2015 Tampa Bay Rays season

[Tobywan]

Tonight's line-up:

Guyer LF

Mahtook RF

Longoria 3B

Forsythe 2B

Cabrera SS

Loney 1B

Shaffer DH

Kiermaier CF

Arencibia C

Archer P

Betts RF

Pedroia 2B

Bogaerts SS

Ortiz DH

Shaw 1B

Castillo LF

Holt 3B

Hanigan C

Bradley CF

Rodriguez P

Chris Archer (12-12, 2.95 ERA), is looking to achieve another milestone, he is itching to reach the 200 inning plateau for the first time in his career. September has not been kind to Archer in the past , as he's 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA in three starts. He has faced the Red Sox three times in 2015, going 0-2 with a 4.32 ERA. Archer hasn't fared well at Fenway in his career, posting a 7.71 ERA in two starts.



Eduardo Rodriguez (9-6, 3.94 ERA) is 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA in his past five starts.

There will be a pre-game celebration honoring David Ortiz for his 500th home run that was hit during a series last week at Tropicana Field. He is 9-for-23 with two homers and 11 RBIs against Archer.

Blake Swihart, entered Sunday first among American League catchers with at least 250 at-bats in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage. Swihart has struggled within the division, hitting .212 against the AL East and .320 against all other divisions.

[Tobywan]

The Rays got off to a good start, in the first, Guyer led off with a homer to left center (out of the ball park) Mahtook reached on an infield single, Longoria doubled him home. Forsythe reached, Longo scored, Rays up 3-0.

In the fourth, Shaw doubled, Castillo grounded out, Shaw to third, Holt singled, Shaw scored, Sox get on the board 3-1.


In the seventh, it begins to unravel, Alex Colome pitching for Tampa Bay, Betts leads off with a single, Pedroia reached on an infield single, Bogaerts doubled, Betts scored. Ortiz grounded out, Pedroia scored, Bogaerts advanced to third. Shaw hit a sac fly that scored Bogaerts, Sox take a 4-3 lead.


In the 8th, Tommy Layne pitching for Boston, Shaffer led off with a single, Kiermaier grounded out, Shaffer moved to second, Ogando relieved Layne. Jaso ( hitting for Arencibia) walked, Guyer singled to load the bases. Sizemore (who PH for Mahtook in the 6th and stayed in the game) doubled scoring Shaffer and Jaso with Guyer ending up at third. Longo intentionally walked to reload the bases, Machí relieved Ogando. Forsythe hit a sacrifice fly to plate Guyer, Rays retake the lead 6-4.

In the 8th, Xavier Cedeno pitching for Tampa Bay, with 2 outs Bradley Jr was hit by a pitch, Gomes relieved Cedeño. Betts singled, Pedroia reached, bases loaded for Bogaerts who hits a grand slam to left, Sox retake the lead 8-6. Riefenhauser relieved Gomes who got the out to end the inning.


In the 9th, Robbie Ross Jr. pitching for Boston, Shaffer homered putting the Rays behind by one run, but that would be all the Rays could get, Boston takes the first game as the Rays sink to the cellar.



Archer went five innings, giving up one run on three hits, 5 walks (very unusual for him) with three strikeouts. He did reach his 200 innings, the seventh pitchers in Rays history to achieve that goal. Gomes took the loss. Archer walked the first two batters in each of the first two innings and escaped without being scored upon. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Baltimore's Arthur Rhodes was the last pitcher to accomplish the feat, which he did on July 19, 1992, at Texas.

Rodriguez went 6 innings, giving up three runs on six hits, two walks and struck out four, Jean Machí took the win.

Both teams challenged calls in the first inning, Both ended up in the Rays favor. Later, a call on the Rays was overturned in Sox favor and a challenge by the Rays in the 8th was upheld.

It was the first career grand tour for Xander Bogaerts, he is 18 hits shy of 200 on the season, the last Sox to reach the mark were Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez in 2011. The Red Sox moved out of last place for the first time since June 9th. He is the first Red Sox player to hit a go-ahead grand slam at Fenway in the eighth inning or later since Rico Brogna's walk-off slam on Aug. 14, 2000.

Steven Souza Jr., had played 10 straight games and was out of the starting lineup. He came in defensively.

