The Captain, Evan Longoria, in Saturday's turn back the clock night at the Trop. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Captain, Evan Longoria, in Saturday’s turn back the clock night at the Trop. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Rays hit four homers and scored four runs on Saturday, yet that only matters when you outscore the opposition. The bullpen was unable to hold a late one-run lead, as Tampa Bay eventually fell to the San Francisco Giants, 6-4. The Rays have dropped three in a row, including the first two games of this series. The loss ended a string of four consecutive series wins for  the Rays.

Yesterday was the first loss by the Rays when hitting four home runs in one game since September 7, 2014 (vs. Baltimore).

Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio), Evan Longoria has tallied eight homers this month, two shy of his total for any month (10 in August 2011). Brad Miller has gone yard in consecutive games — the first time a Rays shortstop has done so since Yunel Escobar did so in August 2013.

The New What Next

The Rays are now in salvage mode, hoping not only to take one of three games against the NL West leading Giants, but also to walk out of the Trop with a 5-4 record on this, their most recent homestand. The Giants, much like the Royals, don’t hit a bunch of homers or score a ton of runs, however, they are relentless. As with the series loss to Kansas City between May 30 to June 1, hopefully Tampa Bay can use this as a growth moment.

Jake Odorizzi will get the start for the Rays, opposite of Jake Peavey.

Odorizzi gave up five runs over 5-2/3 innings against Seattle on Tuesday, throwing 116 pitches (76 strikes). Most of the damage came in a four-run second, which stands to reason since the majority of the runs the righty has allowed (20 of 33) have come in the first two frames. Odorizzi — who has a 6.43 ERA in the first two innings this season, yet a 2.32 ERA thereafter — will need to buckle down this afternoon against the relentless Giants.

Jake Peavey, the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner, had his start pushed back a day due to a sore neck. Peavy was excellent against the Dodgers on Sunday, allowing four hits and a walk across six scoreless innings. The 35 year-old veteran needed just 90 pitches (57 strikes) to make it through six frames, and aiding his own cause by fielding a couple of great plays. Be that as it may, Peavy has been wildly inconsistent on the whole this season, although he has tossed three quality starts in his last four tries, lowering his ERA to 5.83. He is 2-0 with a 4.81 ERA in four starts at Tropicana Field. 

You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 6/19/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Pearce DH
Dickerson LF
Jennings CF
Conger C
Mahtook RF
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

— Thank you so very much for those of you who came out to Top Off The Trop yesterday. That they let us help support their cause was phenomenal! Speaking for myself, it was great to see sections 125 through 129 filled with enthusiastic Rays fans, who helped bump Saturday’s attendance to 23,948 (77.1% full).

Moving forward, there are lots of X-Rays Spex and Baseball Forever supported events coming up in the next 11 days. You can find out more here. Come out and learn about the city’s initiative to keep the Rays in the Sunshine City.

— Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery) threw to hitters for the first time since May on Saturday, a 15- pitch fastball session to Tim Beckham and Brandon Guyer. He also threw 35-40 pitches on top of that, while other players stood in the batter’s box.

I’m very happy with how my arm felt, Cobb said after the session.

As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) noted, he was “absolutely excited” about the command of his fastball, as well as his offspeed pitches in prior throwing.

Cobb is slated to throw two or three more batting practice sessions, with an increased workload — on a five-day schedule — before he advances to a rehab start program. Barring any setbacks, he should return to the Rays rotation by late July or early August. The righty was admittedly fatigued by his session, so another goal between then and now is to build stamina and endurance.

Definitely got tired, Cobb said. I still have to build up endurance, but I’m very happy with how my body felt overall compared to times in the past when I’ve been building up.

— RHP Ryan Webb (right pectoral strain) moved up to Triple-A Durham for his second rehab appearance on Saturday, allowing a run on two hits and a walk in the eighth inning. At least one more outing is planned.

— RHP Andrew Bellatti, who has been sidelined with shoulder issues since late April, should be off the DL this week, giving the big league squad another potential bullpen option.

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