Blue Jays at Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays won their opening series of the season for the first time since 2012 and look to continue that success when they begin a four-game set against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. The Rays took two of three games from the New York Yankees, after Wednesday’s 4-1 triumph, to start a run of 14 straight contests against American League East foes.
Logan Morrison led the way in the opening series while going 5-for-9 with a homer and Corey Dickerson led off the first inning with a blast Wednesday for the Rays, who took 11 of 19 games from the Blue Jays last season. Left-hander Blake Snell will try to keep Toronto winless in the early going after the Blue Jays managed three runs in two contests to get swept at Baltimore, including a 3-1 setback Wednesday. Toronto, which counters with right-hander Marcus Stroman on Thursday, left 19 on base and went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the opening series. The Blue Jays hope to get more out the middle of their lineup against Tampa Bay as Jose Bautista (31 career homers against the Rays), Kendrys Morales and Troy Tulowitzki went 2-for-26 against Baltimore.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, Sportsnet (Toronto), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Marcus Stroman (2016: 9-10, 4.37 ERA) vs. Rays LH Blake Snell (2016: 6-8, 3.54)
Stroman looks to rebound after a rough finish to the 2016 season when he went 0-5 despite a respectable 3.41 ERA in September and won once in his final 14 starts - including the playoffs. The 25-year-old Duke product didn’t have much support while going 2-6 after the All-Star break with a 3.68 ERA following a first half where he was 7-4 with a 4.89 mark. Evan Longoria is 8-for-22 with a pair of homers versus Stroman, who is 3-4 with a 4.84 ERA in seven career starts against Tampa Bay.
Snell looks to move forward after a rookie season that showed promise as he struck out 98 in 89 innings and kept his ERA down despite walking 51 batters. The 24-year-old Seattle native allowed one run on two hits in six innings to beat the Blue Jays on Sept. 3 after lasting just 1 2/3 innings the previous month in his first meeting with Toronto. Devon Travis was 3-for-4 and Tulowitzki homered against Snell, who won five games and registered a 3.04 ERA in 10 starts at home in 2016.
WALK-OFFS
1. Travis went 15-for-38 with seven RBIs in nine games against the Rays last season and is 3-for-10 to start 2017.
2. Tampa Bay CF Kevin Kiermaier registered 24 hits, including three homers, and 12 RBIs in 19 games versus Toronto in 2016.
3. Toronto IF/OF Steve Pearce, who started last season with the Rays, had three hits in his debut with the Blue Jays on Monday.