The New What Next: Rays enter series finale in salvage mode Sunday afternoon

Chris Archer gets the start in the series finale against the Astros this afternoon, opposite of Doug Fister. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
After falling 6-2 Saturday night to Houston, as well as dropping the first two games of their set with the Astros, the Tampa Bay Rays are in salvage mode entering Sunday’s series finale. Tampa Bay needs a win to split the season series with Houston.

The New What Next

Chris Archer (7-17, 4.11 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay this afternoon, opposite of Doug Fister (12-8, 3.59 ERA).

Archer is tops in the AL with 192 strikeouts and looks to add to that total against the free swinging team from Houston. He allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks over five innings on Tuesday, striking out six. The 109 pitches thrown after five frames ended his night early, marking his shortest stint since May 22. Be that as it may, the righty continues to pitch much better in the second half of the season, owning a 2.94 ERA with 61 strikeouts over 53 innings since the All-Star Break. Archer’s collected five quality starts over his last seven games — allowing him to lower his ERA to 4.11, the lowest its been since Opening Day.

Fister shut out the Pirates over seven innings on Monday, earning a win. The righty allowed just three hits and a walk, while striking out six. Fister, vacillating between very good (three shutout starts) and very bad (three starts of four-plus runs) starts over his last seven games, had allowed nine runs over his previous two starts before Monday. He’s relied upon a slow 88 mph sinker this season, while also mixing in a 71 mph curveball that generates a lot of whiffs, an 80 mph splitter with arm side fade, an 82 mph worm killer of a slider, an 85 mph cutter, and a whiffy 88 mph four-seam fastball. Key matchups: Matt Duffy (1-1), Logan Forsythe (2-3, 2B), Kevin Kiermaier (1-3), Evan Longoria (4-13, RBI, BB), Steven Souza Jr. (1-3), Bobby Wilson (1-2)

Rays 8/28/16 Starting Lineup

Dickerson LF
Kiermaier CF
Longoria DH
Miller 1B
Duffy SS
Franklin 2B
Souza RF
Beckham 3B
Maile C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

— Just as he started to get toasty at the plate, Tampa Bay optioned OF Mikie Mahtook back to Triple-A Durham following Saturday’s ball game in order to add a fresh arm to the depleted bullpen. Their means to an end was to recall RHP Steve Geltz. In the past six games, the Rays have needed their relievers to cover 21-1/3 innings thanks to a pair of starts of fewer than four innings, as well as an extra inning game.

The move should be temporary, as Alex Cobb is slated to return to the 25-man roster on Monday. The righty hurled four innings Saturday for the Durham Bulls, allowing one run on five hits and no walks on 58 pitches (44 strikes), while striking out one. Tampa Bay has room for Cobb on the 40-man roster thanks to the release of Desmond Jennings.

Mahtook is likely to return when the rosters expand later this week.

Rays 8/26/16 starting lineup, Nick Franklin returns from concussion DL, etc

Blake Snell looks to bounce back from a triplet of less than stellar outings this afternoon, opposite of fellow lefty Dallas Keuchel. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

After Friday’s disappointing loss to Houston, the Rays will take on the Astros again tonight. Rookie LHP Blake Snell will take the mound for Tampa Bay, opposite of 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel.

Keuchel is the fourth Cy Young Award winner Snell has faced in his 14 big-league starts, previously losing to Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander and David Price.

Rays 8/26/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Duffy SS
Beckham 1B
Mahtook LF
Souza RF
Dickerson DH
Wilson C
Snell LHP

Noteworthiness

— INF/OF Nick Franklin will be activated from the seven-day concussion DL Saturday afternoon. After going 3-4 while playing second base and left-field for the Class-A Stone Crabs, Franklin showed that he was ready to the Rays. In doing so, RHP Tyler Sturdevant was optioned back to Triple-A Durham to make room.

— RHP Alex Cobb will make his last rehab start Saturday with the Triple-A Durham Bulls before rejoining the Rays next week against Toronto. This will be the last step in his extended rehab from May 2015 Tommy John elbow surgery.

Over his seven rehab starts, Cobb is 0-3 with a 7.64 ERA. He has not worked more than four innings, and he likely won’t go any deeper Saturday, as he is pitching on four days’ rest. Still, Cobb reportedly feels good even though the results haven’t matched. He’ll return with some specific goals in mind, particularly locating his stuff.

