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FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2018 VS. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES RH Aaron Nola vs. LH Blake Snell First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Charlotte County, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: MLB.com Game No: 9 (4-4-0) | vs. AL: 3-4-0 | vs. NL: 1-0-0 | Home: 2-2-0 | Road: 2-2-0 Day 17 of Spring Training | 28 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. PHILADELPHIA Today vs. PHI Guide is now available online at rayspress- No. Player Pos. Avg. HR RBI box.com and mlbpressbox.com…a limited Philadelphia Tampa Bay 39 Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF .250 0 2 number of hard copies are expected to ar- RH Aaron Nola LH Blake Snell 18 Joey Wendle (L) 2B .222 0 1 rive in Port Charlotte soon. RH Drew Hutchison RH Sergio Romo 40 Wilson Ramos C .286 0 0 RH Tommy Hunter RH Daniel Hudson MEDICAL MATTERS—C Nick Ciuffo re- 70 Jake Bauers (L) 1B .143 0 0 RH Drew Anderson RH Alex Colomé ceived seven staples to close an inch-long 45 Jesús Sucre DH .222 1 1 RH Diego Castillo cut on his head after being hit on a back- 75 Joe McCarthy (L) LF .500 1 2 RH Andrew Kittredge swing during yesterday’s game…he passed 17 Jason Coats RF .400 1 1 RH Ian Gibaut MLB’s concussion protocols. 21 Christian Arroyo SS .444 0 0 RH Ryne Stanek 73 Kean Wong (L) 3B .000 0 0 Tomorrow at DET PROPER PITCHING—Rays pitchers have 4 Blake Snell LHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Tampa Bay Detroit yielded 4 runs or fewer in 6 of 8 games so RH Chris Archer RH Jordan Zimmermann far this spring…the Rays rank 7th in the majors with a 3.34 ERA (70-IP, 26-ER), behind the Nationals (1.98), Twins (2.54), Marlins (2.61), Red Sox LH Anthony Banda RH Artie Lewicki (2.92), Astros (3.17) and Brewers (3.17)…they rank 2nd with a .203 opp avg., pct. points behind the Red Sox. RH José De León RH Warwick Saupold Ê RH Sergio Romo, RH Daniel Hudson and RH Alex Colomé are scheduled to make their spring RH Hunter Wood LH Daniel Stumpf debuts today…Hudson was acquired from the Pirates, along with minor league INF Tristan Gray RH Dustin McGowan and cash considerations, on Feb 22 for OF Corey Dickerson…he is one of three players on the Rays LH José Alvarado spring roster who has underwent multiple Tommy John surgeries (Nate Eovaldi, Jonny Venters). LH Adam Kolarek RH Ryan Weber TEST DRIVE FOR TICKETS—The Rays and Don Gargarth’s Charlotte County Ford are teaming up to Sunday at NYY offer two free tickets to a Rays spring training home game to anyone test-driving a vehicle at Charlotte Tampa Bay New York County Ford…the vouchers for two free tickets can be redeemed online or at the Charlotte Sports Park RH Nate Eovaldi TBA box offi ce, and fans may choose from 200 level or berm seating, subject to availability. Relievers TBA SPRING THINGS—This is the Rays 21st spring training and 10th in Charlotte County…over the past 10 years, the Rays have captured three Grapefruit League titles (2008, 2010, 2014) while winning at least 15 RAYS SPRING TRAINING HISTORY games seven times—something they were unable to do in all 10 springs as the Devil Rays (1998–2007). W L T Att. Ê A recent study for USA Today ranked Charlotte Sports Park as the No. 1 spring training destina- 2018 4 4 0 14,349 tion for food-and-drink as well as for family friendliness…the study noted rave reviews of the 2017 12 16 5 81,752 pineapple fried rice, Oreo churros and pork nachos and the ballpark’s “Kid Clubhouse” playground 2016 12 13 2 68,566 and affordable prices…overall, it ranked as the No. 4 spring training destination in Florida. 