After picking up Monday right where they left off over the weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays will try to win their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays, who are a season-best 10 games over .500 after winning 5-1 in the opener, have prevailed in 10 of their past 11 contests.
They turned to a less familiar name on Monday: Ryan Vilade.
Batting third, the 27-year-old Texan slugged a three-run homer that was all the Rays needed to secure their fourth straight victory.
Hitting .286 for the season, Vilade is batting .357 with nine RBIs and an .936 OPS over his past 14 games.
Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda, who went 3-for-4 on Monday, is 9-for-13 in his past three outings, and Rays starter Nick Martinez moved to 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA after producing five innings of one-run ball.
The Rays are 12-2 in games started by either Martinez or Steven Matz.
Tampa Bay beat the Blue Jays four straight times last May — once in Toronto, three times in Tampa — and Rays manager Kevin Cash noticed a change as the Jays cut a path to the World Series.
“I remember that series in May, we swept them,” Cash said Monday on the team’s radio pregame show. “But they did a nice job of resetting themselves. They got great production from top to bottom of their lineup.
“They played really good defense. That is probably the thing that changed the most for me. … They weren’t giving extra outs, and a pretty electric bullpen.”
Three games under .500 and 6-11 away from home, the reigning American League champion Blue Jays are visiting arguably their least favorite venue. Toronto has lost nine of its past 11 games at Tampa Bay — either in Tampa or St. Petersburg — and hasn’t posted a winning record on the road vs. the Rays since 2014.
“It’s not the building, it’s not the turf, it’s not the roof, it’s not the lights, it’s not anything,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “(The Rays) are a good team. You’ve got to play better is the bottom line.”
Tuesday’s matchup will feature two powerful right-handers.
The Blue Jays will send out Kevin Gausman (2-2, 3.10 ERA), possessor of a darting splitter, for his eighth start of the season.
In 5 2/3 innings against Minnesota in his last outing on Thursday, the 14-year veteran yielded four runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings while walking two and fanning two.
In 24 starts and two relief stints against the Rays, Gausman is 8-9 with a 4.06 ERA.
Tampa Bay will counter with Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 2.64 ERA), who lost his latest start in Cleveland after allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings on Wednesday.
In his 30 2/3 innings over six starts, the right-hander has a 0.848 WHIP that would lead the AL if he had pitched enough innings to qualify.
Rasmussen is 2-4 with a 2.65 ERA in nine starts and two relief appearances against the Blue Jays.
–Field Level Media
