Tonight, the Tampa Bay Rays will face off with their cross-state rivals, the Miami Marlins, for the last time this season at the Trop. Matt Andriese (1-1, 3.86 ERA, 5.28 FIP) will try to help the Rays reach .500 once again, and he’ll be opposed by Dan Straily (1-2, 4.15 ERA, 3.77 FIP).
Andriese snapped a streak of 18 starts in which he threw six innings or fewer, when he pitched seven and allowed three earned runs on Saturday. However, by surrendering a home run to Justin Smoak, he extended another streak to six straight starts in which he’s given up the long-ball.
Straily, a strike thrower, had a string of 12 straight innings without a walk snapped when he issued three consecutive free passes in his loss to the Pirates. Straily still has thrown well overall, fanning 29 batter in 26 innings this season. So far, Straily has depended upon a whiffy 91 mph four-seam fastball, and an 85 mph worm burner of a slider. He’s also mixed in an 84 mph circle change with natural sink. Key matchups: Brad Miller (1-4, 2B, BB), Logan Morrison (1-3), Colby Rasmus (2-5)
You can read about the series in our series preview.
Rays 5/4/17 Starting Lineup
Noteworthiness
— Colby Rasmus, who earned a free pass in his first plate appearance with the Rays, will make his first start in the field tonight in right. Steven Souza Jr. will not be in the lineup, which has Evan Longoria still at DH.
— Daniel Robertson, who takes over at third in place of Longoria once again, has reached in seven of his last 11 trips to the plate after homering and drawing a walk in four plate appearances last night.
— Erasmo Ramirez is going on the paternity list. The Rays responded by recalling RHP Chih-Wei Hu from Triple-A Durham. Ramirez can miss up to three days.
— If you need me, my hat (below) and I will be at the Trop tomorrow night and Saturday, in section 143. Come say hey.
