Vs. ATLANTA BRAVES (19-14) LH Blake Snell (4-1, 2.55) Vs
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TAMPA BAY RAYS (15-17) vs. ATLANTA BRAVES (19-14) LH Blake Snell (4-1, 2.55) vs. LH Sean Newcomb (2-1, 3.38) Tuesday, May 8, 2018 First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. Location: Tropicana Field TV: FOX Sports Sun Radio: WDAE 620 AM, WGES 680 AM (Sp.) Game No.: 33 (15-17) Home Game No.: 17 (8-8) All-Time Game No.: 3,271 (1515-1755) All-Time Home Game No.: 1,638 (830-807) UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHERS & BROADCAST SCHEDULE Upcoming Games Time (ET) Probable Starting Pitchers (Rays vs. Opp.) TV & Radio Wed., 5/9 vs. ATL 7:10 p.m. TBD vs. RH Julio Teheran (2-1, 3.65) FOX Sports Sun, WDAE 620 AM, WGES 680 AM (Sp.) COMMUNITY CORNER—Before every Tuesday home game, the Rays another postseason team from last host a youngster from the Make-A-Wish Foundation or Children’s Dream year until May 22-24 vs. BOS…so far AL EAST STANDINGS, SEASON Fund as a part of the “Tuesday’s Champion” program…for today’s game this season, the Rays are 6-9 (.400) Boston 25-9 (.735) -- against the Braves, the Rays welcome 11-year-old Christopher Shoup Jr. against teams that made last year’s New York 24-10 (.706) 1.0 from the Children’s Dream Fund…as part of his special day, Christopher playoffs and 9-8 (.529) against teams Toronto 19-16 (.543) 6.5 will meet Rays players and coaches and throw a ceremonial first pitch. that missed the postseason. Tampa Bay 15-17 (.469) 9.0 Ê This morning, RH Chris Archer, Rays front office staff and Good Ê Yesterday was the Rays sec- Baltimore 8-26 (.235) 17.0 Sports staff joined athletes, coaches and staff from Middleton High ond of three off-days in a AL EAST STANDINGS, THRU 4/17 School in Tampa, and donated brand-new baseball and softball stretch of 8 days…following Boston 14-2 (.875) -- equipment…the donation, valued at more than $42,000, included Thursday’s off-day, the Rays Toronto 11-5 (.688) 3.0 cleats, baseball and softball bats, fielding gloves, batting gloves, will play 40 games in 41 days New York 8-8 (.500) 6.0 helmets and more…this is the fifth year the Rays, Good Sports and (two off-days plus a double- Baltimore 5-12 (.294) 9.5 Archer have partnered to support youth in the Tampa Bay area. header on May 12 at BAL). Tampa Bay 4-13 (.235) 10.5 RAY MATTER—The Rays are 2-3 over their last 5 games, including a 2-1 CLOSE SHAVES—Five of the Rays AL EAST STANDINGS, SINCE 4/18 loss on Sun vs. TOR to snap a 6-game home winning streak…they failed last 7 games have been decided New York 16-2 (.889) -- to record their third sweep of the season, and they missed a chance to by 1-run margins…the Rays have Tampa Bay 11-4 (.733) 3.5 return to .500 for the first time since they were 1-1…it was their fourth played a majors-most 16 games de- Boston 11-7 (.611) 5.0 consecutive loss when a win would have brought them back to .500. cided by 1 run, the most by an AL Toronto 8-11 (.421) 8.5 Ê The Rays are 11-4 over their last 15 games, which included an team within their first 32 games of Baltimore 3-14 (.176) 12.5 8-game winning streak to tie for the 3rd-longest in franchise his- the season since the 2005 White Sox tory…over this 15-game stretch, the Rays have a plus-32 run differ- (16)…put another way, 50.0 pct. of ential (84-52) and have outhit opponents, 155-118 (+37). the Rays games this season have been decided by 1 run, compared to 29.3 Ê The Rays have scored 5 runs or more in 8 games over this 15-game pct. of games in the majors this season…the Rays are 5-11 (.313) in 1-run stretch, and are 8-0 when doing so…they have scored 6 runs or games, the 6th-lowest winning pct. in the majors…they are the first team more in 7 games and 8 runs or more in 6 games…they have reached in the majors with at least 11 one-run losses within the first 32 games of double-digit hits in 9 games over this 15-game stretch. the season since the 2006 Braves (11), and the first AL team since the 1989 Blue Jays (11)…since 2016, the Rays are 39-62 (.386) in 1-run games, 3rd- THRU APRIL 17 & SINCE APRIL 18 WITH MLB RANKS worst winning pct. in the majors and 2nd-worst in the AL over that span. THRU 4/17 MLB RANK SINCE 4/18 MLB RANK