The Tampa Bay Rays mounted a ninth inning threat but came up short against the Astros. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays mounted a ninth inning threat against Will “0.33 ERA in 27-1/3 innings of work” Harris, but came up short when Desmond “#HeGotTalent” Jennings grounded into a game ending double play.
The Astros scored more than three runs against Tampa Bay for the first time in 14 games. As for Steven Souza Jr., he did not strike out for the first time in 19 games.
The Rays are back at it Sunday, and if they are to win a third consecutive series for the first time this season, they will have to find a way to beat Dallas Keuchel — the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner — and the Astros. Taking the mound for Tampa Bay will be LHP Matt Moore.
The Rays southpaw is coming off a seven-inning start against Arizona, his longest outing since mid April. Moore relinquished five runs, all via the homer, and now has allowed 14 homers overall. However, in spite of his line, Moore’s fastball command was vastly improved and he was efficient, needing just 86 pitches over the course of his outing. Matt is 1-4 with a 6.49 ERA in his past nine starts, but is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts against Houston.
Keuchel has had a disappointing season thus far, although he has gone at least seven innings in five of his 13 starts, including his last outing. To that point, he has posted a 3.98 ERA over his past three outings — his best three-start stretch of the season. Boding in their favor, Keuchel not beaten the Rays in five career starts. Righties are hitting .297 against Keuchel this year (with an .832 OPS).
Forsythe 2B
Mahtook LF
Longoria 3B
Pearce DH
Morrison 1B
Souza RF
Jennings CF
Beckham SS
Casali C
Moore LHP
Noteworthiness
— Steve Pearcecollected three hits for the second straight game and the third time this season.
— Evan Longoria hit his 15th homer of the season on Saturday. The team has collectively hit 90; they are on pace for 243 by season’s end — the best projected mark in franchise history.
— Kevin Kiermaier (left hand fracture) has been tracking pitches when Rays hurler throw their bullpen session, and has taken dry swings with his dominant (right) hand. On Friday, The Outlaw started shagging fly balls during batting practice while wearing a glove on his right hand.
— Brad Boxberger (left oblique) is improving, although he has not yet been cleared to begin any strengthening exercises. Per Roger Mooney (Tampa Bay Times), that makes it too early to attach a timeline for Boxberger’s return.
Not right now, Boxberger said. It’s still kind of in that healing process. I got it pretty good, apparently. It’s just a matter of taking it day by day to see how each day how it feels, but it’s progressing better each day, so it’s going in the right direction.
Logan Forsythe got the bucket treatment after Friday’s game. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)The Tampa Bay Rays scored all of their runs with two outs in first and second innings on Friday, then held on to beat the Houston Astros 4-3 to begin a nine-game home-stand. At 28-31, Tampa Bay has now won six of its last seven games.
Tampa Bay built a four-run lead in the first two innings before local product, Lance McCullers, could settle in. However, a potentially game changing event occurred before any of the Rays stepped into the batter’s box.
George Springer reached on a single to right, then swiped second against Hank Conger, who couldn’t throw out a lumbering 45 year-old in a Sunday softball game. The red hot Jose Altuve followed with single to left, and Springer, who had every intention to put his team on the board first, tested the arm of Corey Dickerson. Dickerson threw a bullet home, nabbing Springer at the plate.
Springer wanted to score.@MCoreyDickerson wagged his finger, “No.”
The Rays answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. With one out and a runner (Brad Miller) on first, it appeared that Evan Longoria grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. However, Longoria beat the throw over by a half-step, and the play was ruled safe upon appeal. Logan Morrison walked on four pitches to put a pair on with two outs before Steve Pearce plated a pair on a double to left-center.
In the second inning, Desmond Jennings — who reached on a four pitch walk — took off on a 1-2 offering with Logan Forsythe in the box. Forsythe lined a double up the left-field line, scoring the speedy Jennings.
Before his injury, Logan was tied for the #Rays lead with 14 XBH.
Brad Miller followed with liner off first baseman Tyler’s White’s glove, capping the Rays scoring.
While the team had opportunities to score after the second, McCullers stifled the Rays for the remainder of his start. One of their better scoring opportunities came the fourth inning after Longoria crushed what was originally ruled a three-run homer. Yet the call was overturned after the umpires discussed it — it also stood upon review. Instead of a seven run advantage, Longoria grounded into an inning ending double play.
Meanwhile starter Matt Andriese allowed nine batters to reach base on five hits and four walks over the first four innings, but somehow still managed to keep the Astros off the board.
However, after a 1-2-3 fifth, Andriese ran out of gas in the top of the following frame.
