The Rays look to snap a season-high losing streak and turn to their All-Star left-hander in hopes of doing so.
Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers
Tampa Bay was nearly no-hit in a 1-0 road loss to the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon and have managed to hit for a combined .149 average in dropping five straight games. This recent skid is the club’s longest losing streak of the season, after the team had gone 10-1 in their previous 11 games. “I was beginning to think no-hitters were commonplace,” said third baseman Evan Longoria. “It seems like we’ve been a part of and watched so many this year.” Rays outfielder Carl Crawford returned to the lineup yesterday after two days of rest, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Tampa is 7-3 in Monday games this season (+340) and 27-19 on this day the past three years (+620). The Rays are also a dominating 34-17 against teams with losing records in 2010 (+410).
Detroit will look avoid its first 10-game losing streak away from home since it ended the 2005 campaign in that fashion. The club has dropped 12 of its last 15 games overall. One good thing going for the Tigers is the fact that the Rays have never swept them in a four-game series at Tropicana Field. Detroit is currently in a stretch of playing 11-straight games against AL East opponents, producing a 10-7 record versus the division so far this season. The Tigers have also managed to still win eight of their last 14 games in Tampa Bay despite dropping the first three games of this series. In 27 games against southpaw starters this year, the team is a solid 17-10 (+730) and the total is 15-12 O/U in those contests.
Tampa Bay picked up a 10-5 road victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The Rays have won three of their last four games against the Yankees in the Bronx, after losing six straight here. The win improved the club’s record to 55-35 on the season and moved them to within two games of first place. “It was a good day, we needed this win today and I was fortunate enough to get some big hits and score some runs,” Reid Brignac said. Tampa Bay is now 23-11 against divisional foes this season (+1,020) and have won 13 of its last 16 games on the road against the AL East. The Rays also took a 4-3 season series lead over the Bronx Bombers heading into the series finale this afternoon.
It’s been well-documented that the National League has failed to capture a victory in the Midsummer Classic since 1996, even though the last four contests have been decided by a single run. Ever since the game was changed to hand the victor home-field advantage in the World Series, the National League has failed to deliver as well. “The priority is to win the ballgame,” Philadelphia Phillies and National League manager Charlie Manuel said. “That’s why we are here.” All the talk about the Senior Circuit is centered on the pitching staff, with Florida starter Josh Johnson, Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay and San Francisco’s two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum set to come out of the pen.
