THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018 VS. BALTIMORE ORIOLES LH Nestor Cortes, Jr. vs. RH Jake Faria First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Charlotte County, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: MLB.com Game No: 8 (4-3-0) | vs. AL: 3-3-0 | vs. NL: 1-0-0 | Home: 2-1-0 | Road: 2-2-0 Day 16 of Spring Training | 29 Days Until Opening Day—Thursday, March 29 vs. Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field (4:00 p.m.) UPCOMING PROBABLES ON THE WEB—The 2018 Rays Media STARTING LINEUP vs. BALTIMORE Today vs. BAL Guide will be available online at rayspress- No. Player Pos. Avg. HR RBI box.com and mlbpressbox.com by the end Baltimore Tampa Bay 2 Denard Span (L) CF .500 0 2 of the day today…a limited number of LH Nestor Cortes Jr. RH Jake Faria 0 Mallex Smith (L) LF .111 0 0 hard copies are expected to arrive soon. RH Perci Garner RH Evan Scribner 44 C.J. Cron 1B .333 1 2 RH Jeff Ferrell RH Chih-Wei Hu PROPER PITCHING—Rays pitchers yield- 70 Jake Bauers (L) DH .000 0 0 RH Jesus Liranzo LH Dan Jennings ed only 2 hits in yesterday’s win at MIN… 29 Brandon Snyder 3B .143 0 1 RH Tim Melville RH Jaime Schultz they have allowed more than 4 runs only 45 Jesús Sucre C .143 0 0 LH Joely Rodriguez LH Jonny Venters once through 7 games this spring: Sun at 14 Ryan Schimpf (L) RF .000 0 0 RH Jose Mesa Jr. RH R.J. Alaniz MIN (5-4 loss)…the Rays rank 6th in the 28 Daniel Robertson 2B .143 0 0 LH Kyle Bird majors with a 3.10 ERA (61-IP, 21-ER), be- 1 Willy Adames SS .375 1 4 RH Cody Hall hind the Nationals (1.98), Red Sox (2.00), 34 Jake Faria RHP (0-1, 40.50 ERA) RH Edwin Fierro Twins (2.61), Marlins (2.72) and Astros Tomorrow vs. PHI (2.90)…they rank 3rd with a .211 opp avg. Philadelphia Tampa Bay behind the Red Sox (.196) and Nationals (.209). RH Aaron Nola LH Blake Snell TEST DRIVE FOR TICKETS—The Rays and Don Gargarth’s Charlotte County Ford are teaming up to RH Drew Hutchison LH Blake Snell offer two free tickets to a Rays spring training home game to anyone test-driving a vehicle at Charlotte RH Tommy Hunter RH Sergio Romo County Ford…the vouchers for two free tickets can be redeemed online or at the Charlotte Sports Park RH Drew Anderson RH Daniel Hudson box offi ce, and fans my choose from 200 level or berm seating, subject to availability. RH Alex Colomé RH Diego Castillo SPRING THINGS—This is the Rays 21st spring training and 10th in Charlotte County…over the past 10 RH Andrew Kittredge years, the Rays have captured three Grapefruit League titles (2008, 2010, 2014) while winning at least 15 RH Ian Gibaut games seven times—something they were unable to do in all 10 springs as the Devil Rays (1998–2007). RH Ryne Stanek Ê A recent study for USA Today ranked Charlotte Sports Park as the No. 1 spring training destina- Saturday at DET tion for food-and-drink as well as for family friendliness…the study noted rave reviews of the Tampa Bay Detroit pineapple fried rice, Oreo churros and pork nachos and the ballpark’s “Kid Clubhouse” playground RH Chris Archer RH Jordan Zimmermann and affordable prices…overall, it ranked as the No. 4 spring training destination in Florida. LH Anthony Banda RH Artie Lewicki A TIP OF THE CAP—For the split-squad spring opener, the Rays joined the Pirates (at home) and Orioles RH José De León RH Warwick Saupold (on the road) in wearing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School baseball caps for both batting practice RH Hunter Wood LH Daniel Stumpf and the games, to pay tribute to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. …the Rays caps from the home RH Dustin McGowan game have been autographed and are being auctioned off to raise money for the Broward Education LH José Alvarado Foundation…the auction will run at raysbaseball.com/auctions until March 6 at 8 p.m. LH Adam Kolarek Ê On March 9, the Rays Wives will host the Minnesota Twins Wives in a charity softball game at RH Ryan Weber Charlotte Sports Park…the game will begin on the main fi eld approximately 30 minutes after the Sunday at NYY conclusion of the spring game between the Twins and Rays…the game will be played for the Bro- Tampa Bay New York ward Education Foundation’s Offi cial Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund…the Rays and the Char- RH Nate Eovaldi TBA lotte Stone Crabs have each committed $5,000 to the Broward Education