It’s not the official poster for the watch party, but it’ll do for now.
On Friday, July 8, 2016 X-Rays Spex, Baseball Forever, Suburban Apologist and Green Bench Brewing Co. will team up to host a watch party, when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Red Sox, in Boston. We’re bringing all the camaraderie of the game, and some delicious foodstuffs, all just a stones throw from Tropicana Field.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm, so be sure to get down to Green Bench early to enjoy some family friendly, pre-game activities outdoors, or while away the time with your friends by enjoying some ice cold craft brews. Don’t forget to stop by the Baseball Forever information tent where you can learn about the city’s initiative to keep the Rays in the Sunshine City.
Enjoy the game on the two flat screen televisions in the tasting room, then make your way to the beer garden where you can watch the ballgame projected on an accompanying wall once the sun sets.
Throughout the night Green Bench will be offering $1.00 off beers to anyone wearing Tampa Bay Rays gear, including X-Rays Spex’s very own designs. We’ll also raffle off some great Rays swag between the innings, including a pair of tickets to a future home game, among other fantastic things.
The scene at Target Field after a 70 minute rain delay. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays broke out the big sticks on Saturday, hitting four homers and scoring six unanswered runs en route to a 7-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. Tampa Bay got 12 outs from the bullpen, as the team was forced to sit through a 70 minute rain delay.
Down by one early, Hank Conger drove the first pitch of his at-bat over the right-field wall, tying the score in the top of the third.
Click the screen shot to watch Conger’s second home run of the season.
Unfortunately the Twins took 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third, although Tampa Bay turned the tide in the fourth inning after Logan Morrison and Steve Pearce went back-to-back with one out base hits against starter Ervin Santana. And though Corey Dickerson grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, subsequently putting runners on the corners, Steven Souza Jr. responded with a towering three-run, two-out no doubter to left on an 0-1 hanging breaking pitch.
Click the screen shot to watch Souza clobber his 10th homer of the season.
It was Souza’s 10th homer of the season.
Discontent with a one run lead, Evan Longoria blasted a one out solo shot to left off Santana in the top of the fifth inning.
Homers in 3 straight games. @Evan3Longoria‘s latest found the upper deck.
Longoria, who is on pace to slug 34 home runs by season’s end, has now gone yard in three straight games.
Despite having 92 pitches under his belt, Matt Andriese returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth. However, Mother Nature sought to ruin his opportunity to collect a quality start, and summoned the clouds on top of Target Field to dump a ton of rain onto the field for the better part of 70 minutes. That spelled the end of his day.
Andriese wasn’t as sharp as he had been over his previous starts, however, he was able to put up a pair of scoreless frames after Souza gave the Rays the lead. That’s more than Matt Moore could say…I digress. All told, the righty allowed eight hits, but did not walk a batter in five innings.
Enny Romero relieved Andriese after the rain delay and threw a 1-2-3 frame.
In the top of the seventh, Logan Landfill Morrison belted a two-run shot off the batter’s eye in center field after Brad Miller reached on a double, extending the lead to four.
It was Morrison’s fourth homer, and second in as many games.
Romero came back in the top of the seventh and tossed another perfect frame. True, the left-hander has been incredibly shaky of late, however, you’d never know it by the way Romero pitched on Saturday. He collected whiffs on four of his nine sliders, and overpowered the Twins’ batters with a 97 mph fastball (topping out at 99 mph) around the margins of the zone. If only he could maintain this level of control throughout the rest of the season…one can dream, I’d reckon.
Tyler Sturdevant took over in the eighth, and threw 1-2/3 innings before allowing a pair of baserunners with two out in the ninth. Because of it, Kevin Cash was forced to call upon Alex Colome to close out the game. Colome gave up a run-scoring single to Joe Mauer, bringing Minnesota within three, but fanned Brian Dozier on a filthy slider to end the game and earn his 14th save.
Ballgame! Tampa Bay has now won back-to-back games for the first time in six series (last time came vs TOR May 16-18).
The New What Next
The Rays will look to win the four-game series on Sunday when Drew Smyly takes the mound opposite of Tyler Duffey. Smyly is coming off his worst career start, allowing eight runs on 12 hits over four innings to the Kansas City Royals. All this after he posted a sloppy 1-4, 7.18 ERA month of May. The lefty is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 15 games (five starts) against the Twins. Duffey is coming off a five run, 4-2/3 inning loss to Oakland. Duffey is 7-5 with a 3.71 ERA in 18 career starts. He’s collected 89 strikeouts in 99-1/3 innings, and got a no-decision in a 5-1/3 inning start against Tampa Bay last season. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 6/5/16 Starting Lineup
(Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Noteworthiness
— In 19 games since May 16, Logan Morrison leads the majors with a .424 batting average (28-for-66).
— Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) noted five things the Rays can do before this season slips away, two of which being parting ways with Desmond Jennings and trading for Johnathan Lucroy.
— Brandon Guyer has been placed on the 15-day DL with left hamstring strain. INF Nick Franklin has been recalled from Triple-A Durham to fill his spot on the roster.
Jake Odorizzi carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees on Sunday, May 29. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Let’s turn the clock back to 2013, the last season the Tampa Bay Rays found themselves in the postseason. Marred by inconsistent production and pitching at the start of the season, the Rays posted a sub par 12-14 record in April, although they improved the following month with an 18-10 May.
Still, even with the May bounce back, the team was in a funk that former manager Joe Maddon tried to alleviate through a myriad of Semi-Pro like stunts.
Maddon did a pregame interview with a cockatoo on his shoulder. He brought penguins into the locker room. At one point, he had his players line up to hold a 20-foot python. Maddon also brought a merengue band, Sol Caribe, into the locker-room, telling his Twitter feed that the band brought a “great vibe” to the clubhouse. Somehow the Rays snapped out of their malaise, and eventually went on a 21-5 tear in July, which helped keep them relevant.
Moving forward, the 2016 squad started the season similarly, going 11-14 in April. However, May was not kind to the current squad that went 11-16. The losses of Logan Forsythe and Kevin Kiermaier, due to the injury bug, certainly didn’t help.
Since the calendar month just flipped, and since the 2013 and 2016 squads are similar to a point, I decided to look back at the month of May by comparing the output — both offensive and on the mound — of the two teams.
On one hand, the 2016 Rays outperformed the 2011 squad…at least as it relates to runs scored — 130 in 2016 vs 117 in 2011. However, that output is 36 runs shy of the 2013 mark. In fact, the new and improved Rays only beat their former selves in two categories: ISO and HR/FB ratio.
Sure, they hit a shocking number of homers in May — 44 as compared to 31 in 2013 — but on the whole, the team hasn’t much to show for its efforts. The only saving grace: the team has a 26-27 Pythagorean Expectation at the moment, which is much more palatable than the actual 23-30 record. Even then, the Pythagorean Expectation was precipitated by the May 16-20 win streak, in which Tampa Bay scored 38 runs and allowed 12. That is, they’ve score in clumps, not consistently.
As compared to the 2013 team, the current squad isn’t reaching base as often, it isn’t driving in as many runs, and it is striking out too much.
As for pitching, starting with the front five, there really isn’t much of a difference between then and now — at least on paper. That isn’t necessarily a good thing, as a high-water mark wasn’t set in May 2013.
On a base level, the current rotation is walking more batters than the 2013 team, which included both Jeremy Hellickson and Roberto Hernandez. The starting rotation didn’t do the team any favors in May of 2013, nor was it pristine last month. Drew Smyly, Chris Archer and Matt Moore all snubbed the month of April by bloating their overall ERA and FIP, forcing the team’s inconsistent offense to try to cover for their mistakes.
Then there are the relievers, who were not dominant by any stretch of the imagination. And while there could be some bad luck at play, as evidenced by the .318 BABIP and 48.6 GB%, the ‘pen — led by Steve Geltz — gave up 12 homers in 83-2/3 innings, good for a 1.51 HR/9 rate. That’s nearly twice the .85 HR/9 rate collected by the 2013 bullpen in the month of May.
Everything is bad forever, and nothing will ever be good again…right? Not necessarily.
Moving forward
It should be remembered that at this point last season, the Blue Jays were 23-29, and went on to win the division. I’ll concede the point, much of Toronto’s ultimate success was based on the acquisitions of David Price, Troy Tuluwitzki, and LaTroy Hawkins down the stretch. Still, even if the Rays don’t make any trades by the deadline, they will upgrade the roster over the next two months.
Logan Forsythe not only is fielding ground balls, he is also taking batting practice. He is expected to return at some point in the next home stand. After the June Super Two date passes, we could see the addition of top prospect Brett Snell. Then there’s Alex Cobb and Chase Whitley, who are expected to retake the mound in July.
To that end, the current players who are underperforming should start hitting for their career average and pitching more deeply into games.
In the end it’s easy to get mired in the muck, but it’s too early to give up hope. When you take into consideration the peripherals, Tampa Bay should start to play better baseball and collect more wins.