With one out, Luis Valbuena doubled high off the wall in right. The leaping Steven Souza Jr. attempted catch the liner, yet the ball bounded away. Tyler White followed with an RBI single to the right-center gap, bringing Houston within three. Jason Castro followed with a two-run homer to right, making it a one-run contest — chasing Andriese and forcing the bullpen to get the final 11 outs.
Andriese, who battled through 5-1/3 innings, conceded that he didn’t have his A stuff:
Rays manager Kevin Cash also spoke about the right-hander’s start after the game.
Matt Andriese, I thought he was good, but I thought he was battling quite a bit. The tempo, the pace just wasn’t quite like we had seen in the past. And that’s OK, you’re not always going to be locked in out there.
Erasmo Ramirez collected the final two outs in the sixth, before throwing a scoreless seventh, allowing just a base hit. Erasmo was able to lower his ERA by 10 points because of his 1-2/3 scoreless innings of work. Xavier Cedeno entered the ballgame in the eighth and threw a perfect frame, fanning a pair. But things got hairy in the ninth with Alex Colome on the mound.
Colome walked Tony Kemp in a nine-pitch at-bat to start the inning. He was able to come back with a three-pitch strikeout of Springer before Marwin Gonzalez lined an 0-2 single to right off the hurler. For whatever reason, Souza threw to third in an attempt to catch Kemp. However, that allowed Gonzalez to safely move into to second. Longoria was able to make a heads up play, quickly firing over to Miller, who covered second. It initially appeared that Miller placed the tag on Gonzalez for an out, however, the play was overturned upon review. It was an unfortunate gaffe on the part of Souza. Instead of one out and runners on the corners, Colome had to face Altuve with two runners in scoring position.
Because of it, Altuve was intentionally walked, which loaded the bases and set up the force. It was eerily reminiscent of the bases loaded, two-out situation in Wednesday’s series finale agains Arizona…albeit a higher leverage situation. Houdini Colome would have to figure something out.
Colome came back with a three-pitch strikeout of Colby Rasmus, then got Evan Gattis to ground out toward the hole at short. Miller collected the ball, but made a poor throw over to Pearce at first. Thankfully Pearce scooped Miller’s one-hopped throw to finish off the game.
Rays win 4-3, and Houdini Colome is now a perfect 18-18 in save chances.
The New What Next
Chris Archer will take the mound Saturday afternoon, opposite of Mike Fiers. Archer is in the midst of a 15-2/3 consecutive scoreless inning streak against the Astros, including a complete-game one-hitter last August. Two of his three career complete games are against Houston. Fires will make his first career start against Tampa Bay. He has walked two or fewer batters in 12 straight starts. His 1.61 BB/9 is second best in AL. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 6/11/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Pearce DH
Dickerson LF
Souza RF
Jennings CF
Casali C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Alex Colome is the first player with six saves in seven team games since Francisco Rodriguez (April 2014).
— Oh yeah, Conger did throw out a runner last night, but only because Marisnick came off the bag.
#Rays pitch out and Conger catches Marisnick stealing 2B to end the T6
Welcome back, Logan Forsythe! (Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)
Rays 6/10/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Morrison DH
Pearce 1B
Dickerson LF
Souza RF
Jennings CF
Conger C
Andriese RHP
Noteworthiness
— After just two rehab games with the Durham Bulls, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that Logan Forsythe has been activated from the disabled list. To make room on the active roster, the team optioned Nick Franklin back to Triple-A Durham. Forsythe went 2-5 with a walk, homer, and HBP in his two rehab appearances.
Corey Dickerson, enveloped by Steven Souza Jr., hit two homers in the series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Both four games under .500, the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros meet at Tropicana Field for a three-game weekend series starting Friday.
The Rays, who lost four straight to open a 10-game road trip, closed the trek by winning five of six games. They hope to improve their play at home, with 20 of the next 27 games being played at the Trop.
The team is a disappointing 13-16 at Tropicana Field, the third-worst home mark in the American League.
We need to find a way to win at home, Cash told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times). We’re totally capable of winning at home, but … we’ve got to find a way to make that happen and create some homefield advantage because I don’t think we have this year.
Prior to the road-trip, Tampa Bay had lost eight of nine outings — dropping to eight games under .500 — before taking advantage of struggling Twins and Diamondbacks, collecting 30 runs in its last five wins.
The guys have kind of rallied around each other, Rays manager Kevin Cash told the media following the series finale in Arizona on Wednesday. You see the at-bats we’re having right now. We’re grinding through some at-bats. It’s been really fun to watch.
Evan Longoria, in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak, has led the way for the Rays. Longoria has hammered six homers and driven in 15 RBI over the life of his hitting streak. To that end, many of the team’s slumping bats returned to form, including Desmond Jennings, who went 5-11 in the Arizona series with two homers — this, after being in the throes of a massive 4-31 slump.
He broke out — he carried us in a lot of ways this series for sure, said Cash of Jennings’ play. We saw that electric player we know is there.