Foundation…the 50/50 Relievers TBA Raffl e at Charlotte Sports Park that day will also benefi t the Broward Education Foundation. RAYS SPRING TRAINING HISTORY VIDEO ON A SILVER PLATTER—A video feed of today’s game will be available, featuring highlights W L T Att. and interviews…contact Chris Tilley at [email protected] with questions…the Rays will 2018 4 3 0 11,530 provide a daily postgame video feed of all non-televised spring games, which will include about two 2017 12 16 5 81,752 minutes of highlights plus two short interviews…for day games, video should be uploaded by 5:15 p.m. 2016 12 13 2 68,566 ON THE AIRWAVES—Today’s game vs. BAL will be broadcast exclusively on MLB.com, with Neil Solon- 2015 15 13 2 80,406 dz and Toby Hall on the call…fans can meet Toby Hall at the mobile WDAE 620 AM studio (third base 2014 16 7 4 78,264 side) starting at noon…infi elder Matt Duffy and bench coach Charlie Montoyo are guests on this week- 2013 15 17 2 90,935 end’s edition of the Countdown to Opening Day radio show, which returns this weekend on WDAE 620 2012 10 16 6 87,916 AM and the Rays Radio Network at 12:30 p.m. prior to the games on Sat at DET and Sun at NYY. 2011 15 14 2 95,859 2010 20 8 2 97,971 ROSTER MAKEOVER—Of the 32 players on last season’s Opening Day roster or disabled list, only 14 still 2009 15 16 1 103,255 remain in the organization: pitchers Matt Andriese, Chris Archer, Alex Colomé, Nate Eovaldi, Kevin 2008 18 8 2 54,960 Gadea (outrighted), Austin Pruitt and Blake Snell, catchers Wilson Ramos and Jesús Sucre, infi elders 2007 10 19 2 79,044 Matt Duffy, Brad Miller and Daniel Robertson, outfi elders Kevin Kiermaier and Mallex Smith. 2006 13 16 1 70,756 Ê Only four players remain from the 2015 Opening Day roster or disabled list, which was Kevin 2005 13 16 0 61,261 Cash’s fi rst game as Rays manager: Andriese, Archer, Colomé and Kiermaier…Archer and Kier- 2004 11 8 0 43,916 maier are the only players remaining from the 2013 postseason roster (last playoff appearance)… 2003 8 19 3 51,324 Kiermaier was on the roster for that season’s AL Wild Card Game, but not the ALDS. 2002 10 16 1 49,043 Ê In January, Baseball America ranked the Rays at No. 5 in its annual Organizational Talent Rank- ings of minor league prospects, their highest position since 2013 (No. 4)…this rating came before 2001 12 15 1 57,081 the February acquisitions of SS Jermaine Palacios, LH Anthony Banda and 2B Nick Solak…the 2000 14 17 0 67,089 1999 14 14 1 59,230 1998 12 18 0 66,781 PRONUNCIATIONS—Willy Adames (ah-DAH-mes), R.J. Alaniz (ah-lah-NIECE), Matt Andriese (ann- Totals 269 288 37 1,453,435 DREESE), Christian Arroyo (ah-ROY-yoh), Anthony Banda (BAHN-da), Jake Bauers (BOW-ers), Xorge Carrillo (HOR-hay cah-REE-yo), Yonny Chirinos (chih-REE-nos), Nick Ciuffo (SHOO-fo), Alex Colomé (COLE-uh-may), C.J. Cron (krohn), Nate Eovaldi (ee-VAUL-dee), Jake Faria (fuh-REE-uh), Ian Gibaut (jih-BOH), Adeiny Hechavarria (etch-ah-vah-REE-yah), Chih-Wei Hu (CHEE-way HOO), Kevin Ki- ermaier (KEER-my-er), Adam Kolarek (koh-LAIR-ick), Brandon Lowe (rhymes with “now”), Nathan Lukes (LOO-kis), Johnny Monell (mo-NELL), José Mujica (moo-HEE-kah), Vidal Nuño (vee-DAHL NOON-yoh), Wilson Ramos (RAH-mos), Dan Runzler (RUHNZ-ler), Ryan Schimpf (shimf), Evan Scrib- ner (SKRIB-ner), Nick Solak (SO-lack), Ryne Stanek (STAN-ik), Jesús Sucre (heh-SOOS SUE-cray), Ryan Yarbrough (YAHR-bro) 2018 SPRING INNINGS PLAYED (“A” GAMES) publication’s Top 100 Prospects included six Rays, a figure topped only Player C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH by the Atlanta Braves (8)…three of Baseball America’s Top 50 prospects Adames 14 7 will spend the spring in major league camp: RH Brent Honeywell (No. Álvarez 1 Arroyo 12 4 14), SS Willy Adames (No. 16) and 1B/OF Jake Bauers (No. 45). Bauers 18 Boldt 4 6 5 STAFF SHUFFLING—The coaching staff under Manager Kevin Cash fea- Carrillo 8 tures only two coaches returning to the same position from 2017: hitting Chester 4 coach Chad Mottola and bullpen coach Stan Boroski…new to the staff are Ciuffo 5 4 third base coach Matt Quatraro, pitching coach Kyle Snyder and first base Coats 15 6 Cron 9 7 coach Ozzie Timmons…in addition, Charlie Montoyo moves from third base Cronenworth 13 coach to bench coach and Rocco Baldelli moves from first base coach to the Duffy 13 newly created role of major league field coordinator.