Jalen Beeks shut down the Red Sox on Sunday, blanking them on one hit across four innings.

After a 5-4 road trip, that culminated in a 2-0 win in Boston on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Rays are set to start a weeklong homestand on Monday, beginning with a four-game series against the Royals. The Rays swept Kansas City on the road in mid-May (14 – 16).

Even though the Rays dropped the first two games against the Red Sox, Jalen Beeks — recently acquired from Boston in the deal for Nathan Eovaldi — impressively led the way by pitching four shutout innings, relinquishing just one hit.

For Beeks, it was all about using his cutter, changeup, and curveball 46 times, and his four-seam fastball 21. The movement on the southpaw’s fastball, which hit 94 mph on the radar gun, paired with the changes of pace from his offspeed stuff kept the Red Sox off-balance. This will undoubtedly be part of the Rays (and Boston’s opponents) philosophy moving forward. Forget not, the Rays will face the Red Sox one more time this season, starting this Friday.

He was throwing harder, Boston manager Alex Cora said. I saw 94, and I didn’t see that here. But besides that, the same — cutter, fastball, breaking ball. He had a better mix with the breaking ball. He did a good job.

Beeks said it felt good to pitch well and win at Fenway given his two July outings that didn’t go very well with Boston.

I mean, it wasn’t like any other game. I didn’t approach it differently. I didn’t necessarily want it more … It was satisfying. I didn’t pitch well here the last two times, so it was really good to pitch well in Fenway.

He also credited some mechanical fixes he’s made with pitching coach Kyle Snyder and bullpen coach Stan Boroski.

(I’m) getting in my drive lane a little bit more and I’ve been a little more consistent, more on line. Like I struggled with my curveball today and got a little bit off line, but for the most part, my velo’s been up, my extensions have been up. So just some mechanical things and some philosophy, getting ahead in the count.

The New What Next

Hunter Wood (0-1, 4.10 ERA), not Ryne Stanek, will open the game for the Rays and Ryan Yarbrough(11-5, 4.01 ERA) is expected to pitch the bulk of the innings. They’ll be opposed by Jorge Lopez (0-2, 4.44 ERA).

Wood has not pitched in a game in six days, after allowing one run across one inning against the Yankees on Tuesday.

Yarbrough tossed four scoreless innings during the Rays’ 6-1 win over the Yankees. He allowed two hits and no walks and struck out three. After posting a 7.23 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in his first four post-All-Star Break outings, Yarbrough has righted the ship over past two appearances, notching six shutout frames while giving up three hits and issuing no walks.

López allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three over 4-2/3 innings against Toronto. It was a tough first start with a new club for Lopez, as he allowed three extra-base hits, including a Curtis Granderson grand slam in the fourth inning. The right-hander had made just two career starts in the big leagues before Wednesday and only started in two of his 26 appearances at the Triple-A level this season. He has relied primarily on a hard 82 mph 12/6 curveball, a 95 mph four-seam fastball with natural sinking action, and a whiffy 95 mph sinker, while also mixing in an 88 mph changeup with arm side fade and some natural sink and an 88 mph 12/6 slider.

Rays 8/20/18 Starting Lineup

Smith RF
Duffy 3B
Bauers 1B
Pham LF
Choi DH
Wendle 2B
Kiermaier CF
Adames SS
Perez C
Wood RHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Royals part two — a series preview

Noteworthiness

— Closer Sergio Romo spoke about earning the century mark in saves on Sunday.

— Because it bears mentioning…

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