Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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MLB Preview: Tampa Bay Rays (40-18) at Boston Red Sox (29-27)

TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES:

BATTLING BACK — Tampa Bay avoided its first series sweep of the season on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, defeating the Cubs, 4-3, with a late-inning comeback win… trailing 2-0 with two outs in the seventh inning, 2B Brandon Lowe (1-for-4, HR, 2RBI) tied the game with a two-run homer…after Tampa Bay surrendered one run in the bottom of seventh frame, CF Jose Siri (1-for-3, HR, 2RBI, BB) put the Rays ahead, 4-3, with a two-run homer of his own…LHP Jalen Beeks inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out in the ninth inning, but struck out 2B Miles Mastrobuoni and got C Yan Gomes to fly out to left field, securing the 4-3 victory.

Jose Siri has 10 HR on the year, including seven in his last 15 games dating back to 5/12…Siri hit 7 HR in 104 games in 2022 between Houston (3HR, 48G) and Tampa Bay (4 HR, 56G).

Brandon Lowe has a team-best four game-tying/go-ahead home runs in the seventh inning or later this season (5/17 at NYM, 4/21 vs. CWS and 4/10 vs. BOS)… the four such homers are tied with STL Nolan Gorman and MIA Jorge Soler for the MLB lead.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS — Earlier today, the Rays acquired RHP Robert Stephenson from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for INF Alika Williams…Stephenson, 30, has made 229 career appearances (22 starts) in stints with Cincinnati, Colorado and Pittsburgh, going 14-19 with a 4.91 ERA (326.0IP, 178ER) and two saves.

MAY FLOWERS — Tampa Bay went 17-12 (.586) in May after going 22-6 (.786) in April… Jose Siri had a team-best 8 HR in May, batting .254 (18-for-71) with one double, one triple, 13 RBI and 16 runs scored…Josh Lowe paced the club with 19 RBI while batting .271 (23- for-85) with five doubles, 6 HR and eight steals…Wander Franco had a team-best 32 hits, finishing the month hitting .296 (32-for-108) with three doubles, two triples, 2 HR and 12 RBI, including his current seven-game hitting streak.

At the conclusion of May, the Rays paced the majors in both home runs (103) and stolen bases (77)…per Elias, Tampa Bay became the first team since the since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers (61HR, 21SB) to lead the majors outright in both homers and stolen bases at the end of May.

SERIES-LY SPEAKING — With Wednesday’s win over the Cubs, the Rays avoided their first sweep of the season…they were last swept from 10/3-5, 2022 at Boston…the Rays are 12-5-1 in series play this season, including 9-1-0 at home and 3-4-1 on the road…have gone 0-3-1 over their last four road series dating back to 5/8, posting a 5-8 mark overall as a visitor in that span.

The Rays are currently the only major league club that has not had a losing streak of 3+ games in 2023.

CLOSE SHAVES — Nineteen of Tampa Bay’s last 27 games have been decided by two or fewer runs, including 16 one-run games in that span…this comes after just six of Tampa Bay’s first 31 games were decided by two or fewer runs.

On the season, Tampa Bay is 11-10 in one-run games, tied with Cleveland (11-15) for the most one-run wins among AL clubs…the Rays have played in five straight one-run games, their longest such streak since 6/15-19, 2022 (5G).

FRIENDLY CONFINES — Brandon Lowe is a career .335 (52-for-155) hitter in 48 games against Boston, tallying nine doubles, one triple, 16 HR and 36 RBI…in 17 games at Fenway Park, he is batting .436 (24-for-55) with five doubles, 6 HR and 16 RBI.

Since 2018, among batters with at least 100 PA against the Red Sox, Lowe ranks among league leaders in OBP (1st, .435), OPS (1st, 1.169), SLG (2nd, .716), at-bats per HR (2nd, 9.69), HR (3rd), extra-base hits (T7th) and RBI (T8th).

THE BOY WANDER — Wander Franco has strung together a seven-game hitting streak, matching his longest of the season (also: 5/5-11)…he is batting .462 (12-for-26) with one triple, 6 RBI, five walks and only three strikeouts in that span…he also has six stolen bases during the streak, bringing his season total to 20, third most in MLB behind OAK Esteury Ruiz (28SB) and ATL Ronald Acuña Jr. (23SB)…Franco recorded his 20th steal in his 55th game of the season, becoming the fastest Ray to reach the milestone since Carl Crawford (29G) and B.J. Upton (55G) in 2009.

