After earning their third-ever series sweep in the Opening Series of the season, against the Orioles, the Tampa Bay Rays turn their sights to the Oakland Athletics, when they open a four-game series starting Monday. Oakland is coming off a series loss to the Phillies.
Tampa Bay has started the season exactly how they would have wanted. On the offensive side of things, the Rays are scoring five runs per game, hitting .297, and are in the top-10 for team batting average so far this season. Tampa Bay’s hitters have reached base, via the free pass or by hitting the ball, and aside from Friday’s contest in which they scored just two runs, they’ve done a decent job with putting crooked numbers on the board. The defense and the pitching (which fanned 37, walked nine, and performed to a 1.33 ERA across 27 innings) are two other reasons they are still undefeated.
Meanwhile, the Athletics struggled in the batter’s box during the first series of the season. They failed to produce enough runs to win the first two games of the season and they are searching for better at-bats. They are scoring 3.67 runs per game thus far, although, to their credit, they were able to poke a few balls out. Yet, they couldn’t string together enough hits to consistently score runs. As a team, they have a .172 batting average, although they were able to hit .455 wRISP (5-for-11).
Defensively speaking, Oakland has not been very good. Bear in mind it’s still early days. Then again, they also struggled last season when they failed to reach the playoffs. So far this season they have allowed too many runs and can’t keep it close enough to give themselves a chance to win by the end of the game — allowing an average of 4.67 runs per game.
The Rays went 3-4 against the Athletics in 2021, with a -2 run differential. Given the state of the Athletics right now, though, it would be nice to see the Rays take three out of four from Oakland this week.
Pitching Probables
Over the next four days, Kevin Cash will likely turn to LuisPatiño (5-3, 4.31 ERA in 2021), AAA prospect Tommy Romero (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in place of Ryan Yarbrough who was placed on the 10-day Injured List, Shane McClanahan (0-0, 0.00 ERA), and Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 4.50 ERA). Mark Kotsay will counter with Paul Blackburn (1-4, 5.87 ERA in 2021), Adam Oller (4-1, 2.45 ERA in 2021 at AAA), Frankie Montas (0-1, 9.00 ERA), and Cole Irvin (0-1, 6.75 ERA).
LuisPatiño had a sore shoulder early in Spring Training, but he is back to full strength as the regular season begins. He, however, may see a limited workload early in the season and could form a tandem with another hurler. In his final Spring tuneup, Patiño surrendered four runs on three hits across 1.2 innings against the Phillies.
Paul Blackburn has been included in the Athletics’ season-opening rotation less on merit given that James Kaprielian (shoulder) and Brent Honeywell (elbow) are on the Injured List, and Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt had been traded away. The 28-year-old Blackburn owns a 5.74 ERA and a minuscule 12.8% strikeout rate over 138 career big-league frames, and he didn’t demonstrate any improvement in his 8.2 Spring Training innings (9.35 ERA, 11.9 K%). He relies primarily on a 91 mph sinker and an 87 mph cutter with heavy sink, while also mixing in an 86 mph worm-killer changeup, a 79 mph curveball with 12-6 movement, and a 91 mph four-seam fastball.
Tommy Romero was recalled by the Rays on Sunday and will take the place of Ryan Yarbrough (groin) on the roster while he is on the shelf. Romero made a start at Triple-A Durham on Thursday and tossed 3.2 scoreless frames. The right-hander made 23 appearances (21 starts) between Double-A and Triple-A last season, and he posted a 2.61 ERA and 0.96 WHIP across 110.1 innings. Much like JP Feyereisen, Romero boasts a high spin rate 92-94 fastball that coaxes a lot of whiffs at the top of the zone, and a curveball and changeup that drop vertically and play well off his heater. Note: we will have more on Romero on Monday.
Adam Oller looked set to miss out on a spot in the Athletics’ Opening Day rotation, but he’ll end up stepping in as Oakland’s fifth starter. Oller struck out nine over 6.1 Cactus League innings but was lit up for seven earned runs on 11 hits and two walks. The 27-year-old right-hander turned in a 2.45 ERA and 1.02 WHIP across 44 innings at Triple-A Syracuse in the Mets organization a season ago.
Shane McClanahan posted 4.1 scoreless frames, scattering four hits, two walks, and a hit batter while punching out seven. The left-hander was particularly tough with runners in scoring position, holding the Orioles to 0-for-5 wRISP with a pair of strikeouts and a double-play groundout. McClanahan ran into some trouble in the first inning — his first pitch of the season plunked Cedric Mullins and he eventually found himself one-out, bases-loaded jam before escaping the first unscathed. Be that as it may, he settled in nicely and finished his day throwing 44 of 68 pitches for strikes (65% strike rate) with his fastball hitting triple digits, and at one point striking out five of six batters.
Interestingly enough, during the game, McClanahan had thrown 33% curveballs and coaxed five swings and misses on the pitch — more than he had thrown previously in a game. This could have been an effect of a difficulty in throwing his heater for strikes early on, or he could have been trying something different against a low leverage team. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see he continues to lean on his hammer more.
Frankie Montas struck out six in five innings while allowing five runs on six hits and a walk in Philadelphia on Friday. Montas gave up a home run to leadoff man Kyle Schwarber in the first and was hit hard in the four-run third. The 29-year-old eventually settled down, retiring the last seven hitters he faced, although the damage had already been done. Montas made only two appearances in Spring Training and may need a little time to regain his form. He relies primarily on a firm 87 mph splitter that has some natural sink to it, a blazing fast 96 mph sinker that has slight arm-side run, a 96 mph four-seam fastball, and a whiffy 87 mph slider. Key Matchups: Kevin Kiermaier (2-7, 3B, BB), Manuel Margot (1-3, BB), Francisco Mejía (2-3, 2B), Harold Ramirez (2-4, RBI)
Drew Rasmussen got the start and tossed four solid innings of two-run ball on three hits and a walk while striking out three. All the damage against Rasmussen came off of the bat of Ryan Mountcastle, who launched a first-pitch hanging slider into the first row of the right-field seats for a two-run shot in the third inning. He departed after the fourth inning at 64 pitches 41 strikes, 64% strike rate).
Rasmussen mixed his pitches well, which included his new slider which he worked on during the off-season and Spring Training. The aforementioned pitch has at least 13 inches of glove-side movement as compared to his standard slider which averaged around four inches.
On top of that, he also leaned on a 95-96 mph cutter with 20 inches of vertical movement which, frankly, is a little unfair.
Aside from one misplaced slider, it was a strong season debut for the 26-year-old who performed to a 4-1 record with a 2.84 ERA and 1.08 WHIP across 35 appearances and 10 starts between the Brewers and Rays last season.
Cole Irvin allowed four runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three over 5.1 innings on Thursday. Irvin continued his regular-season struggles extending from 2021. The 27-year-old barely beat out Daulton Jefferies and A.J. Puk for a spot in Oakland’s rotation, and he’s already in danger of losing that role. Irvin relies primarily on an 81 mph slider has short glove-side cut and has some two-plane movement and a whiffy 92 mph sinker, while also mixing in an 84 mph worm-killer changeup, a 93 mph four-seam fastball, and an 88 mph cutter. Key Matchups: Randy Arozarena (2-5, BB), YandyDíaz (2-6), Manuel Margot (2-6, 2B, RBI), Brett Phillips (1-3, 2B, BB), Mike Zunino (1-4, HR, RBI)