The Rays will attempt to win the rubber match of this three game set against the Fish today at the Trop. The anemic offense reared it ugly head last night, with Tampa Bay scoring three runs on nine hits, and going 1-5 wRISP. The Rays would ultimately strand 10 on the bags. 14 men reached safely, however there were only three extra base hits. What’s more, the 1-5 hitters went a combined 2 for 30 with eight strikeouts. In short, Tampa Bay was able to get ’em on, yet they couldn’t get ’em over or home.
Hindsight being 20/20, I think it’s safe to say that if Sean-Rod and Matt Joyce hadn’t committed errors early in the game, the Rays would have won the low scoring affair. Both errors resulted directly in runs scoring. Yet all is not lost, there were some positives:
-James Shields had a good outing, again lowering his ERA to 3.72. Shields posted a 7.2 IP/8 H/3 R (unearned)/1 BB/5 K line, throwing 124 pitches overall, 86 of them being strikes for a 69% to 31% strike to ball ratio.
-Joel Peralta, Fernando Rodney, Jake McGee, Wade Davis, and Burke Badenhop looked sharp, posting a combined 5.1 IP/3 H/0 R/2 BB/7 K line.
-Carlos Pena (2-4, R), Elliot Johnson (2-6, R), Jose Molina (2-4, HR)
Josh Johnson (4-4, 4.27 ERA) will take the mound against Alex Cobb (2-3, 4.70 ERA).
Cobber has been struggling of late following two consecutive winning starts where he posted a 2.25 ERA. Cobb has lost three straight since with a 6.27 ERA, allowing at least four runs in each start. The right-hander was solid in his start against the Marlins last weekend, giving up two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 7-4 win. Cobb will look to get back on track today.
Johnson on the other hand started the season 0-3 with a 6.61 ERA over his first six outings. His performance since is another story. He’s gone 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA over his last seven starts. Johnson is also 2-0 with a 2.88 ERA in five career starts against the Rays.