Pablo Sandoval was out sick, he came in with a fever and was sent home.

Ortiz's next RBI will give him nine seasons of 100 or more with the Red Sox. While he got the big party in his honor last night, the Red Sox did give a small tribute to the return of Daniel Nava as he was a member of the 2013 World Series Champs, they played a video of him after the second inning and he acknowledged the crowd.

[Tobywan]

Tonight's line-up:

Guyer LF

Mahtook CF

Longoria 3B

Forsythe 2B

Cabrera SS

Souza Jr. RF

Loney 1B

Shaffer DH

Maile C

Moore P

Betts RF

Rutledge 2B

Bogaerts SS

Ortiz DH

Shaw 1B

Castillo LF

Swihart C

Marrero 3B

Bradley CF

Owens P

Henry Owens (3-2, 4.33 ERA), is making his first career appearance against the Rays, he's 1-2 with a 5.03 ERA in four starts against the American League East this season.


Matt Moore (1-4, 7.06 ERA) allowed just two hits in seven innings for the no-decision against the Orioles on Thursday.


David Ortiz is hitting .455 (10-for-22) against Moore with three home runs and eight RBIs. Ortiz hit his 500th career home run off Moore on Sept. 12 at Tropicana Field.

[Tobywan]

Boston got it going in the first, Betts led off with a double, Bogaerts walked, Ortiz walked to load the bases. Shaw singled, Betts and Bogaerts scored, Boston leads 2-0.

In the 5th, Forsythe led off with a double, Cabrera bunted to ground out, Forsythe to third, Souza, Jr hit a sac fly to score Forsythe cutting the lead to 2-1.


In the 6th, Shaffer led off with a walk, Guyer HBP, Mahtook singled to load the bases, Longoria hit a sac fly, Shaffer scored, Guyer scored and Mahtook advanced to third on the throwing error by Betts. Ray take a 3-2 lead.


In the 8th, Guyer led off with a double, Mahtook homered putting the Rays up 5-2 and that would be the winning score.

Bellatti allowed allowed one runner in the 8th, but Romero shut it down. Boxberger allowed a walk but then retired the next three batters for his 36th save.


Moore went 6.2 innings giving up two runs, on seven hits, two walks and struck out seven for the win.

Owens went 7.1 allowing 5 runs (one unearned) on seven hits, two walks and struck out five for the loss.

Kevin Kiermaier was given a day off as was Dustin Pedroia.

Pablo Sandoval missed his second straight game with a respiratory infection.

Injury Report: Nathan Karns has been shut down due to tightness in his forearm.
Curt Casali is unlikely to return his rehab hasn't progressed as well as expected.

Series is tied 1-1 and the Red Sox went into the cellar.

[Tobywan]

Tonight's line-up:

Jaso DH

Nava LF

Longoria 3B

Cabrera SS

Souza Jr. RF

Loney 1B

Arencibia C

Kiermaier CF

Franklin 2B

Smyly P

Betts RF

Pedroia 2B

Bogaerts SS

Ortiz DH

Shaw 1B

Castillo LF

Swihart C

Marrero 3B

Bradley CF

Porcello P

Drew Smyly (3-2, 3.62 ERA) threw a season-high 107 pitches Friday in an 8-6 win over Baltimore. He allowed a season-high five earned runs, but had enough offensive support to get the victory.

Rick Porcello (8-13, 5.16 ERA) will face the Rays for the fourth time this season. He has gone 2-0 against them so far, with 19 strikeouts and only four walks. He allowed six runs (five earned) over six innings on Friday against the Blue Jays for the loss. It snapped a streak of four straight starts in which he went at least seven innings.


Asdrubal Cabrera has the most career plate appearances against Porcello. He's hitting .288 (15-for-52) with two RBIs against him.

Pablo Sandoval has an upper respiratory infection and won't be back in the lineup for a few days.

[Kingdom]

Daniel Nava, James Loney, JP Arencibia walk into a bar..

[Tobywan]

...and?

[HollywoodLeo]

They should have been watching where they were going.

[Tobywan]

Doink!

[Tobywan]

Well, didn't look like it would be a pitcher's duel to start, but the game stayed scoreless until the seventh inning.