Get some clean innings, go out there and not work so hard, Cobb said. Locate pitches. Have pitch execution in mind and do it, and don’t think about the process that it takes to do it. And just walk off the mound and feel relieved you’re able to get that call back (to the majors).

—  You can read about tonight’s pitching matchup in our series preview.

Roster Moves: Tampa Bay Rays to release Desmond Jennings on Saturday

The Tampa Bay Rays will release OF Desmond Jennings on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Unknown)
The Tampa Bay Rays will release OF Desmond Jennings on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Unknown)
The Tampa Bay Rays announced they will release veteran outfielder Desmond Jennings on Saturday. Jennings was on the 15-day DL for the second time this season, and hadn’t played since August 2.

Once considered one of the most promising young outfielders in the game, Jennings had been part of the “core three” of Rays players after being drafted in 2006 along with Evan Longoria and Alex Cobb. In nearly 2,000 plate appearances between 2011 and 2014 he slashed .249 BA/.327 OBP/.402 SLG/.729 OPS/103 wRC+ while hitting 47 home runs and swiping 86 bases. He also turned in an 11.7 fWAR, putting him seventh among position players in team history.

Unfortunately the 29 year-old has battled injuries and poor performance for much of the past two seasons, owning a .222 BA/.295 OBP/.347 SLG/.642 OPS line with just eight homers and seven stolen bases in 333 plate appearances.

As Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors) noted, Tampa Bay will be on the hook for his league minimum salary:

Jennings was earning $3.3MM in his second season of arbitration eligibility. Even if he catches on with another organization and makes it back to the majors this year, Tampa Bay will remain on the hook for the remainder of that less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary. Jennings profiled as a likely non-tender candidate at year end, but will instead hit the open market a bit early.

Kevin Cash called the move a necessity for both the ball club and Jennings, saying, “It was time. Best for him, best for us, going forward.” Cash continued, “It’s unfortunate it just didn’t work out. We couldn’t quite get him on the field as much as we would have liked.”

It’s uncertain what precipitated the move now, however, parting ways with Jennings gives Tampa Bay the opportunity to sign a more consistent impact bat prior to the 2017 season.

Noteworthiness

— Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) offered a strongly worded, yet succinct, elegy for the now former Rays outfielder in Saturday’s edition of the Times.

Rays 8/25/16 starting lineup, Dylan Floro placed on DL, etc

Xavier Cedeño (photographed) made his big league debut with the Houston Astros in 2011. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Xavier Cedeño (photographed) made his big league debut with the Houston Astros in 2011. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Rays 8/25/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Miller 1B
Duffy SS
Morrison DH
Mahtook RF
Dickerson LF
Wilson C
Smyly LHP

Noteworthiness

— Over the past calendar month, the Tampa Bay Rays have posted the best record in the American League East (12-11).

— Despite sitting 18-games under .500, Kevin Cash now has the most wins by a Rays manager (134) in the first year of being on the job. The average is 67.

— The Rays enter the day with a 64-62 BaseRuns record, and a 61-65 Pythagorean Expectation.

— RHP Dylan Floro, who posted an 0-1 record with a 4.20 ERA in 12 games for Tampa Bay, has been placed on the Triple-A DL due to arm soreness.

— You can read about tonight’s starting lineup in our series preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Astros — a series preview

….and we’ll all float on okay. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Coming off their most successful home stand of the season, the Tampa Bay Rays head to Houston where they will start a three-game series against the Astros on Friday. Tampa Bay finished the home stand 7-3 against the Padres, Rangers and Red Sox.

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 7.30.40 PM

Although Tampa Bay resides in last place in the AL East, the ball club has gone 8-3 over the past 11 contests, knocking off likely playoff-contenders Texas and Boston.

Houston looks to continue its own surge toward contention in the AL Wild-Card race. Standing four games behind the Orioles, the Astros are 34-28 at Minute Maid Park, where they will play the next six games. They are coming off their fifth victory in six road contests.