Jake Odorizzi (left) gets the start on Friday against the Twins. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays haven’t played the best baseball of late, losing 10 of their last 12 contests while yielding at least six runs on six occasions during that stretch. They head to Minneapolis on Thursday, where they’ll face another underperforming team, the Minnesota Twins, in a four game weekend series.
Tampa Bay is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the reigning World Series champs, losing Wednesday’s series finale by a 6-3 margin. That loss concluded a series in which the Rays’ vaunted pitching staff posted a 7.50 ERA with a .375 OBA. It’s all but certain that the team is excited by the change of scenery, away from the house of nightmares that is Kauffman Stadium.
As of now, the Rays rank 13th in the AL in scoring, although they have allowed the fifth-fewest runs in the league.
In all fairness, the Twins haven’t made much noise in any venue this season. Minnesota is coming off its ninth sweep this season, this time by Oakland, as the Twins return to Target Field where they are just 5-18 this season ― losers of 11 of their last 13 and four straight series defeats.
The Twins took 2-of-3 last season at home, however, the Rays are 16-6 all-time at Target Field. Until last season, the Twins had not won a season series against the Rays since 2006.
As of Wednesday.
Rays skipper Kevin Cash will throw Matt Moore (2-3, 5.31 ERA), Jake Odorizzi (2-3, 3.36 ERA), Matt Andriese (3-0, 2.36 ERA), and Drew Smyly (2-7, 4.77 ERA) over the next four days. Paul Molitor will counter with Kyle Gibson (0-3, 6.10 ERA), Ricky Nolasco (2-3, 5.28 ERA), Ervin Santana (1-4, 4.13 ERA), and Tyler Duffey (2-4, 4.57 ERA).
Rays series starters
Moore tossed 6-2/3 innings Saturday against the Yankees, allowing just three runs on eight hits and three walks, while striking out seven. The 26-year-old southpaw lasted more than six innings for the first time since April, with Saturday’s performance being the best over the course of May. While Moore continues to struggle with the long ball ― allowing at least one in eight of his last 10 starts ― he at least he showed an improvement over what he’s done since his first five starts.
Odorizzi took a hard-luck loss on Sunday, allowing just one hit against the Yankees over seven innings. That one hit, however, was a two-run homer by Starlin Castro, providing the margin of defeat. Jake retired the first 16 batters he faced before one batter reached on an error. He allowed just the one hit and one walk, while fanning six.
Andriese allowed just two runs (one earned) on five scattered hits, two walks and two balks, with three strikeouts over seven innings on Monday. Andriese continues to be a bright spot in the starting rotation since his May 8 call-up, collecting four quality starts in his five appearances this season. And while he has just 20 strikeouts in 34-1/3 innings, Andriese has coaxed at least eight groundball outs in each of his starts. He induced 13 groundball outs against the Royals, and has only allowed just one long ball all season.
Smyly lasted just four innings Tuesday night, allowing eight runs on 12 hits while walking one and striking out three. The left-hander’s tough month came to a head in his worst defeat of the season, and Smyly has now struck out a season low in consecutive weeks. As it was written elsewhere, it’s hard not to wonder if Smyly’s early-season success was simply a mirage. It’s probably wise not to count much on the 26-year-old until he makes some sort of adjustment.
Twins series starters
Gibson (shoulder) will be activated from the disabled list before his start Thursday. Gibson will take Phil Hughes’ spot in the rotation, as Hughes will be moved to the bullpen. Gibson didn’t have much success earlier in the season (6.10 ERA/5.34 FIP), although he did well in his two rehab starts, and could be in line for improvement. Eno Sarris (FanGraphs) wrote about Gibson at the precipice of the season:
Maybe it’s just his team ― the Twins often espouse pitching to contact, and Kyle Gibson is a product of their system. Or maybe it’s his fastballs ― they don’t get great whiff rates. Whatever it is, Gibson hasn’t yet struck out batters at a major league average rate. Maybe that’s not remarkable, plenty of other pitchers have chosen grounders over strikeouts, especially in that organization. But what makes it remarkable in the case of Gibson is that he has the tools to get strikeouts. His slider gets whiffs a fifth of the time, which is top twenty for a starter. His curve gets average whiffs, and the changeup is above-average. The sinker is average. It’s enough to get average strikeouts, if he just upped the usage of his whiffier stuff. The good news is that he’s doing it, slowly, cutting his fastball usage incrementally in each year, and upping his K rate accordingly. The bad news is that there is some ways to go still ― he’s been bottom ten in strikeout rate among qualified starters ― and he might not be in the right environment to do it. Anyway, you might notice a slightly suppressed batting average on balls in play over the last two years. Don’t consider it too fluky. Research shows that pitchers with elite ground-ball rates on one or two of their pitches can suppress ball in play results even with more muted overall ground ball rates. And Gibson gets 60+% grounders on both his sinker and change. Worst case scenario, he basically repeats his work. Best case, he finds a way to mix the whiffs and grounders and takes another step forward.
