Blue Jays at Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays, who won just three of their first 15 games this season, look to finish off a three-game series sweep and reach the .500 mark when they host the American League East rival Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon. Wilson Ramos knocked in a run and extended his hitting streak to 13 games as the Rays edged the Blue Jays 5-3 on Saturday for their sixth straight win at home.
Mallex Smith has been a key to the turnaround while taking over for injured Kevin Kiermaier in center field and followed a day of rest with two hits, two walks and two runs scored in Saturday’s victory for Tampa Bay, which sits 1 1/2 games behind Toronto for third in the AL East. “I don’t think that anybody is settling for .500,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters. “But we’ve got to get there first. We’ve been close a couple times.” Chris Archer will try to keep it going when he takes the mound for Tampa Bay in the finale and faces fellow right-hander Marco Estrada, who has struggled to a 1-8 record in his career against the Rays. The Blue Jays have dropped four of their last five games, allowing 39 runs in that span, and are not likely to have Curtis Granderson (hamstring) in Sunday’s contest after the veteran outfielder suffered the injury in Friday’s 6-2 setback.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, Sportsnet (Toronto), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Marco Estrada (2-2, 6.19 ERA) vs. Rays RH Chris Archer (2-2, 6.05)
Estrada has allowed at least four runs in each of his last four outings after opening the season with a pair of quality starts and a win over Texas. The Long Beach State product gave up five runs across five innings to beat the New York Yankees on April 20 but went 0-1 over the last two while permitting nine runs in 10 frames combined. Ramos is 3-for-8 with a homer against Estrada, who owns a 4.96 ERA in 14 career games (10 starts) versus the Rays.
Archer registered his second quality start in three outings Tuesday at Detroit but suffered the loss after allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts over six innings. The two-time All-Star beat Baltimore with 5 1/3 innings of four-run ball April 26 in between his two quality starts. Kendrys Morales (16-for-31, six doubles, three homers) has been menacing against Archer, who is 7-4 with a 3.09 ERA in 24 career games versus the Blue Jays.
WALK-OFFS
1. Morales, who had four homers and 14 RBIs against the Rays last season, is mired in a 0-for-18 slump over his last four games overall.
2. Tampa Bay OF/DH Denard Span leads the team with 24 RBIs and recorded seven in his past seven contests - one each in the last three.
3. Toronto SS Aledmys Diaz is 4-for-9 with two homers and a double over the last three games to raise his batting average to .210.