Press Box Documents › bit.ly/3f0l9jz TAMPA BAY RAYS (9-8) at KANSAS CITY ROYALS (9-6) LH Rich Hill (1-0, 7.53) vs. RH Brad Keller (1-1, 9.58) Tuesday, April 20, 2021 First Pitch: 8:10 p.m. Location: Kauffman Stadium TV: Bally Sports Sun Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM, WGES 680 AM (Sp.) Game No.: 18 (9-8) Road Game No.: 11 (6-4) All-Time Game No.: 3,640 (1735-1904) All-Time Road Game No.: 1,821 (791-1029) PRONUNCIATION GUIDE To hear Rays coaches and players pronouncing their names in their own voices, visit raysbaseball.com/pronunciation. UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHERS & BROADCAST SCHEDULE Upcoming Games Time (ET) Probable Starting Pitchers (Rays vs. Opp.) TV & Radio Wed., 4/21 at KC 8:10 p.m. TBD vs. RH Jakob Junis (1-0, 1.50) Bally Sports Sun, WDAE 95.3 FM/620 AM, WGES 680 AM (Sp.) ROSTER MOVE—The Rays have placed LH Cody Reed (left thumb weak- RELIEF VALVE—The Rays bullpen has a 2.66 ERA (23.2-IP, 7-ER) in the ness) on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 17, and recalled RH Brent Hon- last 5 games and a 3.42 ERA (52.2-IP, 20-ER) in the last 12 games…this 12- eywell Jr. from the alternate training site…Honeywell begins his second game stretch comes after Rays relievers allowed 23 runs (20 ER) in 19 IP stint with the Rays this season, after a 1-day stint on April 11—when he through the first 5 games, and has lowered the bullpen's season ERA from made his major league debut as an opener and retired all 6 BF…his debut 9.47 to 5.02…the 9.47 ERA ranked last in the majors through April 6, but was the first time he faced another team in the regular season or postsea- since April 7 the 3.42 ERA ranks 12th in the majors and 7th in the AL. son since the Triple-A National Championship Game on Sep 19, 2017 vs. Ê Overall, the bullpen's 5.02 ERA (71.2-IP, 40-ER) ranks 26th in the Memphis, going 1,299 days and four elbow surgeries in between. majors and its .267 opp avg. (72-for-270) ranks 26th in the majors. Ê The Rays have allowed 38 runs this season in the 7th inning or RAY MATTER—The Rays have won a season-high four straight games later, most in the majors—eight more than any other club (Marlins, and are over .500 for the first time since the end of play on April 3 (2-1)… 30; Rangers, 30)—and more than half of their total from last season this 4-game winning streak comes on the heels of a 3-game losing streak (62)…Rays relievers have allowed nine of the club's 16 HR…this in- and a 3-8 stretch from April 3-15…a win tonight would give the Rays cludes 4 HR in the 8th inning, 1 HR in the 9th and 1 HR in extras. their longest single-season winning streak since Aug 25-31, 2020 (5)…this Ê The Rays are 7-2 when leading after 7 innings…reg+post, they en- is the second consecutive season the Rays are 9-8 through 17 games, and tered this season having won 63 straight games when leading after in 2020 they went 31-12 (.721) the rest of the way to claim the AL's best 7 innings, which was the longest active streak in the majors. record at 40-20…the Rays were alone in last place in the AL East through the April 8 off day but have since moved into 2nd, 2 GB of the Red Sox. ABOUT THE OFFENSE—Last night was the second time this season the Ê The Rays are 4-0 on this road trip to New York (3-0) and Kansas Rays won without the benefit of a homer, and both wins have come on City (1-0)…the Rays have led after 25 of 36 innings on the trip and the current road trip (Fri at NYY)…since the start of last season, the Rays have trailed at the end of only one inning, with 10 ending in a tie. have won a majors-most 16 times without hitting a homer…since 2020 Ê The Rays are 8-2 when scoring first but 1-6 when their opponent the Rays are 16-9 (.640) in these games, while all other clubs are a com- scores first…the Rays have held a lead in 14 of their 17 games (82.4 bined 204-495 (.292)…the Rays went 14-5 (.737) in homerless games last pct.) but have blown a lead in five of their 8 losses this season. season, the highest winning pct. since the 1906 Cubs went 99-34 (.744). Ê The Rays are 6-4 on the road and have won four straight, and a win Ê The Rays have scored 4 runs (or fewer) 11 times this season, tied for tonight would give them their longest road winning streak since most in the AL…this season their .220 avg. ranks 23rd in the majors Aug 15-31, 2020 (club-record-tying 9)…the Rays are 26-10 (.722) on and 11th in the AL, and their 17 HR are tied for 17th in the majors the road since Aug 10, 2020, best in the majors over that stretch. and tied for 9th in the AL…this comes on the heels of the 2020 post- Ê The end of this series concludes a stretch of games on 13 consecu- season, when the Rays hit 34 HR—the most in a single postseason tive games…this series continues a stretch of 30 games in 31 days. in ML history…34.7 pct. (25 of 72) of their runs this season have come on homers, compared to 67.1 pct. (53 of 79) in the playoffs. COLD SNAP—According to weather.com, the high for tonight's game is Ê The Rays are batting .215 (32-for-149) with RISP, 24th in the ma- 42° and for tomorrow's game is 48°…last night's first-pitch temperature jors…with RISP and 2 out, their .172 avg. (11-for-64) ranks 26th. was 45°, and it dropped into the mid-30's by game's end…for the record, Ê The Rays have had 36 PA this season with a runner on third and the lowest first-pitch temperature in Rays history is 34° on April 17, 2003 less than 2 outs, and that runner has scored 15 times (41.7 pct.), 21st at BOS, a 6-0 loss…the Rays are 30-37 all-time in games with a first pitch in the majors…the major league avg. in those situations is 47.5 pct. at 50°F or colder—but have won six straight—and 8-6 at 40°F or colder. Ê The offense has 36 runs, 52 hits and 9 HR in 6 games against the Yankees and 36 runs, 73 hits and 8 HR in 11 games otherwise. PITCHING PROPERLY—In the last 4 games the Rays have allowed 8 runs, Ê The Rays are 0-3 in extra-inning games and have been outscored, 16 hits and 3 HR (two solo)…the Rays have allowed 5 hits (or fewer) in all 9-2, in five extra frames, which begin with a runner on second. 4 games, tying Sep 2-5, 2011 for the longest such streak in club history… this matches the 2nd-longest streak in the majors this season behind the RAYS vs. ROYALS—The Rays are 88-80 (.524) all-time against the Roy- Indians (6) from April 7-13…it is the longest road streak in franchise his- als (53-36 at home, 35-44 on the road), including 13-3 in the last 16 games tory and longest road streak by an AL team since the 2019 Yankees (4). since Aug 30, 2017…last night marked the sixth straight time the Rays Ê The Rays have allowed 3 runs (or fewer) in four consecutive games won a series opener against them, dating back to August 2017…this is the for the first time (within the same season) since Sep 18-21, 2020 at first series between the two clubs since April 29–May 2, 2019 at Kauff- BAL/NYM (4)…if they do it tonight, it would be their longest such man Stadium (2-2), which included a May 1 doubleheader…the season streak since May 22-30, 2019 (9) and longest road streak since doing series concludes with a 3-game set at Tropicana Field from May 25-27. it in five straight spanning two road trips from May 2-15, 2019. Ê Since 2018, the Rays are 12-3 (.800) against the Royals, their best Ê Rays pitching ranked as low as 28th in the majors with a 5.74 ERA record against any opponent…over that same stretch, the 6-2 (.750) through April 9…since April 10, the Rays have a 3.13 ERA (92-IP, 32- record at Kauffman Stadium is their 2nd-best at any ballpark be- ER) in 10 games, 10th in the majors over that stretch and 6th in the hind a 5-1 mark against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. AL…this has increased their season ERA rank from 28th to 18th. Ê OF Brett Phillips was acquired from the Royals on Aug 27, 2020 Ê The Rays have recorded three shutouts this season, tied with the and went on to deliver one of the biggest hits in franchise history, a White Sox for most in the AL and tied for 3rd in the majors behind 9th-inning RBI single in Game 4 of the World Series vs.