Rays at White Sox
The Tampa Bay Rays’ roller-coaster season is on an upturn again as they look to complete a three-game road sweep of the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon. The Rays have won three straight after dropping five of the previous seven games and their offense, which is near the bottom of the majors in runs scored, has produced 20 over the last three contests.
Asdrubal Cabrera hit one of four homers for the Rays in the 11-3 victory Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to eight games and is 13-for-28 in that span. Tampa Bay is 20-11 against left-handed starters after beating southpaws in the first two games of the series and face another Wednesday when rookie Carlos Rodon takes the mound for Chicago. The White Sox have cooled off after a seven-game winning streak, going 1-5 in their last six outings while allowing 51 runs. Chicago slugger Jose Abreu saw his 14-game hitting streak end Tuesday and teammate Melky Cabrera, who came in red hot, is 0-for-7 in the series.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, CSN Chicago
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Erasmo Ramirez (8-4, 3.61 ERA) vs. White Sox LH Carlos Rodon (4-4, 4.84)
Ramirez has allowed nine runs (six earned) in 13 1/3 innings over his last two starts and is winless in his past three outings. The Nicaragua native, who is 2 2/3 innings from going over 100 in a season for the first time in his career, has not given up a run in eight frames against the White Sox in his career. Ramirez did not face Chicago when they visited in June, but held Abreu to 0-for-2 with a strikeout in 2014.
Rodon permitted at least seven runs in three of his last eight starts, including Friday when he yielded eight in three frames against the New York Yankees. The third-overall pick in the 2014 draft blanked Cleveland over 6 2/3 frames in his previous outing and limited opponents to two or fewer earned runs in eight of 14 starts. Right-handed batters are hitting .311 against Rodon, who faces Tampa Bay for the first time.
WALK-OFFS
1. Tampa Bay CF Kevin Kiermaier needs one triple to become the first outfielder with 12 assists and 12 three-base hits in a season since Kansas City’s Carlos Beltran (14 assists, 12 triples) in 2001.
2. The White Sox have homered in a season-high eight consecutive games while totaling 21 in the last 13 contests after 3B Tyler Saladino and OF Avisail Garcia each went deep Tuesday.
3. Rays 1B-3B Richie Shaffer has reached base four times in his first nine major-league plate appearances, including his first homer Tuesday.