The Tampa Bay Rays will begin their long, strange trip to the All-Star break when they face the Minnesota Twins on Friday afternoon to open a three-game series in Minneapolis.
The contest will kick off a 10-game trek for the Rays to close out the pre-break slate. Tampa Bay, coming off a 6-5 win over the visiting Athletics on Wednesday, is one game back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East, tied with the New York Yankees for second place.
Rays manager Kevin Cash believes his players are capable of scoring runs in any ballpark. Following three games in Minnesota, they will go to Detroit for three games and then head to Boston for a four-game set.
“You saw a glimpse of what the offense has looked like for quite some time now,” Cash said after watching his team score a half-dozen times against the A’s. “Happy to see it kind of break out there.”
Now, the Rays will welcome reinforcements in the lineup.
Infielder Ha-Seong Kim is expected to make his team debut on Friday, one day after he was activated from the 60-day injured list. Kim signed a two-year, $29 million deal with the Rays in February but has not played this season while recovering from offseason surgery on his right shoulder.
In 121 games last season for the San Diego Padres, Kim hit .233 with 11 homers, 47 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. He won a Gold Glove in 2023.
As the Rays prepare for a long trip, Minnesota is set to open a nine-game homestand heading into the All-Star break. The Twins will host the Rays, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates for three games apiece.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is hoping to see more from his hitters as they return home. Minnesota has scored a total of three runs in the past four games, including a meager showing on Thursday in a 4-1 loss against the host Miami Marlins.
“Obviously, we have to get it going offensively,” Baldelli said. “That’s certainly no secret.
“We have to start by keeping the (opposing) pitchers in the strike zone. We can’t go up there and expand. First pitch to a lot of guys, well out of the zone, we’re offering on those pitches. It’s unacceptable. We’ll hold ourselves accountable on that. We have to do that, we absolutely have to do that.”
Twins right-hander Chris Paddack (3-7, 4.70 ERA) is slated to make the 100th start of his career on Friday. He has won just one of his past eight outings. In his most recent appearance, Paddack took a loss against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. He gave up three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Paddack faced Tampa Bay for the first time in his career on May 26, taking a loss after yielding two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The Rays will counter with right-hander Zack Littell (7-7, 3.61 ERA). He will go for back-to-back victories after an impressive performance on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles, who managed only one run on three hits in seven innings against him.
Littell has made six appearances, including four starts, against the Twins in his career, going 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA in those contests. He defeated Paddack and Minnesota on May 26, when he gave up one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
