FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 2017 vs. MILWAUKEE BREWERS RH Jake Faria (5-1, 2.93) vs. RH Brandon Woodruff (M.L. Debut) First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. | Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla. | TV: Fox Sports Sun | Radio: WDAE 620 AM, WGES 680 AM (Sp.) Game No.: 111 (57-53) | Home Game No.: 53 (29-23) | All-Time Game No.: 3,187 (1,477-1,709) | All-Time Home Game No.: 1,593 (809-783) April: 12-14 | May: 17-13 | June: 13-13 | July: 12-13 | August: 3-0 | Pre-All-Star: 47-43 | Post-All-Star: 10-10 ROSTER MOVES—The Rays have activated INF Daniel Robertson (neck Buchanan)…others to debut in a start vs. the Rays include SEA James spasms) from the 10-day DL and recalled LH José Alvarado from Triple- Paxton, DET Drew Smyly, BAL Zach Britton, TOR Roy Halladay and A Durham…to make room on the active roster, they optioned INF Taylor NYY Orlando Hernández. Featherston and LH Blake Snell to Durham…the Rays have seven play- ers on the active roster for tonight’s game who were not on the active ros- EVAN CHANNELING EDDIE—Now in his MOST HOME RUNS ter when they left town for the road trip nine days ago: LH Dan Jennings 10th season, Evan Longoria has 606 career WITH CURRENT TEAM (trade), 1B Lucas Duda (trade), RH Steve Cishek (trade), RH Austin extra-base hits and 330 doubles…in major Miguel Cabrera, DET 321 Pruitt (recall), RH Ryne Stanek (recall), Robertson and Alvarado. league history, only two third basemen (min. Ryan Braun, MIL 297 half of games at 3B) have recorded as many José Bautista, TOR 281 THE HOMESTAND—Tonight the Rays open a 9-game, 10-day homestand XBH or doubles in their first 10 seasons (see Evan Longoria, TB 258 against the Brewers (3 games), AL East-leading Red Sox (2) and AL Cen- chart)…he also ranks 6th on this list with 258 Joey Votto, CIN 248 tral-leading Indians (4)…tonight is the first game the Rays have hosted in HR (Dick Allen ranks 5th with 271), and ranks August or later while this close to first place (3.5 GB) since Aug 29, 2013 8th with 871 RBI (David Wright ranks 7th with 876). vs. LAA, when they were 2.5 GB of first-place Boston entering the game First 10 Major League Seasons, Third Basemen, All-Time Ê Tomorrow is Superhero Night, and the first 15,000 fans will receive Extra-Base Hits Doubles a Rays MARVEL® Iron Man Bobblehead presented by Crown Auto- Eddie Mathews, BOS/MIL 648 Wade Boggs, BOS 400 motive Group…on Sunday, kids 14 and under will receive a pair of Chipper Jones, ATL 611 David Wright, NYM 345 Rays Swim Goggles presented by 7-Eleven…all promotional items Evan Longoria, TB 606 Evan Longoria, TB 330 are available while supplies last. SOUZA CHANNELING BIG BOPPER—RF Steven Souza Jr. returned to the lineup yesterday after missing 2 games with a left foot contusion, and RAY MATTER—Yesterday the Rays A.L. EAST STANDINGS beat the Astros, 5-3, to win 3 of 4 games hit a solo homer in the 6th inning and a go-ahead, 2-run double in the 7th… Boston 60-49 .550 -- from the AL’s best team and claim the all 23 HR have come vs. RHP, which according to the Elias Sports Bureau New York 57-50 .533 -2.0 makes him the first right-handed batter to hit his first 23 HR of a season off season series, 4-3…they became only Tampa Bay 57-53 .518 -3.5 RHP since HOU (1972), who just passed away on Saturday… the second team to beat Houston in 3 Baltimore 53-54 .491 -6.5 Lee May straight games this year, joining Cleve- Toronto 51-57 .472 -8.5 May’s first 24 HR that season came against RHP…no RH hitter since data is available (1913) has finished a season with at least 23 HR, all coming off land (5 straight)…they began the road A.L. WILD CARD STANDINGS trip losing the first 3 games in New York, a RHP; NYM Jeff Kent holds the record with 21 in 1993. New York 57-50 .533 +1.0 but won 4 of the last 5 games to finish Ê Souza has established career highs with 23 HR, 68 RBI, 18 2B, 56 BB Kansas City 56-51 .523 -- and 61 runs scored…he has 20 multi-RBI games this year, compared 4-4 (1-3 at NYY, 3-1 at HOU)…the Rays Tampa Bay 57-53 .518 -0.5 to 18 in 251 games entering the season…in 27 games since June 30, overcame a 3-1 deficit in last night’s Seattle 55-55 .500 -2.5 win, and trailed 3-2 after 6 innings… Los Angeles 54-55 .495 -3.0 he is batting .305/.400/.653 (27-for-91) with 21 runs scored, 6 2B, 9 it was their 28th comeback win of the HR, 19 RBI, 13 BB and 5 SB…during this span ranks T-4th in the AL in season, and 7th win when trailing after 6 home runs, and 2nd in the AL in SLG behind HOU José Altuve (.702). innings…yesterday the Rays gained a game on the Yankees in the AL East and for the top Wild Card spot (1.5 GB), and they have now gained 3 games POWER PLAY—The Rays and Brewers are tied for 4th in the majors with on NYY over the past 3 days…they remained 0.5 GB of Kansas City for the 159 HR, trailing Houston (175), Texas (167) and Washington (160)…the second Wild Card berth and 3.5 GB of first-place Boston in the AL East… Rays are on pace for a club-record 234 HR (216 in 2016)…their 159 HR are prior to winning the last 3 games, they had lost 9 of 12. a club record through 110 games (prev. 144 in 2016) and their 505 runs are Ê This is the Rays best record through 110 games since 2013 (65-45)…it their most since 2010 (555)…the Rays lead the majors with a club-record is a 12-win improvement over 2016, when they were 20 games under 12 back-to-back home runs, ahead of the Royals and Nationals (9)…there .500 (45-65) and 18.0 GB in the AL East. are 48 players in baseball who have hit at least 20 HR this season, and the Ê The Rays are 15-5-4 over their last 24 series, since May 12-14 at BOS. Rays are the only team with four of them on their roster (Logan Morrison, Ê The Rays have outscored opponents 333-254 (+79) in innings 1-thru- Steven Souza Jr., Corey Dickerson, Lucas Duda). 5, but have been outscored 243-171 after that (-72). COREY DICKERSON—Went 3-for-5 yesterday, his 40th multi-hit game, GUT CHECK—Between the just-completed road trip and this homestand, 2nd in the AL to HOU José Altuve (43)…only two Rays players have the Rays are playing a stretch of 17 games against five opponents in playoff reached 40 multi-hit games faster than Dickerson (Game 110): Carl Craw- contention: the Brewers and the AL’s four best teams by winning pct. (Yan- ford (102 in 2009, 110 in 2006, 109 in 2005, 108 in 2004) and Fred McGriff kees, Astros, Red Sox, Indians)…they are 4-4 thus far…the Rays are 6-8 (109 in 1999)…Dickerson ranks among AL leaders in hits (128, 4th), extra- so far in their stretch of 17 games in 17 days (July 21–Aug 6) and 30 games base hits (51, 5th), total bases (224, T-4th) and runs scored (68, T-7th). in 31 days (through Aug 20). Ê The Rays still have games remaining against every team they trail in LUCAS DUDA—Has a 7-game on-base streak since joining the Rays, the the AL East and Wild Card race: BOS (8 games), NYY (6) and KC (3). longest streak to begin a Rays career since 2008, when Willy Aybar (8) and Cliff Floyd (7) both did it…Duda is batting .300/.464/.800 (6-for-20) for the RAYS vs. BREWERS & INTERLEAGUE—The Rays are 6-3 all-time Rays with 1 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 6 BB and 7 runs scored. against Milwaukee (4-2 home, 2-1 road), winning 2 of 3 games in all three previous meetings…this marks the Brew Crew’s third visit to Tropicana WHAT A RELIEF—Last night the Rays bullpen combined for 5 scoreless Field, and first since July 28-30, 2014…in the series finale, LHDavid Price innings…over the last 3 games (all wins), the Rays bullpen has hurled 10.2 made his last start in a Rays uniform and suffered a 5-0 loss to RH Yovani scoreless innings (3-H, 3-BB, 7-SO)…over the team’s last 5 wins, the Rays Gallardo, then was traded to Detroit in a three-team deal the next day…the bullpen has totaled 17.2 scoreless innings (6-H, 5-BB, 13-SO)…RH Tom- Rays only visit to Milwaukee came June 20-22, 2011. my Hunter has retired his last 16 BF…RH Brad Boxberger threw 2 perfect Ê The Rays are 7-5 in interleague play this season (3-2 home, 4-3 innings last night, his longest outing in almost three years (Aug 10, 2014 road)…the Rays have won 11 of their last 16 interleague games… at CHC, 2.0), and matching his longest as a Ray (8th time)…RH Steve Rays are 180-180 all-time in interleague play and 106-76 (.582) in Cishek has thrown 4.2 scoreless innings (1-H, 1-BB, 5-SO) since being the Rays era (since 2008), 4th best in the majors behind the Red acquired from Seattle on Friday.