Game 37: Rays vs Kansas City Royals — Pregame News and Notes
Updated 11 a.m. After a 12–1 win last night over the Kansas City Royals, the Rays will try to earn a split of a four-game series this afternoon. To do so, Tampa Bay will need to beat the top Royals pitcher this year in lefty Jason Vargas.
The Rays lineup is without Steven Souza Jr for a third straight game, after being pulled in the series opener with a bruised right thumb. Souza had a cortisone shot in the thumb yesterday, and is feeling better. Here’s the Rays lineup:
Beckham SS
Dickerson LF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Weeks DH
Robertson 2B
Kiermaier CF
Norris C
Bourjos RF
The Rays collected 16 hits and belted three homers last night. Tampa Bay (17–19) also can pull within a game of .500 before heading out on the road.
Vargas (4–1 1.19) is coming off a start where he threw six shutout innings against Cleveland. The lefty has allowed one run or less in five of six starts so far. He’s given up just one home run to date.
Jake Odorizzi will start for the Rays. Odorizzi (2–1 2.88) is coming off a terrific outing against Toronto where he allowed one run on three hits over seven innings. Odorizzi has allowed two runs or fewer in all but one start. He’s given up just eight hits in his last 19 innings. Odorizzi says Kansas City’s lineup has been tough in this series.
The Royals are without Lorenzo Cain, who was lifted in yesterday’s game:
Escobar SS
Moustakas DH
Hosmer 1B
Perez C
Bonifacio LF
Merrifield 2B
Soler RF
Gordon CF
Cuthbert 3B
Tommy Hunter will travel with the team today to Boston and Cleveland for the upcoming road trip. Hunter threw off of flat ground yesterday and will start throwing bullpens soon. In addition, Brad Boxberger will start throwing off a mound on Tuesday. Boxberger is currently eyeing a mid-June return.
Here’s what happened in the Rays system last night:
Durham (21–10) dropped a 13–9 11-inning game to Indians affiliate Columbus. Both teams had to use position players to pitch in extra innings, a reason there were 16 runs scored in the 11th between the two clubs. Jake Faria started and struck out 13, but lasted only 4.2 innings.
Montgomery (17–15) won 4–3 in 12 over Twins affiliate Chattanooga. Michael Russell had the game-winning hit.
Charlotte (16–17) won 6–3 over Clearwater as Brett Sullivan homered and had three hits. Matt Duffy continues his rehab tonight, and Jose De Leon makes his first start of the regular season.
Bowling Green (15–16) won 10–2 over Quad Cities. Lucius Fox had his second straight three-hit game.
Coverage of today’s Rays game begins at 12:30 p.m. on the Rays Radio Network, and Dave and Andy will have the call with first pitch at 1:10.
