The Rays are in town to complete this season’s seven-game regular season series with the Astros.
Houston and Tampa Bay played three times last week, with the Astros losing two of them.
With that in mind, the streaking Astros (four straight wins, winners of seven-of-10) get a supersized shot at the Rays. A four game set starting tonight.
GameTimes and Starting Pitchers
Thursday, 7:10PM CT: Shane Baz (4-3, 4.94) vs. Ryan Gusto (3-2, 4.58)
Friday, 7:10PM CT: Ryan Pepiot (3-5, 3.55) vs. Framber Valdez (4-4, 3.39)
Saturday, 3:10PM CT: Zack Littell (4-5, 3.97) vs. Colton Gordon (0-0, 5.52)
Sunday, 1:10PM CT: Taj Bradley (4-4, 4.38) vs. Hunter Brown (7-3, 2.00)
Since winning three of four against Seattle, the Astros have pulled into a near-tie with the Mariners atop the American League West. Just 1⁄2 game separates the two teams, with FanGraphs giving the M’s a 74 percent shot at reaching the playoffs and the Astros getting 72.8 percent. Houston currently sits in a three-way tie for the number four seed along with the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Guardians.
No slouch themselves, the Rays have also won seven-of-10, including that two-of-three against the Astros. Now at 28-27, the Rays are just two games behind the sixth AL seed.
After this set, the Rays return “home” to face the Texas Rangers and the Miami Marlins three times each. Houston will set out for a six-game road-set, with three each against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland.
Last night, the Rays finished off the Twins by a 5-0 final against Pablo Lopez (4-3, 2.75). Drew Rasmussen (4-4, 2.33) earned the win with six innings of one-hit ball. Brandon Lowe (11) and Junior Caminero (10) teed off against Lopez in the fourth inning.
I told Cashy I was gonna hit three more homers today so I didn’t have to run hard. — Caminero
The Astros are coming off a 5-3, come-from-behind win over the Athletics in last night’s game. Lance McCullers Jr. struck out a dozen in half as many innings in delivering a Quality Start. He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk, getting 69-of-102 pitches over the plate. Zach Dezenzo (2) parked one in the seventh to tie the game at three, then Victor Caratini hit a go-ahead two-run single later in the frame for the eventual game-winner.
I expect it from now on, to be that guy where he wants that leadership role back and he wants to be in a moment where we lean on him to get big outs for us. Him being able to do that, take us deep in the game was very important today. — Espada, on LMJ