After a stinging 7-2 loss against the Bronx Bummers on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays look to bounce back tonight.
At 26-18 on the season, Tampa Bay enters play eight games above .500.
The Rays committed a pair of errors and allowed five free passes and hit a batter last night. Taylor Walls, playing shortstop last night, committed his seventh error of the season — his fourth at short. It was on a sixth-inning throwing error that forced Harold Ramirez to stretch out completely, costing the Rays a pair of runs. For what it’s worth, he did lose his footing on the play and appeared to force his throw over to first. Walls now maintains a -2 DRS at short on the season and is clearly in his own head, as he has committed throwing errors in back-to-back games.
Overall, the Rays have committed nine errors in the last six games and yielded 10 unearned runs. After just 11 multi-error games last season, Tampa Bay now has eight through 44 games this season.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are the top team in the American League in run prevention and allowed just the two runs last night after the Rays had scored 41 times and hit 14 homers across the previous seven contests (against the Yankees) combined.
In other words, it’s far easier to lose to a depleted ball club like New York when you don’t play clean baseball, and it does.
The New What Next
Jeffrey Springs (2-1, 1.32 ERA) will hope for better defensive support when he takes the mound tonight, pitching opposite Jameson Taillon (4-1, 2.95 ERA).
Jeffrey Springs tossed 5.2 scoreless innings against Baltimore on Saturday, allowing one hit and four walks while striking out seven. Springs tossed a season-high 5.2 frames and he completed his second straight scoreless outing despite walking more batters in the contest (four) than he had across his first 11 appearances combined. His seven strikeouts were also his most of the campaign thus far, and he got there on the strength of 16 swinging strikes. Springs is building up his pitch count now that he is part of the rotation — Saturday was the first time he has reached 80 pitches this season. Overall, Springs maintains a 1.32 ERA and 2.39 FIP, with a 0.80 WHIP, and a 3.86 K/BB across 27.1 innings on the season. He is 0-0 with a 2.70 ERA in eight career outings against New York.
Jameson Taillon allowed one run on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts across seven innings on Sunday. Taillon had his best stuff working, limiting the damage to one run on three hits in the fourth inning, and he responded by retiring the next 10 White Sox. The 94 pitches and seven strikeouts both represent season highs. Overall, Taillon maintains a 2.95 ERA and 3.24 FIP, with a 1.15 WHIP, and a 6.80 K/BB across 42.2 innings on the season. He relies primarily on a 94 mph four-seam fastball and an 86 mph slider, while also mixing in an 81 mph worm-killer curveball that has sharp downward bite, a 90 mph cutter with good “rise” and strong cutting action, a 94 mph sinker, and a firm 88 mph changeup that has slight arm-side fade. The right-hander is 1-2 with a 3.26 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Yandy Diaz (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB), Wander Franco (1-2), Kevin Kiermaier (2-2, 2B, BB)
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 5/27/22 Starting Lineup
- Kiermaier CF
- Díaz 3B
- Franco SS
- Arozarena LF
- Choi 1B
- Ramirez RF
- Margot DH
- Bruján 2B
- Zunino C
Noteworthiness
— Just two days after 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, the Rays — along with the Yankees — took an organizational stand against gun violence on all of their social media sites last night.
In lieu of posting anything about Thursday’s series opener against the Yankees, both teams opted to share facts about the prevalence of gun violence in the United States.
In a statement, Tampa Bay offered its condolences to those affected by the recent mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., and at the aforementioned elementary school. The club made a plea for real change as well as making a $50,000 donation to Everytown for Gun Safety’s Support Fund.
You can read the thread in its entirety below by clicking on the embedded tweet.