After a 3-0 loss to the New York Yankees on Monday, the Tampa Bay Rays look to bounce back tonight in the Bronx. Tampa Bay enters play at 42-28 on the season and 1-1/2 games back of the Yankees in the AL East.

Yankee Stadium has been a house of horrors for Tampa Bay, as the Rays have lost three of four there this season, and the last 14 series openers in that ballpark. That’s due in part to a pitching staff that hasn’t been able to keep the ball in the yard of late, allowing 14 homers in the last 14 days. Accordingly, the Yankees homered for all of their runs last night and now have hit the long ball in 20 consecutive games.

It won’t get any easier for the Rays tonight. After adding Edwin Encarnacion to the lineup yesterday Giancarlo Stanton will be activated from the Injured List today.

The New What Next

Ryne Stanek (0-1, 2.45 ERA) will open for the Rays tonight Ryan Yarbrough (5-3, 5.59 ERA). They will be opposed by left-hander J.A. Happ (6-3, 4.66 ERA).

Ryne Stanek will make his third open this year against New York, and fifth appearance against them overall. In the two previous opening turns, he has allowed one run in four innings, with the run coming on a solo homer by Kendrys Morales, who’s currently on the IL.

Ryan Yarbrough allowed five runs on five hits and one walk across six innings against the Angels on Thursday. He struck out four. All five hits went for extra bases ― including a three-run homer from Shohei Ohtani, and a two-run shot from Albert Pujols. Aside from that, Yarbrough pitched quite well and needed an efficient 90 pitches (58 strikes, 64% strike rate) to complete six innings. Yarbrough’s form has been erratic lately; he’s allowed five or more earned runs three times in the last six starts while yielding two or fewer in the other three. He is 3-2 with a 3.71 ERA in 17 career innings against the Yankees.

J.A. Happ allowed four runs on four hits and four walks while striking out two through five innings in his last start. Happ looked solid until the fourth inning when he loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks ― it was the first time all season that Happ pitched with the bases loaded. Despite throwing nine straight balls, the 36-year-old managed to wiggle out of the jam without any damage. The White Sox got to Happ again in the fifth inning when the left-hander gave up a leadoff walk to Yolmer Sanchez, then allowed a single to Ryan Cordell and an RBI double to Leury Garcia. Tim Anderson followed with a three-run, 416-foot homer to even the score at four apiece. The long ball has proven to be Happ’s nemesis this season, and Thursday was no exception. He carries a 4.68 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a 3.21 K/BB on the season, and is 4-4 with a 4.34 ERA in 16 career starts against Tampa Bay. He relies primarily on a whiffy 92 mph four-seam fastball and an 89 mph worm-killer sinker which has some natural sinking action, while also mixing in an 84 mph slider with little depth, and an 86 mph changeup with some natural sinking action. Key Matchups: Avisail Garcia (3-9, 2 HR, 2 RBI), Guillermo Heredia (2-7, BB)

You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.

Rays 6/18/19 Starting Lineup

  1. d’Arnaud 1B
  2. Pham DH
  3. Lowe 2B
  4. García RF
  5. Adames SS
  6. Kiermaier CF
  7. Heredia LF
  8. Zunino C
  9. Wendle 3B

Noteworthiness

— Citing a need for a fresh arm in the ‘pen, the Rays recalled right-hander Andrew Kittredge — who was originally slated to be recalled last week but his wife, Tobey, gave birth to their first child — from Triple-A Durham. The Rays had an open spot on the 40-man roster with Jose Alvarado still on the restricted list. To make room on the active roster, Tampa Bay optioned right-hander Jake Faria, who pitched across multiple innings last night.

— Speaking of Jose Alvarado, his return to the roster doesn’t appear imminent, with manager Kevin Cash telling Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) that Alvarado will need a restart similar to an abbreviated spring training before he’s ready to rejoin the club.

I hope it doesn’t take that long, but we’re going to make sure we do everything and be responsible. We want him back right now, but we want him to come back and be the guy that he is for us, and we can’t rush that.

— Kevin Cash

The right-hander reported to Port Charlotte to resume throwing after a two-week stay in his native Venezuela. While Alvarado is in a “pretty good spot,” the Rays skipper couldn’t place a definitive timetable on his return.

Per Topkin, Cash did say that Alvarado will have to show he can pitch on consecutive days, so he will likely have to get some minor-league games under his belt before he is activated. But that would only come after bullpen sessions and live BP.

Throwing strikes, commanding the baseball and how he’s bouncing back from his outings, from the bullpen sessions, from live BP, whatever it is, it’s how he bounces back because we don’t have any relievers that aren’t capable of throwing on two consecutive days.

— Kevin Cash

— Matt Duffy (hamstring, back) is expected to take batting practice today with the Gulf Coast League Rays and have four or five at-bats in a simulated game in Port Charlotte.

— Tyler Glasnow (right forearm strain) is scheduled to throw 15-20 fastballs at Yankee Stadium in his first bullpen session since suffering the injury on May 10th against the Yankees.

Glasnow threw off a mound for the first time on Saturday, throwing entirely fastballs.

Everybody is kind of thumbs up at this point. The ball is coming out of his hand effortlessly and pain free. That’s a good sign.

— Kevin Cash

Glasnow will remain with the team and work with pitching coach Kyle Snyder and bullpen coach Stan Boroski while he builds up from the injury.

He’s done such a good job of working with Kyle and every bit of information that we can find through this buildup process, I think it makes (the) most sense to have Kyle and Stan’s eyes on it and for everyone to communicate on it as it’s going. You watch Tyler throw bullpens and there’s a lot of conversation that goes on between pitches. Don’t want to take that away from him as he’s building back up to join our club.

— Kevin Cash

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