Both he and Mikie Mahtook’s recent spade of excellent offensive and defensive play have helped offset the losses of Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Guyer to the injury bug.
Houston has scored exactly three runs in each of its last three games (averaging 3.5 runs per game over the four game set against Texas), losing two. Not only that, shortstop Carlos Correa left the game in the fifth inning of Thursday’s ballgame after landing awkwardly going into first base. He is officially listed as day-to-day with a left ankle sprain, while the team is optimistic that he can avoid a trip to the disabled list.
There’s also uncertainty in Houston’s bullpen after late-inning struggles in the Rangers series. This despite having a group of relievers who have been dominant otherwise.
Courtesy of FanGraphs.
It’s been thought that Will Harris could be step into the full-time closer’s role. The right-handed reliever has posted a 0.33 ERA in 27 games this season, collecting the team’s last two saves.
Whether he’s titled the closer or a set-up guy, he’s Will Harris. He’s got really good pitches and he can get anybody out in the league, AJ Hinch told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday. I’m sorry to disappoint those that want titles next to people’s names. But I just want to get the 27 outs and have more runs than these guys.
Kevin Cash will run-out Matt Andriese (4-0, 2.52 ERA), Chris Archer (4-7, 4.73 ERA), and Matt Moore (2-4, 5.56 ERA) over the next three days. Hinch will lean upon Tampa product Lance McCullers (3-1, 4.23 ERA), Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.00 ERA), and Dallas Keuchel (3-8, 5.44 ERA).
Rays series starters
Andriese allowed three runs (two earned) over five innings, earning the victory against Minnesota in his shortest outing of the season. The righty has limited five of six opponents to three runs or fewer in 2016, while allowing just one home run in 39-1/3 innings.
Archer struck out 12 while allowing three runs on five hits and three walks over six innings on Monday. It was Archer’s first quality start in his past four outings, although the start wasn’t blemish free. He was touched for a pair of homers, including one by the Twins’ starter. Archer is still whiffy, his 10.3 K/9 speaks to that, however, he’s given up 12 long balls in just 66-1/3 innings — the same number he allowed in all of 2014. The sooner he can figure out his ballooning HR/9 problem, the better.
Moore allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts on Tuesday. The start was pretty good considering the line, however, the lefty can’t figure out how to keep the ball in the yard. He has now given up 14 homers on the season, and only Max Scherzer (16) has given up more. Moore hasn’t allowed more than 18 home runs in a season, and rediscovering the ability to keep the ball in the park will help him bring down his lofty 5.56 ERA.
Astros series starters
McCullers has won three straight starts in impressive fashion. The 22-year-old righty permitted six runs and 15 hits while striking out 26 in 17 innings of work, allowing McCullers to lower his ERA to 4.23, which is supported by an excellent 12.04 K/9. The Tampa product allowed four runs on four hits in six innings with 10 strikeouts in a loss at the Trop last season, but the current Rays lineup is just 1-18 against him. Key matchups: LOL
Fiers allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk with two strikeouts over 5-1/3 innings on Monday. He has now allowed 78 hits and 11 home runs in just 66-2/3 innings this season. When at his best, Fiers is able to coax whiffs on his offspeed stuff — he whiffed 180 batters in 180-1/3 innings last season, but has just 47 strikeouts in 2016. This season Fiers has relied primarily on his 90 mph four-seam fastball with good “rising action,” and his 84 mph ground ball inducing changeup. He’s also mixed in a 75 mph worm-killer of a curveball, an 87 mph cutter, and a whiffy 82 mph slider. Key matchups: Logan Forsythe (1-3, RBI), Logan Morrison (3-5, RBI)
Keuchel fell to 3-8 Tuesday against Texas, after he allowed four runs on 10 hits over 7-1/3 innings. He fanned eight. Despite his line, Keuchel actually pitched well, tying a season-high in strikeouts and going into the eighth inning for just the second time this season. But, he gave a two-run homer to Ian Desmond that ultimately decided the game. This season, the reigning Cy Young Award winner has relied primarily upon his 89 mph ground-ball inducing sinker, and a 79 mph sweeping slider. Keuchel’s also mixed in an 86 mph cutter with strong sweeping action, and an 80 mph whiffy changeup. Key matchups: Tim Beckham (1-3, 3B, RBI), Curt Casali (1-3), Hank Conger (1-1), Logan Forsythe (6-13), Evan Longoria (4-12, RBI), Brad Miller (4-13, RBI, 2 BB)
Noteworthiness
— Rays manager Kevin Cash announced on Power Alley on with Jim Bowden and Mike Ferrin (MLB Network Radio) that Logan Fosythe should be in Friday night’s starting lineup. With Forsythe’s return imminent, the Rays will have to make a decision on who to option back to Triple-A Durham with Tim Beckham, Taylor Motter, and Nick Franklin all being candidates — all of whom have options remaining.
