Despite a 2-3 record on their most recent road trip, the Tampa Bay Rays return home in a much better position than the slumping Oakland Athletics, who they’ll face over the next four days.
The Rays embark on the series tied for first place in the AL East, while the A’s — who were previously the team to beat in the AL West — sit at the bottom of their division, having lost eight of their last 10 games (and 12 of their last 14). For the A’s, the culprit is two-fold: the pitching staff ranks in the bottom half in the majors in ERA (4.04), and the fielders have erred an MLB leading 44 times — an average of 1.04 errors per game. Taking things a bit further, it’s the Athletics bullpen that has been questionable; the combined 5.12 ERA/4.34 FIP/.247 BA/.296 BABIP/78 Runs in 128-1/3 innings speaks to that.
True, Oakland has a +25 run differential over Tampa Bay (while averaging 4.4 runs per game), yet the pitching staff has allowed the second highest number of runs in the American League (196; 52 more than the Rays). It certainly doesn’t help that Oakland hit .236 with 45 runs scored in its last 14 contests.
To be fair, the Rays offensive struggles, especially with runners in scoring position, have been well documented. However, Tampa Bay has done a much better job of late wRISP, posting a combined .360 vs. New York, .351 vs. Minnesota, and .286 vs. Atlanta. Compare that with Oakland, who is hitting .194 wRISP over the last 14 games after batting .310 in such situations over the first 28 contests.
In short, the Athletics — much like the 2014 Tampa Bay team — are off to the second-worst start in team history.
Jesse Chavez: Chavez received a no-decision after yielding two runs and eight hits in six innings of a 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday (his third quality start in five turns). The 31-year-old righty has a 3.18 ERA in three relief appearances covering 5-2/3 innings against Tampa Bay, limiting the Rays roster to two hits in 16 at-bats. His cutter explodes on the hitter and generates a good number of whiffs and fly-balls; his change-up is firm and has some arm side fade, it also generates a lot of grounders; his four seam fastball also generates a lot of swings and misses, and his curveball has some good horizontal movement and coaxes an extreme number of fly-balls. Pitching matchups: Asdrubal Cabrera (1-3, HR, RBI).
Scott Kazmir: Per Rotowire, Kazmir struggled Sunday against the White Sox, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks in just 4.1 innings en route to his second loss of the season. The former Ray relies primarily upon his four seam fastball (93 mph) and change-up (78 mph), also mixing in a cutter (88 mph) and sinker (92 mph). He rarely throws a slider (82 mph) and curveball (77 mph). This will be his first start against his former team. Key matchups: David DeJesus (8-21, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 BB), James Loney (2-6, 3B), Rene Rivera (1-4).
Sonny Gray: Per Rotowire, Gray was not as sharp as usual on Tuesday, allowing three runs, seven hits and three walks over only five innings. Gray is evolving as a pitcher finds Owen Watson (FanGraphs). He is relying less upon his four seam fastball and 12-6 curveball, favoring his two seam fastball and slurve instead. While Gray’s K% has fallen, the amount of weak contact induced has increased. He is also is pitching deeper into games, which stands to reason — if Gray is attacking the zone more often and relying upon weak contact, he’s using less pitches throughout the course of a game. Key matchups: Asrubal Cabrera (1-3, 2 BB), Kevin Kiermaier (1-2, HR, 3 RBI), James Loney (3-7, 2 BB).
Noteworthiness
— James Loney is 11-for-24 during his seven-game hitting streak.
— After throwing a bullpen session Wednesday, Manager Kevin Cash gave LHP Matt Moore an “all thumbs up” rating. The team is waiting until Thursday to decide whether his next outing Saturday will be a simulated game or a move to extended spring training (the last step before starting a rehab assignment).
— Former Ray Ben Zobrist will not be making an appearance at the Trop over the course of the next four days, rather he will be on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
Zobrist told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) “I was hoping to make it back by then on a long shot, but I’ll miss it by a couple of days. Disappointed that I won’t get to say hello to friends and fans from the area.”
— Topkin also wrote, Wednesday was the fourth time in Rays history they were in first place after 40 games; also 2008, 2010 and 2011, all seasons they reached the playoffs.