In the 7th, Kiermaier singled, stole second, stole third, Jaso walked, Nava singled, KK scored to put the rays on the board 1-0.

In the 8th, Cabrera led off with a double, Souza singled, Layne relieved Porcello. Forsythe pinch hit for Loney, grounded into a fielder's choice, Cabrera scored, Souza safe at second on the throwing error by 3B Marrero. KK grounded into a FC, Forsythe out at second, Souza to third. Franklin walked to load the bases. Jaso doubled in Souza and KK. N. Ramirez relieved Layne who got out of the inning, Rays take a 4-0 lead.

In the 9th, Noe Ramirez pitching for Boston, got Longoria to ground out, Machí relieved N. Ramirez, Cabrera homered. A pitch to Souza went high over his head and umpire Bill Welke ejected Machí. It was not intentional, too quick on the trigger. Méndez relieved Machí, Souza homered, Rays up 6-0.


In the 9th, Kirby Yates pitching for Tampa Bay, with two outs, Bradley Jr walked, went to second on indifference, Betts singled, Bradley scored and Betts went to third on the fielding error by Kiermaier. Pedroia walked, Bogaerts singled, Betts scored. Boxberger relieved Yates, Bogaerts went to second on indifference but Box got Ortiz to line out to left to end the game.

Rays win 6-2, taking Game 3, they lead the series 2-1.


Smyly went 6.1 scoreless innings giving up five hits, three walks and struck out seven for the win, Boxberger earned his 37th save. It was the second time Smyly didn't allow a run against the Red Sox in less than two weeks. On Sept. 13, the lefty took a no-decision after a similarly pitched six-inning performance at Tropicana Field. It was the 31st scoreless start of the season for a Rays pitcher.


Porcello went seven innings giving up three runs (one unearned) on eleven hits, one walk and struck out eight for the loss.

Souza Jr. went 4-for-5 with a homer.

Xander Bogaerts extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games with a ninth-inning single.

Asdrubal Cabrera had three hits including a double and a homer, the 100th of his career.

Mookie Betts extended his consecutive streak of hitting safely to 26 games. He is the first Red Sox player age 22 or younger to record 20 stolen bases and 15 home runs in a season since Ellis Burks in 1987.

Kiermaier went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and two runs scored.




The teams are tied 9-9 in the season series, with the finale tonight.






Injury report:

Jake McGee, recovering from surgery on his left knee in mid-August, could return this weekend after he threw a bullpen session Wednesday.

Pablo Sandoval missed his third straight with an upper respiratory infection.

[Tobywan]

Tonight's line-up:

Guyer LF

Mahtook DH

Longoria 3B

Forsythe 2B

Cabrera SS

Souza Jr. RF

Kiermaier CF

Shaffer 1B

Maile C

Ramirez P

Betts RF

Pedroia 2B

Bogaerts SS

Ortiz DH

Shaw 1B

Castillo LF

Swihart C

Marrero 3B

Bradley CF

Miley P

Erasmo Ramirez (10-6, 3.70 ERA) , the team has lost his last five starts after winning 11 of his previous 15. He is 0-0 with a 4.82 ERA in five career appearances against the Red Sox.

Wade Miley (11-10, 4.34 ERA) has given up three earned runs or fewer in his last three starts. He overcame five walks to yield two runs over 6 2/3 innings Saturday when he didn't get a decision in a 7-6 win at Toronto.

Sandoval out of the line-up for the fourth straight game. Rene Rivera is getting snubbed, he publicly took out his frustration about lack of playing time.

[Foster]

I hope you fail miserably this weekend.

Love,
A Jays fan.

[Tobywan]

The Red Sox started the scoring in this one in the first, Betts led off with a single, Pedroia grounded out sending Betts to second. Ortiz homered to left, Sox take a 2-0 lead.


The game stayed there until the 6th, after two outs, Longoria homered to get on the board. Forsythe singled, Cabrera doubled him home, Souza doubled, Cabrera scored, Rays take a 3-2 lead.



In the 7th, Kiermaier led off with a homer to right, Rays take a 4-2 lead.


There were more chances to score, including the 9th with Brad Boxberger pitching for Tampa Bay. After getting the first out he walked Boagaerts, but got Ortiz to ground into a double play to end it.

