Tampa Bay has won its last six regular-season-ending series when facing playoff-bound opponents, and a win Sunday would make it seven. Unfortunately for the Rays, award winning centerfielder, Kevin Kiermaier — who is chasing his second consecutive Gold Glove Award — isn’t expected to play this afternoon.
Kiermaier left last night’s ballgame in the sixth inning with a bruised left calf after being hit by a Colby Lewis pitch in the first. The Outlaw feels that the plunking was purposeful, as Kiermaier tried to bunt on the first pitch of his at-bat.
It’s clear that it was on purpose and he had a problem with me bunting. I wasn’t happy about it by any means.
No good deed goes unpunished, and Jake Odorizzi responded in the bottom of the sixth by hitting Nomar Mazara in the ribs with a fastball on the first pitch of the at-bat.
Odorizzi was otherwise solid in his final start of the season, working six innings of one run ball.
And while the righty struggled early on this season, he made the proper adjustment following the All-Star Break, going 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA, thus — as Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) opined — increasing his value as he heads to arbitration for the first time, as well as on the trade market. Odorizzi became the staff’s only double digit winning starter with an overall 10-6 record and a 3.69 ERA.
I feel confident going into the offseason with the second half I put together, and this was kind of putting a wrap on the season, Odorizzi said. Now I just want to one-up this season next year.
Moving forward, despite the Rays’ atrocious W/L record, there are several milestones that could be reached this afternoon. Evan Longoria is two RBI shy of 100, a mark he could reach for the third time in his career. Corey Dickerson, who hit his 24th homer last night, could set a new career high if he homers again. Looking at the bright side, depending on the outcome of the contest this afternoon, Kevin Cash will end the season with either 94 or 95 losses — two or three fewer than Joe Maddon in 2007, his second season as the Rays’ skipper.
The New What Next
This afternoon marks Whitley’s first big league start since May 14, 2015 (505 days ago) when he left the ballgame with an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Since joining Tampa Bay at the start of September, Whitley has fared well since being promoted at the start of September — allowing just two earned runs and notching 11 strikeouts in 10-1/3 innings — and will get his first start of the season on Sunday. Whitley tossed a season-high 62 pitches in his most recent outing on Tuesday, and likely will be capped around 80-85 pitches.
Perez allowed eight runs on nine hits and three walks over 6-2/3 innings against the Brewers on Monday. He stuck out three. The southpaw posted four consecutive quality starts heading into Monday’s contest, but his tendency to let games slip away has been ever present all season. He hasn’t allowed at least five runs in just eight of his 32 starts. The Rays beat him up back in August, tagging Lewis for six runs on five hits (including a homer) and three walks.
You can read more about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 10/2/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Mahtook CF
Longoria 3B
Dickerson LF
Shaffer 1B
Ramirez SS
Casali DH
Maile C
Decker RF
Whitley RHP
Noteworthiness
— Sunday promises to be an exciting day in baseball. All of the ballgames will start at 3:05 PM, and there are three playoff spots still to be determined.