Franco’s 3.5 bWAR leads the majors, ahead of TOR Bo Bichette (3.2).

In addition to ranking third among major league shortstops in average (.298) and OPS (.844), Franco leads all SS in defensive runs saved (9), ahead of CHC Dansby Swanson (7), according to FanGraphs.

CAN’T CATCH ME — The Rays have stolen 25 consecutive bases without being caught dating back to 5/22, the longest streak in club history…they had achieved the previous mark of 21 straight steals on two separate occasions (6/3-27, 2007 & 7/1-23, 2010)… according to Elias, the last major league club to steal 25 straight bases was San Francisco (28 SB) from 6/18-8/24, 2022…the Rays have been successful on 39 of their last 41 stolen base attempts (95.1%) overall since 5/14 after opening the season 38-for-52 (73.1%).

Tampa Bay’s 77 stolen bases are the most by any major league club through 58 games since the 2009 Rays (91SB).

On the season, Tampa Bay leads the majors in both steals (77) and stolen base attempts (93) while ranking sixth in stolen base pct. (82.8%).

SETTING THE TONE — The first three spots in Tampa Bay’s batting order rank among major league leaders in average (1st, .300), hits (2nd, 207) OBP (1st, 384), SLG (2nd, .521), OPS (2nd, .905), runs scored (2nd, 127), RBI (3rd, 117), hard-hit pct. (5th, 38.0%) and HR (5th, 36).

THE BAY BOMBERS — The Rays have hit a major league-best 103 home runs, tied for the fourth-most long balls through a club’s first 58 games in MLB history (since 1901), trailing only the 1999 Seattle Mariners (118HR), 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers (113HR) and 2019 Minnesota Twins (109HR)…they reached 100 homers in their 54th game of the season, becoming the fifth-fastest team to reach the milestone in MLB history (since 1901).

The Rays have an MLB-best 30 multi-HR games, ahead of New York-AL (29); they are 25-5 in those contests…this includes 16 games with 3+ homers most, most in the AL and trailing only Los Angeles-NL (17G); the Rays had 13 games with 3+ HR in 2022.

BEANTOWN REPORT — The Rays and Red Sox meet for the fifth time this season and for the first time at Fenway Park…Tampa Bay swept Boston in a four-game set at Tropicana Field from 4/10-13, outscoring the Red Sox 26-12.

Since the beginning of the 2019 season, the Rays are 46-25 (.648) against the Red Sox, including a 19-12 (.613) mark at Fenway Park during that span…it is the most wins by any team against Boston during that span ahead of New York-AL (45-22).

Tampa Bay has lost five of its last six at Fenway Park dating back to 8/26/22.

TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP TYLER GLASNOW (0-0, 6.23)
ALL G(L)AS NO BRAKES — The right-hander makes his second start of the season in tonight’s series opener at Fenway Park, including his first road start of 2023…made two regular season starts in 2022 after recovering from Tommy John surgery before earning the starting nod in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series at Cleveland…suffered a left oblique strain during a Spring Training practice on 2/27 and was placed on the 15-day injured list on 3/29 (retro 3/27) before being reinstated on 5/27.

HE’S BACK — Made his first major league start of the season and his first home start since 6/8/21 in Tampa Bay’s 6-5 loss to Los Angeles-NL on 5/27 (4.1IP, 5H, 3ER, BB, 8SO, HR)…yielded a lead-off HR to Max Muncy in the second frame before the Dodgers added a pair of runs in the fourth on an RBI-double and a wild pitch…he recorded a 45.4 pct. whiff rate in the outing

SHIPPING UP TO BOSTON — In eight career starts against Boston, Glasnow is 2-1 with a 3.83 ERA (42.1IP, 18ER), holding Red Sox hitters to a .217 average (34-for-157) while recording 11.91 SO/9.0 IP…this includes a 1-1 mark and a 4.00 ERA (27.0IP, 12ER) in five starts at Fenway Park.

Following his recovery from Tommy John surgery, he made his second and final start of the 2022 season on 10/3/22 at Boston, throwing 3.2 scoreless innings (3.2IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 7SO).

Glasnow is 8-6 with a 4.03 ERA (147.1IP, 66ER) in 29 career starts against AL East clubs, recording a 32.7 pct. strikeout rate, his second-highest mark against any division, behind the AL West (38.2%).

