MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014 vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES RH Jake Odorizzi (2-7, 4.85) vs. LH Wei-Yin Chen (7-2, 3.76) First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. | Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla. | TV: Sun Sports | Radio: WDAE 620 AM, WGES 680 AM (Spanish) Game No.: 71 (27-43) | Home Game No.: 35 (14-20) | All-Time Game No.: 2,660 (1,222-1,437) | All-Time Home Game: 1,329 (680-648) March: 1-0 | April: 10-16 | May: 12-17 | June: 4-10 READING WITH THE RAYS—3B Evan Longoria will make his second K’s ARE UP—In his last 7 starts, tonight’s RAYS THRU 70 GAMES, Reading with the Rays appearance tomorrow, June 17 at the St. Petersburg starter RH Jake Odorizzi has 50 SO in 37.1 2008-14 Main Library (3745 9th Ave. N) at noon…media are welcome, but the event IP…his 76 SO rank 2nd among major league Year W-L Pct. Pos GB is not open to the public…he will read to a group of kids, discuss the impor- rookies (NYY Masahiro Tanaka, 103)…has 2014 27-43 .386 5 13.5 tance of reading and encourage them to read over the summer. averaged 10.52 SO/9 IP (65-IP, 76-SO), 2013 36-34 .514 4 7.0 tops among major league rookies (min. 8 2012 38-32 .543 3 4.0 RAYS INVEST IN THE COMMUNITY—Recently the Rays Baseball Foun- starts)…if he had enough innings to qualify 2011 37-33 .529 3 5.5 2010 42-28 .600 2 1.5 dation, the official charity of the Tampa Bay Rays, awarded a total of (currently 5.0 shy) this would rank 3rd in the 2009 36-34 .514 4 6.0 $100,000 to 20 local nonprofit organizations through the Community Fund majors behind WAS Stephen Strasburg 2008 41-29 .586 2 2.0 Grant Program…guests to the luncheon, held at Tropicana Field, had a (10.82) and TEX Yu Darvish (10.65). chance to network with other charities and also participated in a question and answer session with Rays players David DeJesus and Ryan Hanigan BULLPEN BETTER—With the notable exception of RH Grant Balfour’s as well as Senior Vice President of Business Operations Brian Auld, a 5-run 9th inning on June 8 vs. SEA—which he was one strike away from Rays Baseball Foundation board member…to date, the Community Grant escaping unharmed—over the last 9 games the Rays bullpen has totaled Fund Program has awarded more than 169 grants to local charities totaling 26.2 IP, 10 H, 1 R/ER, 7 BB, 29 SO…yesterday LH Jake McGee converted $872,500…the Rays will award a second round of grants from the 2014 his second career save, the other coming on July 11, 2013 vs. MIN. Community Fund Grant in September…applications for those grants are available on raysbaseball.com/community through Aug 1. PITCHING PROPERLY—Rays pitchers rank 2nd in the majors with 597 strikeouts, trailing the Indians (605)…in the month of June, they rank TWITTER TUESDAY—Tomorrow at 2:15 p.m., LH Matt Moore will answer among major league leaders with 140 strikeouts (1st), a 3.32 ERA (8th), questions from fans on the Rays Official Twitter account, @RaysBaseball… .227 opp avg. (5th), .282 opp OBP (3rd) and .333 opp SLG (4th)…Rays fans can submit questions in advance or live using #AskMattyMoe. starting pitchers have allowed 3 ER or fewer in 7 consecutive games. HONORING MR. PADRE—The Rays will observe a moment of silence for DP DEFICIT—The Rays defense has turned only 37 DPs, fewest in Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who passed away today at the age of 54. baseball, while league-leading Baltimore has 83…meanwhile Rays have grounded into 63 DPs, tied for 3rd most in the majors. RAY MATTER—The Rays won yesterday’s rubber match in Houston, 4-3, winning their first series since May 23-25 vs. BOS (3-game sweep) and BASES-LOADED WALK—Yesterday SS Yunel Escobar coaxed a bases- their first series on the road since May 12-14 at SEA (2 of 3)…the Rays loaded walk in the 2nd…it was the team’s 101st since becoming the Rays have won 3 of their last 4 games after losing 14 of 15 prior to that…today in 2008, 18 more than any other team (Yankees, 83). the Rays continue a stretch in which they play 18 of 21 games at Tropicana Field, opening a 10-game homestand