Rays at Blue Jays
The Tampa Bay Rays broke out of an offensive slump with 13 hits in the second game of the series and hope to carry that over when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday for the third of four contests between the American League East rivals. Wilson Ramos homered for the second straight night as the Rays recorded a 6-4 victory on Tuesday to end a four-game slide, scoring half as many runs as they registered in their previous 10 outings combined.
Lucas Duda also belted a two-run homer in Tuesday’s victory as eight different players recorded at least one hit for Tampa Bay, which is 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot. Rookie Jacob Faria goes after his second win at Toronto this season for the Rays as he opposes Marcus Stroman, who is 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts against Tampa Bay this year. Josh Donaldson homered for the third straight game for the Blue Jays on Tuesday and is 7-for-14 with eight RBIs in his last four contests. Toronto, which dropped to 8-5 this month while maintaining a spot on the fringe of the AL wild-card race - 3 1/2 games back, has split 14 meetings with Tampa Bay this season.
TV: 7:07 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), Sportsnet (Toronto)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jacob Faria (5-3, 3.19 ERA) vs. Blue Jays RH Marcus Stroman (10-6, 3.00)
Faria is winless in his last three outings, allowing nine runs over 16 innings with 24 strikeouts and 10 walks, after a 5-1 start to his career. The 24-year-old Californian gave up five runs in the fifth inning on Friday and ended up lasting six frames in a loss to Cleveland. Faria made his second career start against Toronto on June 13, permitting one run and six hits with eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in a victory.
Stroman has posted just one victory in his last six games and is coming off his only loss in that span, a setback against Pittsburgh on Friday in which he surrendered four unearned runs over eight innings. The 26-year-old Duke product, who was a first-round pick in 2012, walked 14 in the first three contests during that stretch and issued a total of four free passes in the last three. Evan Longoria is 9-for-27 with two homers versus Stroman, who is 4-4 with a 4.17 ERA against the Rays.
WALK-OFFS
1. Toronto CF Kevin Pillar is 3-for-7 with an RBI in the series after going 3-for-19 in his previous six contests.
2. Tampa Bay CF Kevin Kiermaier (hip/back), who has been sidelined since June 8, could return to the lineup this weekend.
3. The Blue Jays are 46-22 in August over the last three seasons.