ROAD TRIPPIN’—Tonight’s outing marks Glasnow’s first road start of the campaign; his most recent outing on the road also came at Fenway Park on 10/3/22…has held opponents to a .196 batting average in his career as a visitor, fourth-lowest among active pitchers (min. 200.0IP on the road) behind KC Aroldis Chapman (.179), PHI Craig Kimbrel (.183) and BOS Kenley Jansen (.183).

ROLLIN’ AS A RAY — Since making his Rays debut on Aug 1, 2018, he is 17-9 with a 3.10 ERA (272.2IP, 94ER) and 372 strikeouts in 51 starts…since being acquired by the Rays, he ranks second in the AL (min. 250.0 IP) in strikeout rate (34.5 pct.), third in WHIP (1.00), third in opp. avg. (.191) and 10th in ERA…has an 7.9 pct. walk rate since the trade, compared to a 10.3 pct. rate with Pittsburgh.

FLAMETHROWER — His avg. 4-seam fastball velocity in 2021 was 97.0 mph…min. 1,000 total pitches at the time of his injury, was the fourth fastest in the majors and second in the AL behind NYY Gerrit Cole (97.3)… his fastball was rated at 13.5 Runs Above Average, sixth in the majors and second in the AL at the time of his injury…had 47 strikeouts with the pitch, fifth in the majors and most in the AL at the time of his injury.

BOSTON RED SOX NOTES:

STATE OF THE SOX: The Red Sox defeated CIN last night to avoid being swept and snap a 3-game losing streak. The Sox are 3-7 in their last 10 games, losing 2 of their last 3 series (0-3 at LAA, 2-1 at ARI, 1-2 vs. CIN). At 29-27 (.518), the Sox rank 5th in the AL East and are 4.0 games back from the AL’s 3rd Wild Card spot.

SERIES BUSINESS: The Red Sox lost their 3-game series vs. CIN to fall to 11-6-1 in series play, including 6-3-0 at home. The Sox are 3-3-1 in their last 7 series, beginning 5/9. They are 7-3-0 in series against AL opponents.

SOX & RAYS: The Red Sox were swept by the Rays in a 4-game series at Tropicana Field from 4/10-13. After this series, the clubs won’t meet until September, when they play a 3-game series in St. Petersburg from 9/4-6 and a 2-game series in Boston from 9/26-27. BOS went 6-3 at home vs. TB last season…They swept the Rays in a 3-game series here from 10/3-5/22.

EASTERN STANDARD: The Red Sox are 7-7 vs. AL East opponents this season, including 6-1 at Fenway Park. The Sox have won both of their home series against AL East teams (2-2-0 overall)…They defeated BAL in a season-opening 3-game series from 3/30-4/2 (2-1) and swept TOR in a 4-game series from 5/1-4. In 2022, they didn’t win their 2nd series against an AL East opponent until 8/14 (began 1-11-1).

GETTING BUSY: The Red Sox are currently in a span of 26 games in 27 days for the Red Sox, from 5/30-6/25 (1-2 so far). 3 of the Sox’ next 5 series (10 of 16 games from 6/2-18) are against AL East opponents…Just 1 of their 9 series from 4/28-6/1 were within the division (5/1-4 vs. TOR).

TOUGH TEST: The Red Sox have won 19 games against opponents with a current winning percentage of .500 or better, tied for 4th most in MLB (TB-22, TOR-21, NYY-20). The Red Sox are 19-19 (.500) against teams that currently have a .500 winning percentage or better. 7 of the Sox’ next 10 series, through 7/6, are against opponents who are currently above .500 (vs. TB, at NYY, vs. NYY, at MIN, vs. MIA, at TOR, vs. TEX).

ON THE MEND: Christian Arroyo and Adam Duvall are both on rehab assignments with Triple-A Worcester. Arroyo has played in 5 games, making 3 starts at 2B and 2 as the DH and going 5-for-19 (.263 AVG, 2B, RBI). Duvall has made 1 start in CF and 1 as the DH (0-for-6).

