In a battle of teams off to strong starts, the Tampa Bay Rays will carry a six-game winning streak into the opener of an interleague three-game set against the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.
Veteran right-hander Nick Martinez (0-0, 2.16 ERA) will try to extend the Rays’ winning surge to seven in a row when they face the improved Pirates and rookie right-hander Bubba Chandler (0-1, 3.86).
The Rays rallied with three runs in the ninth inning on Thursday to complete their first three-game road sweep of the Chicago White Sox since 2019. This feat came on the heels of Tampa Bay’s first home sweep of the New York Yankees since 2018.
The Rays have been finding different ways to produce runs in clutch situations. In Thursday’s win, Junior Caminero tied the game in the ninth with a home run before Tampa Bay loaded the bases on a single, walk and hit by pitch, then scored two runs on consecutive walks drawn by Hunter Feduccia and Taylor Walls.
“That’s baseball right there,” right fielder Ryan Vilade said Thursday morning. “Get ’em over, get ’em in. Jonny DeLuca with the big pump (Wednesday) night. But he can also drop one down. So, it’s like, ‘How do you defend it?’ It’s tough. It’s been fun.”
Martinez is 2-3 with a 3.16 ERA against the Pirates in nine appearances (four starts). His solid start to the season has also been a factor in keeping the Rays in position to win consistently.
Martinez threw 4 2/3 innings last Saturday against the Yankees, allowing one run on five hits and three walks while striking out four.
He’ll try to shut down a Pirates lineup performing much better than a year ago, when it finished at or near the bottom of the majors in most offensive categories.
However, some of Pittsburgh’s most promising talent is still experiencing growing pains as rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin has during his first taste of the majors. Griffin’s throwing error on what could have been a key inning-ending double play in Thursday’s 8-7 loss to the Washington Nationals led to three costly runs.
“I was just trying to make a play for Braxton,” Griffin said. “Fielded it, thought I had a chance to get second, turn and throw, my back leg got stuck under his. At that point, I just tried to hold onto it. It kinda slipped out of my hand and three runs scored. That’s on me. I’ll keep working on that.”
Yet Griffin showed signs of his high ceiling with a run-scoring triple two innings later and when he beat a throw to first in the ninth during the Pirates’ comeback to send the game to extra innings.
Chandler is another rookie experiencing ups and downs in his second season after pitching 31 1/3 innings last year. Chandler’s most recent start last Sunday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field was his longest this season.
He went 5 1/3 innings and struck out four, but ran into some trouble, allowing three runs on three hits, including a pair of home runs, and two walks in a game the Cubs won 7-6 in 11 innings after the Pirates let a 5-0 edge slip away.
Chandler will face the Rays for the first time.
–Field Level Media