Ê Strangely, with Sunday’s 2-1 loss vs. TOR, the Rays are 4-6 (.400) Record 4-13 28th 11-4 2nd when yielding 2 runs or fewer this season…the rest of the majors is Home Record 2-7 26th 6-1 T-2nd a combined 273-48 (.850) when doing so. Road Record 2-6 29th 5-3 9th Run Differential -34 27th +32 3rd ROAMING BUFFALO—On Sun vs. TOR, Wilson Ramos singled in the Hit Differential -15 26th +37 2nd 2nd inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games…his streak is: Batting Avg. .232 19th .295 1st Ê the longest active streak in the major leagues Avg. with RISP .239 16th .313 2nd Ê tied with June 9–July 11, 2014 for the 2nd-longest of his career be- On-Base Pct. .313 17th .358 1st hind April 24–May 19, 2015 (19, with the Nationals) Starter ERA 5.13 24th 2.87 4th Ê the longest by a Ray since James Loney (16) from June 19–July 5, Reliever ERA 4.67 25th 4.31 14th 2013…the club record is held by Jason Bartlett (19) in 2009 Ê Upon further review, his hitting streak is the longest in franchise SERIES-LY SPEAKING—The Rays are 5-1-0 over their last 6 series, com- history among catchers…from Aug 7-28, 2001, Toby Hall hit safely pared to 1-4-0 in their first 5 series…they have won the opening game of in 14 consecutive games as a catcher, but went 0-for-1 in appear- their last 6 series, and are 8-3 in series openers this season…the Braves ances as a pinch-hitter on Aug 18 at MIN and Aug 26 vs. CWS enter this series leading the NL East at 19-14, a half-game ahead of the Phillies (19-15)…the Rays are 5-1 in their last 6 games against teams that SNELL-ZILLA—Tonight’s starter Blake Snell has won four consecutive de- entered a series in first place in their division, having swept the Twins cisions spanning 5 starts, matching the longest winning streak of his ca- from April 20-22 and going 2-1 at Fenway Park from April 27-29. reer…he has allowed 5 hits or fewer in a club-record 11 consecutive starts since Sep 12, 2017…he is averaging a career-high 95.1 mph on his fastball, RAYS vs. BRAVES—This is the first meeting between the clubs since Aug 2nd among major league left-handed starters behind SEA James Paxton 11-12, 2015 at Tropicana Field…the Rays are 10-18 (.357) all-time, their (95.5)…his 0.95 ERA (19-IP, 2-ER) at home ranks 3rd in the majors and 2nd 2nd-worst winning pct. against any opponent (Reds, .333)…they are 6-11 in the AL behind OAK Sean Manaea (0.73)…he hasn’t allowed more than at home and 4-7 on the road, and have won only one of six series between 1 run in any of his 3 starts at home this season, and has only allowed 2 the clubs here…the Rays will go to Atlanta for a 2-game series from Aug runs in his last 37 IP here dating back to the end of last season. 28-29, which will be their first time ever playing at SunTrust Park. Ê The Braves (.274) and Rays (.262) rank 1st and 3rd in the majors in MEDICAL MATTERS—RH Nathan Eovaldi (loose bodies in right elbow) batting avg., with the Red Sox (.269) in between…this series will is scheduled for 2 IP or 35 pitches in a rehab start tomorrow for Class-A mark the seventh and eighth times in an 11-game stretch the Rays Charlotte at Fort Myers (Twins). will face a Top 5 team in hitting (also Red Sox, Tigers). MINOR MATTERS—Class-A Bowling Green has won nine consecutive INTERLEAGUE INTRIGUE—Tonight is the Rays fourth of 20 interleague games, tying the longest winning streak in franchise history…they will games this season…they were swept by the Phillies from April 13-15 at go for a club-record 10th straight win tonight vs. Peoria (Cardinals). home, the first time they were swept in an interleague series since June Ê Triple-A Durham won, 4-1, yesterday over Norfolk (Orioles)… 17-19, 2016 vs. SF…they went 11-9 in interleague play last season and have Christian Arroyo, acquired from the Giants in the trade for Evan only one losing interleague record in 10 seasons of the “Rays” era (7-11 in Longoria, hit the first grand slam of his professional career, and 2010)…they are 110-83 (.570) since 2008—5th-best in the majors behind Anthony Banda, acquired from the Diamondbacks as part of the the Red Sox (.646), Rangers (.600), Yankees (.594) and Angels (.575)—and three-team trade for Steven Souza Jr., did not allow a run in 6.2 IP.