Rays at Orioles
Wilson Ramos can match the club-record hitting streak Sunday afternoon when the Tampa Bay Rays attempt to gain a split of the four-game series against the host Baltimore Orioles. The 30-year-old catcher singled in his final at-bat Saturday to extend his streak to 18 games, one shy of Jason Bartlett’s club mark set in 2009, as the Rays earned a split of the doubleheader 10-3 in the nightcap to snap a five-game losing streak.
Ramos is 27-for-72 with 17 RBIs during his streak, which ties Quinton McCracken (1998) for the second longest in Rays history, to raise his batting average from .162 to .303 with 18 runs batted in overall. Blake Snell, who has elevated himself to the ace on the staff in the first two months of the season, will take the ball in the finale against Baltimore’s Dylan Bundy following the worst outing of his career. The Orioles saw their season-high four-game winning streak come an end in the second game of the doubleheader after scoring 15 times to win the first two contests of the series. Manny Machado has four homers in his last four contests for Baltimore, while teammate Adam Jones is 13-for-36 during a nine-game hitting streak.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays LH Blake Snell (4-2, 2.40 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Dylan Bundy (1-5, 5.31)
Snell has strung together six straight quality starts but settled for a 0-1 record over in last two trips to the mound despite allowing just three runs and 13 innings combined. The 25-year-old Washingtonian has completed at least six innings in six consecutive starts and walked just four over his past five outings. Jones is 3-for-5 with a double and a homer versus Snell, who is 1-1 with 3.44 ERA in three career games against the Orioles.
Bundy gave up seven runs on five hits, four of them homers, and two walks without getting an out Tuesday against Kansas City for his third consecutive loss. The 25-year-old Oklahoma native, who finished with a career-high 13 wins in 2017, had four quality starts in five outings to start the season before giving up 22 runs (19 earned) over nine innings in his last three. Mallex Smith is 4-for-7 versus Bundy, who is 1-3 with a 7.31 ERA in seven games against the Rays.
WALK-OFFS
1. Baltimore 2B Jonathan Schoop is 11-for-34 over his last eight contests, including a pair of homers in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
2. Tampa Bay 1B/DH C.J. Cron is 9-for-21 with a homer and three RBIs during a five-game hitting streak to raise his average to .282.
3. Orioles 3B/DH Pedro Alvarez (seven homers, 14 RBIs) could miss his fourth straight game with a hamstring injury.