MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018 vs. TORONTO BLUE JAYS RH Chris Archer vs. LH Ryan Borucki First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Charlotte County, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: MLB.com Game No: 5 (2-2-0) | vs. AL: 1-2-0 | vs. NL: 1-0-0 | Home: 1-0-0 | Road: 1-2-0 Day 13 of Spring Training | 32 Days Until Opening Day—Thursday, March 29 vs. Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field (4:00 p.m.) UPCOMING PROBABLES 20 YEARS AGO—On Feb 26, 1998, the fi rst STARTING LINEUP vs. TORONTO Today vs. TOR spring training game involving Rays ma- No. Player Pos. Avg. HR RBI jor leaguers took place…the Rays defeated Toronto Tampa Bay 5 Matt Duffy 3B .400 0 1 Florida State University at Al Lang Sta- LH Ryan Borucki RH Chris Archer 17 Jason Coats RF .400 0 0 dium in St. Petersburg…the Rays used 30 RH Al Alburquerque RH José De León 44 C.J. Cron DH .667 1 1 players in the win and rallied from a 3-1 LH Craig Breslow RH Ryan Weber defi cit with a 5-run 8th inning…LH Matt 29 Brandon Snyder (L) 1B .000 0 1 LH Matt Dermody RH Hunter Wood White is the Rays starting pitcher and RH 1 Willy Adames SS .333 0 1 LH Tim Mayza RH Andrew Kittredge Jason Johnson gets the win…current Rays 0 Mallex Smith (L) CF .000 0 0 RH Luis Santos LH Adam Kolarek Manager Kevin Cash was a sophomore in- 28 Daniel Robertson 2B .000 0 0 LH Jose Fernandez RH Diego Castillo fi elder for that Seminoles team. 45 Jesús Sucre C .000 0 0 RH Ian Gibaut 7 Micah Johnson (L) LF .667 0 0 Tomorrow vs. BAL SPRING THINGS—This is the Rays 21st 22 Chris Archer RHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Baltimore Tampa Bay spring training and 10th in Charlotte RH Hunter Harvey RH Nate Eovaldi County…over the past 10 years, the Rays RH Pedro Araujo RH Austin Pruitt have captured three Grapefruit League titles (2008, 2010, 2014) while winning at least 15 games seven LH Jason Gurka LH Dan Runzler times—something they were unable to do in all 10 springs as the Devil Rays (1998–2007). RH David Hess RH Forrest Snow Ê A recent study for USA Today ranked Charlotte Sports Park as the No. 1 spring training destina- LH Chris Lee RH Ryne Stanek tion for food-and-drink as well as for family friendliness…the study noted rave reviews of the LH Tanner Scott pineapple fried rice, Oreo churros and pork nachos and the ballpark’s “Kid Clubhouse” playground Wednesday at MIN and affordable prices…overall, it ranked as the No. 4 spring training destination in Florida. Tampa Bay Minnesota A TIP OF THE CAP—For the split-squad spring opener, the Rays joined the Pirates (at home) and Orioles LH Ryan Yarbrough TBD (on the road) in wearing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School baseball caps for both batting practice RH Yonny Chirinos and the games, to pay tribute to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. …the Rays caps from the home LH Vidal Nuño game will be autographed and auctioned off to raise money for the Broward Education Foundation…the RH Chaz Roe auction will run at raysbaseball.com/auctions from Feb 27 at 8:30 a.m. until March 6 at 8 p.m. RH José Mujica Ê On March 9, the Rays Wives will host the Minnesota Twins Wives in a charity softball game at Charlotte Sports Park…the game will begin on the main fi eld approximately 30 minutes after the RAYS SPRING TRAINING HISTORY conclusion of the spring game between the Twins and Rays…the game will be played for the Bro- W L T Att. ward Education Foundation’s Offi cial Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund…the Rays and the Char- 2018 2 2 0 5,141 lotte Stone Crabs have each committed $5,000 to the Broward Education Foundation…the 50/50 2017 12 16 5 81,752 Raffl e at Charlotte Sports Park that day will also benefi t the Broward Education Foundation. 