After defeating the Red Sox 6-1 on Monday — collecting their eighth straight victory in the process — the Tampa Bay Rays look to wrap up the month of August on a high note tonight.
At 83-48 on the season, Tampa Bay enters play a franchise-high 35-games above .500 and seven games up on the Yankees in the division with 31 left to play. The Rays are 20-6 in the month of August and in the midst of the longest active win streak in the majors.
Even though they did not make a roster move today, the Rays have announced that David Robertson has been added to the taxi squad, and will be added to the active roster on Wednesday, when rosters expand to 28 players. The right-hander has been at Triple-A Durham after he helped Team USA earn a silver medal at the 2021 Olympics, in Tokyo.
1B/DH Ji-Man Choi (hamstring soreness) took grounders at the Trop this afternoon as he looks to come back from injury.
The New What Next
Ryan Yarbrough (7-4, 4.57 ERA) will get the start tonight for Tampa Bay pitching opposite of, well, TBA since Alex Cora has not named a starter.
Ryan Yarbrough allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out none across four innings on Wednesday against the Phillies. Despite not missing many bats, Yarbrough wasn’t hit hard and he didn’t allow any extra-base hits. His performance made it surprising that he was pulled after only 55 pitches, especially since he had thrown 70 and completed five innings in his previous turn. Assuming he is allowed to work deeper into his next appearance, Yarbrough has shown some positive signs by not allowing any home runs across nine frames since being activated from the COVID-related Injured List on August 18. On the season, he has a 4.57 ERA and a 4.32 FIP, with a 4.39 K/BB across 128 innings. The left-hander has struggled against Red Sox, allowing up 16 earned runs across 12 innings this season ( with a 6.99 ERA career).
The Red Sox have had issues with COVID-19. Enrique Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, Matt Barnes, and Martin Perez already have tested positive, while Josh Taylor is sidelined as a close contact. Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio), they are going with a bullpen day to give Chris Sale an extra day between starts.
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 8/31/21 Starting Lineup
- B. Lowe 2B
- Cruz DH
- Franco SS
- Meadows LF
- Arozarena RF
- Wendle 3B
- Diaz 1B
- Kiermaier CF
- Mejia C
- Yarbrough DH
Noteworthiness
— The Rays have signed, well, former Ray RHP Aaron Slegers to a two-year minor league contract which includes an invitation to 2022 Major League Spring Training.