Charlie Morton certainly didn’t pitch like #CFM last night. (Stats Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
After a 15-1 throttling by the Houston Astros last night, the Tampa Bay Rays are looking to bounce back on Tuesday against one of the best teams in baseball Wednesday night. Tampa Bay has dropped the last three games and five of the last eight.
Charlie Morton was ambushed by his former team, coughing up six runs on seven hits and two walks across four innings. He struck out four. Uncle Charlie got through the first two frames unscathed before Houston’s offense erupted; five of the seven hits Morton allowed went for extra bases. On a more positive note, Morton reached 200 strikeouts for the second consecutive season. The right-hander carries a respectable 3.11 ERA and a 4.28 K/BB through 165 innings on the season.
Tampa Bay enters play a game back of Cleveland for the top Wildcard spot, and .5 games back of Oakland for the final playoff spot, with a coin toss chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs.
After Mike Brosseau pitched the final two innings last night, he was optioned back to Durham in order to make room for right-hander José De León.
The New What Next
Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (11-3, 3.29 ERA) will get the start for the Rays, pitching opposite of Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.75 ERA).
Ryan Yarbrough allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with five strikeouts across 4-1/3 rain-shortened innings against the Orioles on Thursday. The southpaw gave up a pair of runs in the first inning, but that was it, as he shut the door over the next 3-1/3 frames. Yarbrough owns a 0.75 ERA with 28 strikeouts in his last 24 innings. Overall, he is 11-3 with a 3.29 ERA (down from 8.10 in April), an 0.87 WHIP, and 93 strikeouts across 109-1/3 innings this season. Yarbs is 0-1 with a 1.42 ERA in one career start (6-1/3 innings of work) against the Astros.
Gerrit Cole held the Tigers scoreless on Thursday while striking out 12 over seven innings. He allowed two hits and one walk. Despite being shelved more than two weeks with hamstring soreness, the right-hander hit 99 mph in the first inning and his velo stayed high all night. Cole’s sixth-inning strikeout of Jake Rogers — his 10th of the game — matched a franchise record of 14 games in one season with 10 punchouts or more. Cole now owns a ridiculous 2.75 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and a 5.95 K/BB on the season. He is 0-2 with a 2.84 ERA in three career starts against the Rays. Key Matchups: Jesus Aguilar (2-5, RBI, BB), Ji-Man Choi (1-3, 2 RBI, BB), Travis d’Arnaud (4-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB), Tommy Pham (8-15, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI), Joey Wendle (2-5, 2 RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 8/28/19 Starting Lineup
- Sogard 2B
- Meadows RF
- Pham LF
- Choi 1B
- Garcia CF
- Wendle 3B
- Adames SS
- Aguilar DH
- Zunino C
Noteworthiness
— Kevin Kiermaier is out of the lineup again as he continues to recover from bruised ribs.
— After throwing 15 pitches during a live batting practice session in Port Charlotte, Tyler Glasnow is set to make his first rehab outing on Friday with Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs.
(Glasnow) Was encouraging. I think he’s scheduled to throw one inning in the game for Port Charlotte three or four days from now.
— Kevin Cash
The Rays manager noted that Glasnow needs about three or four outings in the Minors before rejoining the big league squad as a reliever, which would add another quality arm to a Rays bullpen.
— Blake Snell threw 10 pitches at Tropicana Field, and Cash said the reigning AL Cy Young Award Winner felt “really good” during the session. Snell will throw a bullpen session on Friday, which will be the first time throwing off a mound since undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his left elbow.
— Yonny Chirinos played catch on Tuesday and said it was the best he had felt since being placed on the Injured List on August 5th with right middle finger inflammation.
— There’s no timetable for Chirinos or Snell’s return, although the team is optimistic that they will pitch again this season.
— Brendan McKay was placed on the seven-day Minor League Injured List, retroactive to August 23rd with left shoulder fatigue. After feeling some fatigue, McKay was examined by team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Koco Eaton, who found no concerns. McKay resumed his throwing regimen on Monday, playing catch from 90 feet. The left-hander is expected to miss one start, with the possibility that his next start comes in St. Petersburg with the rosters expanding on Sunday.
I think this was just precautionary. He felt something throwing his bullpen once he got optioned out. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we give him ample rest so when he does get back up here, that he can help. We foresee this to be really short. Shut him down for a couple of days from throwing, and he’ll get right back out there and get on the mound throwing, and it could be for us.
— Kevin Cash