ALL-STAR VOTING: Phase 1 of fan voting for the 2023 All-Star Game began on Wednesday and runs through 12:00 p.m. ET on 6/22…Fans can vote on MLB.com, redsox.com, the MLB App, and the MLB Ballpark App, and are allowed to vote a maximum of five times in a 24-hour period. During Phase 1, fans can submit their ballot by selecting 1 player at each position and 3 outfielders. At the end of Phase 1, the 2 players at each position with the most votes (top 6 outfielders) advance to Phase 2…The leading vote-getter in Phase 1 will bypass Phase 2 and receive an automatic starting assignment. This year’s All-Star Game takes place on Tuesday, 7/11, at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, WA.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Red Sox beat the Reds last night, 8-2, scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. In the 8th inning, Rafael Devers hit an RBI double, Kiké Hernández hit a 2-run single, and Connor Wong hit a 2-run HR…Hernández also hit a solo HR in the 7th. Red Sox relievers allowed 1 R over the final 5.1 innings (2 H, 2 BB, 5 SO) after Chris Sale (3.2 IP, 5 H, R, B, 6 SO) was removed due to right shoulder soreness.

PITCHING IN: Red Sox pitchers have allowed 4 ER or fewer in 12 of their last 14 games, posting a 3.27 ERA and .208 opponent AVG in that span (44 ER/121.0 IP, 94-for-452). Over that 14-game span, beginning 5/16, the Sox own MLB’s 3rd-best opponent AVG and 4th-best ERA. During that span, Sox relievers rank 2nd in MLB in WHIP (0.99) and 3rd in opponent AVG (.178), while Sox starters rank 4th in ERA (3.42) Red Sox starting pitchers have allowed 2 earned runs or fewer in 11 of their last 13 games.

SLUGGING SOX: The Red Sox rank in MLB’s top 5 in runs scored (4th, 293), AVG (4th, .264), OBP (3rd, .333), SLG (5th, .436), OPS (5th, .769), doubles (2nd, 126), and XBH (4th, 195). BOS has hit 2 HR in each of the last 2 games following a season-long streak of 9 games without multiple HR. With RISP, the Sox lead MLB in SO% (18.2) and rank 2nd in AVG (.297) and OBP (.377).

SOX STRIKEOUTS: Red Sox batters have struck out 446 times, 3rd fewest in the AL and 6th fewest in MLB. The Sox struck out 10+ times in each of their 9 games vs. ARI, ATL, and TB (11.4 SO/game) but have done so just 5 times in their other 47 games (7.3 SO/game).

HOME COOKING: The Red Sox are 16-13 at Fenway Park…They’re 3-6 in their last 9 games at the venue, after going 11-3 in their previous 14. The Sox have averaged 10.4 hits per game at home, 0.8 more than the closest team (COL-9.6).

RED SOX IN HOME GAMES
Stat MLB Rank
6.1 R/game 2nd
10.5 H/game 1st
4.1 XBH/game 1st
123 wRC+ 4th
Stat MLB Rank
.296 AVG 1st
.360 OBP 1st
.489 SLG 3rd
.849 OPS 2nd

UPS AND DOWNS: The Red Sox are 16-13 in their last 29 games, beginning 4/29…That span includes the Sox’ 2 longest winning streaks of the season (8 games, 4/29-5/6 and 4 games, 5/15-20) and 2 season-high-tying 4-game losing streaks (5/12-15 and 5/21-24).

TONIGHT’S STARTER: 22 GARRETT WHITLOCK – RHP
W-L ERA G GS IP ER HR BB SO WHIP AVG
2023 2-2 5.14 4 4 21.0 12 5 3 15 1.19 .278
CAREER 14-8 3.02 81 13 172.2 58 21 35 178 1.08 .233

Earned the win on Saturday at ARI (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 SO, HR)…It was his 1st MLB outing since 4/22 at MIL…Was reinstated from the 15-Day IL prior to the game (right elbow ulnar neuritis). Threw a career-high 35 changeups on last Saturday at ARI…In at-bats ending with the pitch, opponents were 2-for-12 with 3 SO. Allowed 5 runs over 5.0 IP in his last start vs. TB on 4/11 (L, 8 H, 5 SO, 3 HR). Has walked only 3 of his 83 batters faced (3.6%)…Ranks in MLB’s 94th percentile in BB%, as well as in the 99th percentile in extension. Among Red Sox pitchers in the Live Ball Era (min. 150.0 IP), ranks 11th in ERA (3.02) and 5th in SO/BB ratio (5.09) behind only Koji Uehara (7.86), Chris Sale (6.25), Pedro Martinez (5.45), and Curt Schilling (5.31).

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