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 7.59.00 PM

Kevin Cash will throw Drew Smyly (6-11, 4.88 ERA), Blake Snell (4-6, 3.17 ERA), and Chris Archer (7-17, 4.11 ERA) over the next three days. A.J. Hitch will counter Mike Fiers (9-6, 4.41 ERA), Dallas Keuchel (8-12, 4.64 ERA), and Doug Fister (12-8, 3.59 ERA).

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 7.54.53 PM

Rays Series Starters

Smyly surrendered four runs on five hits (including two homers) and a walk while striking out seven Rangers over 6-2/3 innings on Sunday. It was the eighth time in 24 appearances that the southpaw served up multiple homers in a game, although this was the first time he posted a win in one of those outings. Smyly has now won four consecutive starts thanks in part to the Rays’ 6.8 runs per game during that stretch. His 3.03 ERA and 3.63 K/BB over 32-2/3 innings (five games) shouldn’t be overlooked.

Snell went just 3-2/3 innings on Monday, allowing two runs on four hits and five walks. He struck out three. The rookie southpaw has struggled of late, allowing 13 free passes over his last three starts, and lasting just 10-1/3 total innings.

Archer allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks over five innings on Tuesday, striking out six. The 109 pitches thrown after five frames ended his night early, marking his shortest stint since May 22. Be that as it may, the righty continues to pitch much better in the second half of the season, owning a 2.94 ERA with 61 strikeouts over 53 innings since the All-Star Break. Archer’s collected five quality starts over his last seven games — allowing him to lower his ERA to 4.11, the lowest its been since Opening Day.

Astros Series Starters

Fiers allowed an earned run on five hits and a walk over seven innings on Saturday, striking out seven. The veteran righty bounced back from a less than savory start against Toronto, posting one of his best efforts of the season. Of his total 104 pitches, 68 went for strikes, with his only mistake being a solo shot to Chris Davis. He’s now struck out seven in three of his last four starts. Fiers gave up two runs on five hits (including two homers) over seven innings against the Rays on June 11. Key matchups: Matt Duffy (2-4), Evan Longoria (1-2, HR, RBI, BB), Brad Miller (1-3, HR, RBI), Logan Morrison (3-7, RBI), Steven Souza Jr. (1-3, 2B)

Keuchel allowed just two runs on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over eight innings on Monday, earning a win. The lefty rebounded from a poor start, showing he’s still capable of delivering Cy Young Award like performances. In spite of that, Keuchel posted a 5.0 IP/5 H/5 R/4 ER/2 K line against Tampa Bay on June 12. Key matchups: Tim Beckham (1-4, 3B, RBI, BB), Logan Forsythe (6-16, RBI), Evan Longoria (5-15, 2 RBI), Mikie Mahtook (1-3, 2 RBI), Brad Miller (4-13, RBI, 2 BB), Logan Morrison (3-9, 2B), Steven Souza Jr. (1-2), Bobby Wilson (4-8, 2B, HR, 3 RBI)

Fister shut out the Pirates over seven innings on Monday, earning a win. The righty allowed just three hits and a walk, while striking out six. Fister, vacillating between very good (three shutout starts) and very bad (three starts of four-plus runs) starts over his last seven games, had allowed nine runs over his previous two starts before Monday. He’s relied upon a slow 88 mph sinker this season, while also mixing in a 71 mph curveball that generates a lot of whiffs, an 80 mph splitter with arm side fade, an 82 mph worm killer of a slider, an 85 mph cutter, and a whiffy 88 mph four-seam fastball. Key matchups: Matt Duffy (1-1), Logan Forsythe (2-3, 2B), Kevin Kiermaier (1-3), Evan Longoria (4-13, RBI, BB), Steven Souza Jr. (1-3), Bobby Wilson (1-2)

Noteworthiness

— Since being acquired at the trade deadline, Matt Duffy is batting .357 in 11 games. He collected his first extra-base hit with a double Thursday.

— Tim Beckham, who is sitting on a six game hit streak, missed the last two ball games with a hamstring issue and is considered day-to-day.

— Evan Longoria, who reached 30 homers for the fourth time in his career and, has hit 14 home runs on the road, where he is batting .310.

— Jose Altuve recorded his 11th RBI in nine games on Wednesday and is 5-for-10 against the Rays this season. He is coming off an eight-game hit streak.