TAMPA, Fla. – After being swept in a three-game series in Arlington where they have now lost nine straight, the Rays begin a 13-game homestand against the Angels on Tuesday evening.
The lengthy dose of home cooking, which will give the Rays 19 out of 22 games at Steinbrenner Field to begin the season, is the result of a front-loaded schedule designed to avoid inevitable weather concerns during the summer months. Of course, the temporary tenant needs to take advantage of such a slate.
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Following the Angels’ three-game visit, the Braves are in Tampa for a three-game weekend series. The Red Sox (three games) and Yankees (four), who have played their Grapefruit League games at the corner of Dale Mabry and Martin Luther King Blvd. since 1996, provide a divisional flavor for the final seven games of the homestand.
While the starting pitching was superb in taking two of three from both the Rockies and Pirates to open the season, it certainly was not bad in Arlington where the Rangers had two big innings: a four-run fourth against Zack Littell in the series opener and four-run first on Saturday against Taj Bradley.
The Rays (4-5) came back to tie Saturday’s game, though they scored only nine runs in the series and have crossed the plate 11 times in the past four games.
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While hitting a respectable .256 as a team, a couple of the big bats will need to heat up on the homestand. Yandy Diaz is just 6-for-38 (.158) through nine games and Junior Caminero has only one extra-base hit (double) and two RBI in the eight games he has played. Something that plagued the Rays last season was the lack of production from the catchers. So far this season free-agent signing Danny Jansen and Ben Rortvedt are a combined 1-for-29.
Shane Baz, who threw six shutout innings in picking up the win against the Pirates last Tuesday, makes his second start for the Rays on Tuesday night against the Angels’ Kyle Hendricks.
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