After dropping a third consecutive game on Friday, 3-2 against the White Sox — and four out of their last five — the Tampa Bay Rays look to even the series this afternoon. They are trying to move back over .500.
Despite opportunities otherwise, Tampa Bay has not had a lead in the past three games, trailing by three runs or more in each of the games. Wander Franco did have two hits last night, and he now has multiple hits in five of the eight games played thus far. Ji-Man Choi, Manuel Margot, and Yandy Diaz were impactful last night as well, yet Josh Lowe, Kevin Kiermaier, and Francisco Mejia often came up empty-handed. On top of that, for his second consecutive turn as the backstop, Mejia was not as active behind the plate as he could or should have been, allowing four passed balls or wild pitches.
Franco will be the designated hitter this afternoon, while Tampa Bay is using more right-handed hitters than southpaw hitters today since ChiSox starter, Michael Kopech, was a reverse split pitcher last season — righties posted a .235 BA and a .691 OPS vs. lefties who hit .176 BA with a .593 OPS).
The New What Next
Corey Kluber (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will get the start this afternoon, pitching opposite of Michael Kopech (0-0, 2.25 ERA).
Corey Kluber allowed three hits and four walks over 4.2 shutout innings on Sunday. Kluber was one out away from finishing the fifth inning and earning a win in his debut with the Rays before walking Cedric Mullins and yielding a single to Ryan Mountcastle. He tossed 52 of 87 pitches for strikes (60% strike rate) and coaxed 12 whiffs (23% SwStr). While the four walks were uncharacteristic for the right-hander, it was a solid outing to build off from. Kluber posted a 3.83 ERA across 80 frames in the Bronx last season. Over his career, Kluber is 13-5 with a 2.96 ERA across 25 games (24 starts).
Michael Kopech allowed one run on two hits and two walks over four innings on Sunday against the Tigers. He struck out three. Kopech coughed up an RBI triple to Victor Reyes in the second inning but kept the Tigers off the board otherwise. It should be noted that he hadn’t thrown more than five innings in a single outing last season. He relies primarily on a 97 mph four-seam fastball that generates a high number of swings and misses and an 84 mph slider that has exceptional depth and short glove-side cut.
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup is below.
Rays 4/16/22 Starting Lineup
- B. Lowe 2B
- Franco DH
- Arozarena LF
- Ramirez 1B
- Diaz 3B
- Margot RF
- Phillips CF
- Zunino C
- Walls SS