2015 15 13 2 80,406 2014 16 7 4 78,264 A TIP OF THE CAP—For the split-squad spring opener, the Rays joined the Pirates (at home) and Orioles 2013 15 17 2 90,935 (on the road) in wearing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School baseball caps for both batting practice 2012 10 16 6 87,916 and the games, to pay tribute to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. …the Rays caps from the home 2011 15 14 2 95,859 game have been autographed and are being auctioned off to raise money for the Broward Education 2010 20 8 2 97,971 Foundation…the auction will run at raysbaseball.com/auctions until March 6 at 8 p.m. 2009 15 16 1 103,255 Ê On March 9, the Rays Wives will host the Minnesota Twins Wives in a charity softball game at 2008 18 8 2 54,960 Charlotte Sports Park…the game will begin on the main fi eld approximately 30 minutes after the 2007 10 19 2 79,044 conclusion of the spring game between the Twins and Rays…the game will be played for the Bro- 2006 13 16 1 70,756 ward Education Foundation’s Offi cial Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund…the Rays and the Char- 2005 13 16 0 61,261 lotte Stone Crabs have each committed $5,000 to the Broward Education Foundation…the 50/50 Raffl e at Charlotte Sports Park that day will also benefi t the Broward Education Foundation. 2004 11 8 0 43,916 2003 8 19 3 51,324 VIDEO ON A SILVER PLATTER—A video feed of today’s game will be available, featuring highlights 2002 10 16 1 49,043 and interviews…contact Chris Tilley at [email protected] with questions…the Rays will 2001 12 15 1 57,081 provide a daily postgame video feed of all non-televised spring games, which will include about two 2000 14 17 0 67,089 minutes of highlights plus two short interviews…for day games, video should be uploaded by 5:15 p.m. 1999 14 14 1 59,230 1998 12 18 0 66,781 ON THE AIRWAVES—Today’s game vs. PHI will be broadcast exclusively on MLB.com, with Neil Solon- Totals 269 289 37 1,456,254 dz on the call…infi elder Matt Duffy and bench coach Charlie Montoyo are guests on this weekend’s edition of the Countdown to Opening Day radio show, airing on WDAE 620 AM and the Rays Radio Network at 12:30 p.m. prior to the games on Sat at DET and Sun at NYY. ROSTER MAKEOVER—Of the 32 players on last season’s Opening Day roster or disabled list, only 14 still remain in the organization: pitchers Matt Andriese, Chris Archer, Alex Colomé, Nate Eovaldi, Kevin Gadea (outrighted), Austin Pruitt and Blake Snell, catchers Wilson Ramos and Jesús Sucre, infi elders Matt Duffy, Brad Miller and Daniel Robertson, outfi elders Kevin Kiermaier and Mallex Smith. Ê Only four players remain from the 2015 Opening Day roster or disabled list, which was Kevin Cash’s fi rst game as Rays manager: Andriese, Archer, Colomé and Kiermaier…Archer and Kier- maier are the only players remaining from the 2013 postseason roster (last playoff appearance)… Kiermaier was on the roster for that season’s AL Wild Card Game, but not the ALDS. PRONUNCIATIONS—Willy Adames (ah-DAH-mes), R.J. Alaniz (ah-lah-NIECE), Matt Andriese (ann- 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 Kiermaier (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 Scribner (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) Ê In January, Baseball America ranked the Rays at No. 5 in its annual Player C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH Organizational Talent Rankings of minor league prospects, their high- Adames 21 7 est position since 2013 (No. 4)…the publication’s Top 100 Prospects in- Álvarez 1 Arroyo 12 4 cluded six Rays, a figure topped only by the Atlanta Braves (8). Bauers 18 9 Ê In addition to Baseball America’s rating, the Rays are ranked by MLB. Boldt 4 6 5 com as the No. 4 farm system in baseball, and by ESPN.com at No. 7. Carrillo 8 Chester 4 STAFF SHUFFLING—The coaching staff under Manager Kevin Cash fea- Ciuffo 6 4 Coats 3 15 6 tures only two coaches returning to the same position from 2017: hitting Cron 15 7 coach Chad Mottola and bullpen coach Stan Boroski…new to the staff are Cronenworth 15 third base coach Matt Quatraro, pitching coach Kyle Snyder and first base Duffy 13 coach Ozzie Timmons…in addition, Charlie Montoyo moves from third base Field 13 2 Haley coach to bench coach and Rocco Baldelli moves from first base coach to the Hechavarria 11 newly created role of major league field coordinator.