Matt Joyce (7-22, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB), James Loney (5-19, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Evan Longoria (10-34, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-5) Ben Zobrist (11-27, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 5 BB).
Jake Peavy: Again, as I wrote in April, the Rays have been able to touch Peavy in the past, cranking four homers off the 31 year-old righty over in his last 20 innings of work against Tampa Bay. Key match-ups: Ryan Hanigan (1-3), James Loney (10-33, 5 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB), Wil Myers (1-4, RBI, BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-4), Ben Zobrist (4-13, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB).
Noteworthiness
- Sean Rodriquez leads the Rays in homers with five, despite only 68 at-bats in 27 games.
- Boston is 15-1 when leading after six innings and has won only twice in 23 games when trailing going into the seventh.
I’ll post more in a bit.