2016 12 13 2 68,566 2015 15 13 2 80,406 VIDEO ON A SILVER PLATTER—A video feed of today’s game will be available, featuring highlights 2014 16 7 4 78,264 and interviews…contact Chris Tilley at [email protected] with questions…the Rays will 2013 15 17 2 90,935 provide a daily postgame video feed of all non-televised spring games, which will include about two 2012 10 16 6 87,916 minutes of highlights plus two short interviews…for day games, video should be uploaded by 5:15 p.m. 2011 15 14 2 95,859 ON THE AIRWAVES—Today’s game will be broadcast exclusively on MLB.com, with Neil Solondz on the 2010 20 8 2 97,971 call…Tampa Bay Times beat writer Marc Topkin will join Solondz in the booth for an inning during the 2009 15 16 1 103,255 game…for tomorrow’s game against the Orioles, Neil will be joined by Doug Waechter. 2008 18 8 2 54,960 2007 10 19 2 79,044 $500,000 RAISED—In 10 years of the partnership, over $500,000 has been raised to benefi t the Boys & 2006 13 16 1 70,756 Girls Club of Charlotte County, including Saturday’s 10th BaseBALL Dinner & Auction…Manager Kevin 2005 13 16 0 61,261 Cash, INF Willy Adames, 1B/OF Jake Bauers, RH Diego Castillo, RH Yonny Chirinos, RH Jake Faria, RH 2004 11 8 0 43,916 José Mujica, INF Daniel Robertson and LH Blake Snell were among those in attendance. 2003 8 19 3 51,324 PACE OF GAME—Major League Baseball announced this week changes for the upcoming season de- 2002 10 16 1 49,043 signed to improve the pace of play…these changes will be in effect for Grapefruit League games…rules 2001 12 15 1 57,081 were changed to limit the number of mound visits in a game and to reduce the time required for inning 2000 14 17 0 67,089 breaks and pitching changes…Commissioner Rob Manfred has decided to defer the implementation of a 1999 14 14 1 59,230 pitch timer and a between-batter timer in 2018 in order to provide players with an opportunity to speed 1998 12 18 0 66,781 up the game without the use of those timers. Totals 267 287 37 1,447,046 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, 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). ROSTER BREAKDOWN—Only two of the players on the 40-man roster were signed as major league free agents: RH Nate Eovaldi and C Wilson Ramos…fi ve players were signed to minor league contracts, 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 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) eight were selected in the June Draft and 25 were acquired via trade…there Player C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH are 13 new faces on the Rays 40-man roster—seven selected from the Rays Adames 8 minor league system and six acquired via trade.…the Rays have 69 players Arroyo 6 on their spring training roster, their most since 2003 (73). Bauers 9 Boldt 4 6 3 Ê In January, Baseball America ranked the Rays at No. 5 in its annual Or- Carrillo 4 ganizational Talent Rankings of minor league prospects, their highest Chester 4 position since 2013 (No. 4)…this rating came before the February acqui- Ciuffo 5 2 sitions of SS Jermaine Palacios, LH Anthony Banda and 2B Nick Solak… Coats 5 6 the publication’s Top 100 Prospects included six Rays, a figure topped Cron 5 Cronenworth 6 only by the Atlanta Braves (8)…three of Baseball America’s Top 50 pros- Duffy 8 pects will spend the spring in major league camp: RH Brent Honeywell Field 10 (No. 14), SS Willy Adames (No. 16) and 1B/OF Jake Bauers (No. 45). Haley Ê The Rays have one of the youngest rosters in baseball…only six play- Hechavarria 11 ers on the current 40-man roster have turned 30 years old: RH Sergio Hernández Romo (turns 35 on March 4), OF Denard Span (turns 34 on February James Johnson 4 4 27), RH Chaz Roe (31), RH Daniel Hudson (30), LH Dan Jennings (30) Kay and C Wilson Ramos (30).