Rays Look to Rebound Against Red Sox

The Tampa Bay Rays (45-40) hope to rebound against the Red Sox (47-39) after being swept by the Reds this past weekend.

Rough Season

After coming off winning the AL East and winning 100 games last year, the hopes were sky-high for the Rays to have the same success this season.

Coming into the 2022 season, there was no reason for the Rays not to find the same success with star Wander Franco poised to emerge as baseball’s next star. There was much excitement with most of the same team coming back along with the young pitching core of McClanahan, Baz and Patñio maturing. This year’s season has been anything but what experts and fans had hoped for. This season, the Rays have been riddled with injuries, which has hampered the team immensely.

Key contributors from last year, Wander Franco, Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot, Mike Zunino, Brandon Lowe, and Andrew Kittredge, have all missed significant time and are still not playing to date.

#Rays Franco looks to be headed for hamate surgery, Kiermaier is sidelined again with left hip problems as injuries continue to mount https://t.co/JxJD3gZO9A

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) July 10, 2022

Currently, Wander Franco looks to be out potentially 6-8 weeks if results come back negative from his right-hand injury.

With half of last year’s lineup gone, the Rays have had to lean on their bench and call-ups from Triple-A. Josh Lowe, Vidal Brujan, and Taylor Walls are among the three main call ups from Triple-A but they have been abymsmal at the plate with all three having sub .200 batting averages. They are all young players needing to adjust to the majors but have been thrust into important roles due to injuries.

Despite injury woes, the Rays have stayed afloat and are in a position to make the wild card game at the moment in large part due to great pitching. Standout pitcher Shane McClanahan has taken over and currently holds a 1.74 ERA with an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings. McClanahan should be the AL starter in the All-Star game in Los Angeles.

Playoff Battle

While it is early in the season, all signs point to this MLB season ending in a photo finish to see who makes the playoffs.

The Red Sox and Rays are two of the teams already jockeying for position, with the Red Sox currently being two games ahead of the Rays coming off a thrilling series split against the AL leader Yankees. The Rays have found success against the Red Sox this season, winning their last three series. However, the Rays need to end off strong before the all-star break so they do not fall too far behind the pack.

Players to Watch

Rafael Devers has been scorching hot this season, hitting .327 BA with a .977 OPS. Devers had the highlights of his season with two home runs off Gerrit Cole during their last series with the Yankees.

111 mph off the bat.
434 feet.

Raffy is different. pic.twitter.com/lCzyjPhN8C

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 8, 2022

For the Rays, the shining light of the season has been utility man Issac Paredes. Since his explosive offense against Nestor Cortes earlier this season, he has kept the bat hot.

https://twitter.com/RaysBaseball/status/1539410838389391363

Since June 21, Paredes has had a .373 BA with eight home runs, 16 RBI’s, and 1.331OPS. He has led the majors in home runs since in this span.

First Pitch

Live coverage of this game begins tonight at 6:30 PM EST on ESPN 95.3 FM/850 AM WRUF.