The #Rays will select INF @JunielQuerecuto from @BiscuitBaseball and place OF Steven Souza Jr. (hip) on the 60-day DL tomorrow. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Rays will select the contract of INF Juniel Querecuto from the Montgomery Biscuits and place OF Steven Souza Jr. (hip) on the 60-day DL Thursday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
After a 5-3 loss to the New York Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays look to bounce back tonight with Alex Cobb on the bump in this, his final home start of 2016. Cobb has been impressive in three starts for Tampa Bay coming off of Tommy John surgery.

The New What Next

Cobb (1-0, 3.06 ERA) will get the start opposite of Masahiro Tanaka (13-4, 2.97 ERA).

The Rays right-hander worked around a trifecta of walks to allow just one run on two hits while fanning four over 6-2/3 innings on Wednesday. Even though he wasn’t as sharp as his first two outings of the season, Cobb has yielded just four walks over 17-2/3 innings. That’s not to suggest that he was terrible in this turn, after all he did snag the win, thanks in part to the run support he received early on. In his career, Cobb is 5-2 with a 2.13 ERA against the Yankees.

Tanaka threw seven excellent innings on Thursday against Boston, surrendering just one run on four hits while walking three in a no-decision. He, however, did not notch a strikeout for the first time in his career. He put together a strong performance against the division-leading Red Sox while lowering his ERA to 2.97. Tanaka has been especially tough on Rays, allowing seven total runs in four starts, and going at least seven innings in each of those appearances.

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

Rays 9/21/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Miller 1B
Dickerson LF
Ramirez SS
Decker RF
Shaffer DH
Wilson C
Cobb RHP

Noteworthiness

— The Rays’ streak of 14 straight games with a homer was snapped last night. They did hit two triples and Brad Miller, who now has 43 RBI since the All-Star Break, drove in two runs.

— Steven Souza Jr. underwent successful, albeit season-ending surgery today in Nashville. Souza is expected to be ready for the start of spring training. To fill the hole in the active roster, the Rays have selected the contract of INF Juniel Querecuto, who was in Spring Training with the ball club, from the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. The move makes sense, as the Rays are short up the middle with Nick Franklin’s injury. They, again, have sent a clear message to Tim Beckham and Taylor Motter.

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