The Tampa Bay Rays avoided a sweep by Minnesota on Sunday by amassing 19 hits in an 11-3 win. Their next stop is Atlanta, where they’ll take on the Braves, who are coming off a three-game sweep of the Marlins.
For the Rays, Nathan Karns was initially projected to take the hill on Tuesday. However, manager Kevin Cash indicated that Erasmo Ramirez would get the ball instead, giving Karns — who is now slated to pitch on Wednesday — an extra day of rest.
Ramirez allowed four hits and two runs over a nine inning span from April 28-May 11, and followed by surrendering just one hit in five scoreless innings against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Cash told MLB.com,
He’s done a nice job. This was obviously his best start that he’s had, but he’s had some really strong outings where he’s come in against some good lineups and thrown strikes.
Ramirez told Marc Tokin (Tampa Bay Times) that his job is to continue doing what he’s done over the last 19 innings of work:
This is another opportunity to continue what I’ve been doing. Try to keep the ball down. They’re aggressive swingers, kind of like a young team. But I have to pitch by my strengths.
Karns also pitched well in his last start. The righty picked up a win Wednesday against the visiting Yankees, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks while fanning six in five innings of work.
Mike Foltynewicz will take the bump for the Braves on Tuesday. While the righty has been decent in three starts since arriving from Triple-A Gwinnett, he has been far from dominant. In his most recent outing, Foltynewicz limited the Cincinnati Reds to three runs (two earned) and six hits while striking out seven in 6-2/3 innings — this after going a combined 10-1/3 in his first two appearances.
As Topkin wrote of Foltynewicz,
Was a 2010 first-round pick by Astros, acquired in Evan Gattis trade. Debuted in August 2014. Lost twice but pitched well against Rays’ Triple-A Durham team before May 1 promotion.
Rookie RHP Williams Perez, who will take Eric Stults’ spot in the starting rotation after the lefty was moved to the bullpen, will start opposite of Karns. Perez previously made two appearances out of the ‘pen since being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on May 6.
Tampa Bay (21-18) is 6-4 over a 10-game stretch, and 9-7 away from the Trop. Atlanta (18-19) is 5-5 over a 10-game stretch, and 8-8 at home.
Mike Foltynewicz: Any questions about Foltynewicz don’t have much to do with whether he has swing and miss stuff (he does; 9.3 K/9 over 119-1/3 innings at Triple-A), or if he can coax grounders (he can; a 44.9% mark since 2011). Rather the question begs, can avoid the walk — something he’s struggled with recently:
2013 – 4.59 BB/9
2014 – 4.56 BB/9
According to Pitch f/x data, his fastball routinely sits in the upper-90’s, though he reached 101 mph in the big leagues last season. However, he’s had to work on fastball command and improving the consistency of his off speed pitches, including a power slider which he’s started to incorporate into his arsenal.
Williams Perez: Prior to this season, Perez was considered to be a soft-tossing command and control pitcher, however, he added some velocity to his sinker, pushing it into the low-90s. The 23 year-old RHP combines that with a good change up in a pitch-to-contact approach that keeps batters off balance. And while that approach tends to limit the free passes, Perez has walked four hitters in his accrued 2-1/3 innings of work with the Braves.
Noteworthiness
— Tampa Bay has a 15-2 record when scoring first, but the team is 6-16 when not.
— Ramirez was shelled by the Braves last season, allowing five runs and eight hits in three innings. Nevertheless, this bears mentioning:
Over the past month, Erasmo Ramirez ranks 5th in the AL with a 1.42 ERA and 4th with a .143 opponents’ avg. (min. 15 IP).
— Dave Haller (@HallerDave) May 19, 2015
— As you’re likely aware of by now, LHP Jake McGee pitched one scoreless inning in his return to action on Sunday. The lefty told the media it was comforting to know he hit 97 mph several times:
It was good to get out there and feel good and throws strikes and get ahead of guys.
Per Brooks Baseball pitch f/x data, it doesn’t seem like McGee’s offseason surgery to remove a loose body from his elbow has done anything to negatively impact his fastball. In essence, when you compare his most recent outing with his pre-surgery numbers, his fastball is essentially the same pitch.
His fastball velocity averaged .65 of a mph under his average from last season. I’d call that a negligible difference. Besides, a marginal dip in velocity is expected out of a pitcher at the beginning of the season. How about the rise and run on his fastball? Let’s take a look.
There doesn’t seem to be any noticeable difference in the rise and run of his most dominant pitch. And while 14 pitches is an incredibly small sample size, all early indications are positive — his fastball hasn’t changed.
Rays manager Kevin Cash maintains that he’ll use Brad Boxberger and McGee in save situations, depending on matchups.
— Pitching and defense. Through 39 games, the Rays 139 runs allowed are the third fewest
in club history, and their 156 runs scored are the fewest since 2004 (145). Moreover, Tampa Bay leads the majors with a 2.84 ERA in 26 games since April 21. They’ve lowered the team ERA from 4.64 to 3.45.
— Despite going 3-14 against the Marlins, Freddie Freeman is hitting .388 in his last 20 games.