— Per Topkin, Steve Pearce is hopeful of returning to second base tonight, having been limited to bench duty the past eight games due to a sore right elbow.
— Desmond Jennings went 5-11 with a pair of homers and three RBI against the Diamondbacks, pushing his average to a robust .194.
— Jose Altuve has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, going 25-60 with nine RBI in that span.
— Luis Valbuena has eight hits in 20 at-bats during a six-game hitting streak.
Gavin Lux (pictured) is thought to be on the Rays radar going into the 2016 MLB draft. (Photo Credit: Baseball America)
The first day of the 2016 MLB draft is upon us, and the Tampa Bay Rays will have three choices at picks 13, 53, 77 tonight.
While drafts in professional leagues like the NFL or NBA almost instantaneously bear fruit, it should be remembered that Major League Baseball teams don’t choose based on need — after all, even the best players in the draft take a few years to make it to the big leagues on a regular basis. Given their 13th, 53rd, and 77th slots this time around, Tampa Bay will pick a crop of players that team representatives believe to be the best remaining talent on the board.
You may be asking, how exactly did the Rays pick up the 13th slot in the first place?
In short, draft order is the reverse order of the previous year’s standings. If two ball clubs finish with identical records, the previous year’s standings of the two is the tiebreaker, with the team having a worse record receiving the higher pick.
However, there’s more to the process that can be confusing, and that’s where Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) comes in. As Solondz noted, draft budget plays a big role in who gets drafted by whom.
Each team in the draft has a different budget, and those are determined by MLB based on two factors, their previous year’s finish, and if they received any compensation picks (either from losing high-end players to free agency or from what are called competitive balance picks). Generally the team with the number one pick has the most money to spend (slight difference this year as the Reds at number two have $13.9 M), while the teams with the best marks have the smallest budgets (Cubs this year have the smallest at $2.245 M).
Teams with large budgets have more flexibility because they can spend a little less in some spots (every player in the early rounds has a suggested slot value), and then more for a player with a high ceiling that may have dropped in the draft, to ensure they sign with their club. A good example is Houston in 2012 used its draft pool money to sign local product Lance McCullers with the number 40 pick after picking Carlos Correa number one overall.
The Rays choose 13th, and have a draft pool of $7.64 million in 2016. To guess who they will take is difficult, because it’s hard to know who the other 12 teams will choose in front of them. Here are some profiles of players that the experts have predicted the
Matt Silverman and Stu Sternberg have been open critics of the draft process, as they would like to see smaller-market teams awarded more high-round picks. It is the team’s hope that the new collective bargaining agreement will be more accommodating.
In any case, the Rays have rumored interest in four players: 3B Joshua Lowe, SS Gavin Lux, OF Blake Rutherford, and SS Delvin Perez. Solondz also briefly spoke about the four:
Joshua Lowe – 3B (projected: Jim Callis, MLB.com and Bleacher Report) – Comes from a baseball family. His dad David was a 5th round pick of the Mariners in 1986. His older brother Nathaniel, a junior first baseman at Mississippi State, also could be a first-day selection. Joshua Lowe throws right-handed and hits left-handed and played this year at Pope HS in Marietta, GA, where he hit 11 homers in the regular season, and hit over .400. While he also threw up to 95 miles per hour on the mound, he’s projected as a position player.
Gavin Lux – SS (projected: Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com, Baseball America, and Keith Law ESPN.com) – Lux also comes from good bloodlines as his uncle Augie Schmidt was the number two pick in the 1982 draft and currently is a Division III baseball coach. A shortstop at Indian Trail HS, Lux could be the first player taken in the first round from the state of Wisconsin since 1988. The 6-2 175 pounder hits left and is known as a good shortstop defensively with power potential.
Blake Rutherford – OF (projected: Sporting News) – From Chaminade Prep HS in Canoga Park, CA, Rutherford is older than most HS players. He turned 19 on May 2nd. However, he’s also known as a polished hitter. Rutherford played on the USA 18-under team and hit a decisive home run to win a game on the team’s march to a gold medal in Japan. The high school league he played in (Mission League) has included such standouts as Giancarlo Stanton and Kevin Pillar, so it’s known for good competition. Rutherford batted .577 with 45 hits, including 13 doubles and four home runs, this season.
Delvin Perez SS – (projected: Sports Illustrated and CBS Sportsline) this is one of the tougher players in the draft to project as this week reports surfaced that Perez had tested positive for an unnamed performance-enhancing drug. Before recently falling on most boards, the 17-year-old was projected as a top 5 pick. The shortstop from Puerto Rico was considered to have some of the best overall tools in this year’s draft.