Ramirez went seven innings giving up two runs on four hits, no walks and struck out six for the win. Boxberger got his 38th save.

Miley went 6.1 innings giving up four runs on eight hits, one walk and three strikeouts for the loss.

The Rays took the series 3-1, they also win the season series 10-9.

The Red Sox haven't ended up in the cellar in consecutive seasons since a six-year span from 1925-30.

Evan Longoria's homer in the 6th to spark the Rays three-run inning was the 20th of the season putting him in an elite group. He joined Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones and Scott Rolen as the only third baseman to hit 20 homers in seven of their first eight years in the majors. He also collected his 33rd double of the season in the fourth.

David Ortiz hit his 36th homer a run shot giving him 101 RBI's for the ninth season tying him with Ted Williams for most in Red Sox history. He also set a club record for most seasons with 35-or-more homers and 100 RBI with his sixth. Manny Ramirez and Jimmie Foxx each had five.

Mookie Betts has reached safely in 27 consecutive games.


Injury Report:
Hanley Ramirez was shut down for the rest of the season with right shoulder inflammation.

According to the Red Sox, Pablo Sandoval's upper respiratory infection has now turned into pneumonia.

[Tobywan]

I hope you fail miserably this weekend.

Love,
A Jays fan.

This is for you Foster....it's mostly in praise of the Jays. Though, I always want my team to win I would prefer you celebrate before you come here for the last series, I don't want your birds crapping all over our FieldTurf.








The Toronto Blue Jays have waited 22 years for a taste of the post season, they stand three games ahead of the NY Yankees for the division title. They are two games behind the KC Royals in the AL for the battle of home-field advantage. KC clinched the AL Central division last night in a sound 10-4 beating of the Seattle Mariners. The Rays will be seeking to spoil the Blue Jays plans. The Rays lead Toronto in the season series 8-5, since 2008 the Rays have edged the Jays in six seasons going 88-53 overall, best in the Majors.


Toronto has slated R.A. Dickey, former Ray, David Price and Mark Buehrle in the three game series, those listed to go for the Rays are Odorizzi, Archer and Andriese. Dickey, the 40-year old knuckleballer has gone 7-1 in 13 starts since the All-Star break sporting a 2.38 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He passed the 200 inning mark for a 5th consecutive season. The Rays were able to beat him up a bit in an outing on April 24th. Price is having the best season of his career, 17-5 with a 2.34 ERA between the Tigers and Jays, going 8-1 with a 1.95 ERA since the trade. Buerhrle is 14-7 with a 3.69 ERA, he needs 14.2 innings of work to make the 200 mark for the 15th straight season. The latter two were switched in the rotation to give Buehrle an extra day off and to set up Price to go in the WC play-off on a regular schedule or start the ALDS.

The Jays just took a much needed series against the Yankees and the Rays battled to stay out of the cellar taking 3 of 4 from the Red Sox. The Jays are seeking to continue life in October, the Rays are grasping for .500 and the hope to keep rebuilding from there.

[Tobywan]

Tonight's line-up:

Jaso DH

Sizemore LF

Longoria 3B

Forsythe 2B

Cabrera SS

Loney 1B

Guyer RF

Kiermaier CF

Arencibia C

Odorizzi P

Revere LF

Donaldson DH

Bautista RF

Encarnacion 1B

Martin C

Goins SS

Pillar CF

Pennington 3B

Barney 2B

Dickey P

R.A.Dickey (10-11, 4.05 ERA), in last outing, the righty surpassed the 200-innings mark for a fifth straight season and his third with the Blue Jays. He has gone
7-1 in 13 starts since the All-Star break sporting a 2.38 ERA and 1.07 WHIP.

Jake Odorizzi (8-8, 3.38 ]) lasted only 5.2 innings Sunday against the Orioles and didn't win for the first time this season when receiving at least four runs of support. Odorizzi is 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA in five career starts against the Blue Jays and 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA in two starts against them this season.

Justin Smoak and Josh Donaldson have each homered against Odorizzi this year. James Loney has a home run and a .333 average against Dickey this season.

The Blue Jays could clinch as early as tonight, but if they win would have to wait until the Angels game ends.