Nolasco fanned seven and walked just one while allowing two runs across six innings on Sunday, earning his second win of the season. Prior to that Nolasco was pounded, but he rebounded with one of his best performances of the season. The scuffling Twins stand to benefit from starts like this from Nolasco, although he will need to outperform his current 5.28 ERA in order to make that happen. So far this season, Nolasco has relied upon his 83 mph slider and 92 mph four seam fastball, while also mixing in a 92 mph sinker, 75 mph knuckle curveball, and an 81 mph splitter. Key matchup: Evan Longoria (4-16, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB)
Santana threw seven strong innings on Monday, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Santana didn’t receive enough support from the offense to get a better result. The righty lowered his ERA to 4.13 after an outing where he allowed six runs on 3-2/3 innings in his previous turn. In 2016, Santana has relied primarily on an average 93 mph four seam fastball and an 85 mph slide, while also mixing in an 86 mph changeup with cut action, and a 92 mph worm-burner of a sinker. Key matchups: Corey Dickerson (2-3, 2 2B), Desmond Jennings (2-8, HR, RBI), Evan Longoria (7-17, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB), Brad Miller (1-4, 2B, RBI), Logan Morrison (2-6)
Duffey allowed five runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts and one walk over 4-2/3 innings on Tuesday. Duffey has allowed 16 runs and 28 hits over his last 17-1/3 innings of work. It’s been said that he’s in danger of being demoted if he has another poor outing. While he has a healthy 13:4 K:BB ratio in his last three starts, he’s given up just too many hits. He has relied primarily on an 81 mph worm burner of a curveball, and a heavy 91 mph four seam fastball. He’s also mixed in a 91 mph sinker and an 83 mph changeup that result in a fair number of fly balls. Key matchup: Evan Longoria (1-3, 2B)
Noteworthiness
― Evan Longoria has collected six RBI during his five-game hitting streak.
― Taylor Motter is 1-17 over his last seven games.
― Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Brandon Guyer reached 50 HBP in 281 games ― faster than any player in the modern era, passing Jason Kendall (288).
― Byron Buxton has hit safely in both games since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday.
― Miguel Sano, who hit four homers in his previous six games, was placed on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury.
This guy gets the start in the series finale Wednesday night, opposite of Danny Duffy. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)
Another day, another demoralizing Tampa Bay Rays loss at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, 10-5. This time the reigning World series champs tagged LHP Drew Smyly with a less than stellar 4.0 IP/12 H/8 ER/1 BB/3 K/3.25 WHIP line. That’s, as the kids say, no bueno.
Adding insult to injury, Brad Boxberger returned to the active roster Tuesday night, only to be met with a left oblique injury resulting in another stint on the disabled list.
Boxberger started stretching his side on the mound, then felt something grab as he hit Paulo Orlando with a 1-2 pitch. The righty followed by throwing three consecutive balls to Jarrod Dyson before manager Kevin Cash and athletic trainer Joe Benge headed to the mound.
Everything up until this point felt great, Boxberger said.I felt great in the pen, I felt great the first couple batters. Then something just happened, I don’t even know what. …It just got worse and I knew it wasn’t anything that was going to get better.
Boxberger was frustrated by the setback, and rightly so.
It (stinks) to have this setback now. It is frustrating battling back from the surgery, and then first time out.
What’s more, the Tendonitis laden Steve Pearce was pulled from the game in the fifth inning, although it’s unlikely that he will join Boxberger on the DL. Cash said the move was precautionary with the Royals up by six runs. The team recalled Tim Beckham from Triple-A Durham to give depth given Pearce’s elbow issue.
The New What Next
RHP Chris Archer will take the mound in the series finale, opposite of LHP Danny Duffy. Archer is 0-2 with a 6.27 ERA in three career starts against the Royals. Duffy has a 4.86 ERA this season in Kansas City, and a 1.29 ERA on the road. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 6/1/16 Starting Lineup
Guyer DH
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Souza RF
Morrison 1B
Jennings CF
Motter 2B
Mahtook LF
Casali C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Cobb and Chase Whitley, who both underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2015, each threw a 35-pitch bullpen session Tuesday afternoon at the Trop.
— Logan Forsythe, who is on the DL with a hairline fracture in his left scapula, hit off the tee and fielded ground balls.
