Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen will put his scoreless innings streak on the line Tuesday when he takes the mound for his team’s opener of a three-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers.
Rasmussen (4-4, 2.33 ERA) extended his winning streak to three games and scoreless run to 18 innings after allowing just a leadoff single in the first of Tampa Bay’s 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins last Wednesday. He has yielded just nine hits combined during his last three starts.
“He was pretty dominant (versus the Twins),” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Rasmussen. “… He’s really executing pitches at a very high level over his last handful of starts.”
Rasmussen, 29, permitted one run on three hits in a no-decision against Texas on April 6. He is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in two career meetings with the Rangers.
Like Rasmussen, Texas right-hander Tyler Mahle (5-2, 1.64) is coming off a performance in which he tossed six scoreless innings.
Mahle, who allowed four hits in a no-decision against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, will get the start as the Rangers open a nine-game road trip.
He also recorded a scoreless outing in his lone career start versus Tampa Bay, yielding just one hit and striking out five batters over five innings on April 4.
Mahle will encounter a Tampa Bay offense that has been hot and cold over the past four games.
The Rays erupted for 13 runs in the opener of their four-game series against the Houston Astros on Thursday, only to muster just one on three hits in the rematch. Tampa Bay reignited the offense with 16 runs on a season-high 18 hits — including five homers — on Saturday, only to be limited to two hits in a 1-0 shutout loss the following day.
Brandon Lowe saw his career-high 13-game hitting streak come to a halt in Sunday’s setback. The loss was just the third in the last 12 games for the Rays.
The Rangers, in turn, have answered a season-high six-game losing skid by alternating wins and losses over their last seven. They secured an 8-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, marking Texas’ first series win since May 12-14 when it swept the woeful Colorado Rockies.
Josh Smith matched his career-high RBI total on Sunday with four after belting a two-run double in the second inning and a two-run homer in the eighth. Smith, who also notched a double to lead off the first inning, had just four extra-base hits in the entire month of May.
Marcus Semien reached base four times for a Rangers offense that is batting just .223 on the season. Texas leads just the Chicago White Sox (.221) and Rockies (.217) in that regard heading into Monday’s games.
“We want to be a complete offense,” Semien said, per the Dallas Morning News. “We have guys who can run, we have guys who can bunt. We always talk about guys with power, but it doesn’t seem like the ball is carrying as much (at home), so we’ve got to figure out ways to score.”
–Field Level Media