vs. Baltimore (3 games), Houston (4) ABOUT THE OFFENSE—The Rays have scored 19 runs over the past 4 and Pittsburgh (3)…the Pirates come to Tropicana Field for just the second games, on the heels of being shut out in 3 straight games for the first time in time—the first coming 11 years ago. club history and first time by an AL team since the 2004 Royals…the Rays Ê The Rays are 21-13 (.618) when their starting pitcher goes 6 IP or have collected 34 extra-base hits (24-2B, 3-3B, 7-HR) in their last 11 games more, compared to 6-30 (.167) when the starter fails to do so. including 11 in Houston (8-2B, 2-3B, 1-HR). Ê The Rays are 10-9 in one-run games. Ê The Rays have averaged 3.64 runs per game (255-R, 70-G) this sea- Ê Manager Joe Maddon has used the same 1-through-7 in the batting son, fewest in the AL…they’ve scored 44 percent more runs at home order for 7 straight games…from Wednesday through Saturday, he (4.32 R/G) than on the road (3.0 R/G). used the same full lineup for 3 consecutive games, the first time he’d Ê The Rays have been shut out 10 times this season, most in the done that since Aug 21-23, 2010 at OAK/LAA. AL and one shy of San Diego for most in the majors…they have Ê This season the Rays have allowed 3 or more runs in an inning 42 been shut out 5 times in 14 games in the month of June…they were times, tied with Texas for most in the majors. blanked only 8 times in all of 2013. RAYS vs. ORIOLES—The Rays are 0-5 vs. Baltimore this season, their FOREIGN SOIL—The Rays have held the majors’ worst record for the past longest losing streak to the Orioles to begin the season series (prev. 4 in 12 days, now 2.0 GB of Arizona (30-42)…prior to this, they’d spent only 2000)…the O’s swept a 3-game series here, May 6-8, and swept a 2-game one day with the majors’ worst record outright since becoming the Rays in set (rainout in the middle) April 14-16…overall, they’ve had only three lon- 2008—when they were 1-8 through April 10, 2011…the Rays are attempting ger skids vs. BAL in club history: 8 games in 2007, 6 in 2006 and 6 in to become the first team in major league history to recover from 18 games 1999–2000…in 2013, the Rays won 11 of their last 13 meetings and went under .500 to reach the postseason…the closest any team has come was 13-6 in the season series, their 2nd-best mark ever vs. Baltimore (15-3 in a century ago, when the Boston Braves were 16 games under .500 at 12- 2008)…the Rays are 66-47 since the start of 2008 while the all-time series 28 through June 8, 1914…they went 82-31 (.726) from that point forward is tied, 141-141…next time these clubs meet is a 4-game set June 27-29 at to finish 94-59, then swept the Philadelphia A’s in the World Series (4-0). BAL, with a day-night DH the first day to make up for the April 15 rainout. SPLINTERING SANDS—Yesterday pinch-hitter Jerry Sands delivered the OPTIMUS PRICE—Yesterday in LH David Price tallied 10 SO and no walks go-ahead hit, with his RBI single in the 8th inning breaking a 3-3 tie…Sands over 8 IP and recorded his first win since May 13 at SEA…he now leads broke 3 bats during the at-bat…it was the first go-ahead hit of his career… the majors in innings pitched (107.2), strikeouts (121), double-digit strikeout he is 2-for-5 with 2 RBI as a pinch-hitter. games (6), SO/BB ratio (12.1) and BB/9 IP ratio (0.84)…Price is on pace for a club-record 280 SO, a mark not reached since ARI Randy Johnson KEVIN KIERMAIER—Rookie has started 12 straight games, the last 7 in in 2004 (290)…his 12.1 SO/BB ratio has never been sustained over a full the 2-hole…has hit .341/.420/.659 (15-for-44) with 10 extra-base hits (7-2B, season; NYM Bret Saberhagen holds the record of 11.0 in 1994 (143/13). 2-3B, 1-HR) in these 12 games…through 22 career games he has 12 extra- Ê It was Price’s 20th career game of 10-plus SO, breaking James base hits, tied with Delmon Young (2007) for most in Rays history…since Shields’ club record…it was his 6th this season, tying the club record May 18 he has 5 more extra-base hits (12) than any other Rays player—de- and his career high (Price 2011, Shields 2012, Scott Kazmir 2007).