Rays Go For Rare Series Win at Royals
The Kansas City Royals have owned the Tampa Bay Rays in recent years. On Tuesday, the Rays won 1-0 on a run scoring single from James Loney that scored Wil Myers from second to plate only the second run of the series for Tampa Bay. Fortunately they allowed no runs to the Royals to snap a seven game Kaufmann Stadium losing streak ad take over first place in the A. L. East. At 5-4 the rays are the only team above .500 in the division. The loss dropped the Royals to 3-4.
There was bad news for the Rays on Tuesday though as they had to put Matt Moore on the 15 day disabled list. Moore was removed from Monday’s loss with some elbow discomfort. MRIs have proved inconclusive, which should scare every Rays fan. Problems with the pitching elbow are rarely minor. With Jeremy Hellickson still on the DL, this creates a hole in the rotation.
On Wednesday, the two teams will meet in a day game starting at 1:00 CDT. Jake Odorizzi will take his 1-0 record to the mound for the Rays to face 1-0 Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals. KC has won 11 of the last 15 meetings between these two teams.
The Rays hold a half game lead in the East over the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees, both at 4-4. The Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are 1.5 games back at 3-5.
On Tuesday, the Orioles ripped the Yankees 14-5 to win for the the first time this season at Yankee Stadium. Baltimore scored three or more runs in an inning four times in the game as they pounded out 20 hits. Delmon Young, Adam Jones and Matt Weiters homered in the game for the Birds.
Masahiro Tanaka will make his second start for the Yankees in tomorrow’s rubber game against the Orioles Miguel Gonzalez. Tanaka is the Yanks shiny new toy they bought from Japan in the offseason. He was impressive in his debut as he beat the Blue Jays in Toronto.
The Red Sox shook off their World Series celebration slump for a night as they beat the Texas Rangers on Monday night 5-1 but the rangers got the series even with a 10-7 win on Tuesday. The loss sent the Sox to 1-4 on their current home stand. The Sox will send Jake Peavy to the mound in the rubber game against Robbie Ross for the Rangers. Both starters are 0-0.
The Jays pulled their record even at 4-4 with a 5-2 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday. Melfy Cabrera homered for the fourth straight game to lead the Jays. Tomorrow the Jays will send 0-1 Brandon Morrow to the mound while the Astros counter with Lucas Harrell who is also 0-1.
Bookmaker has odds on tomorrow’s games:
Tampa Bay at Kansas City– The Rays and Royals are both -110 in this one. We will go with the Rays -110. The bats have to break out at some point.
Baltimore at New York– Baltimore is +148 and the Yanks are -173. We like the Yankees -173 with Tanaka on the mound.
Texas at Boston- Rangers are +135 and the Sox are -155. We like the Rangers +135 in this one. Boston is not playing well right now. Perhaps they celebrated a bit too much this last week?
Houston at Toronto– Astros are +160 and Jays are -185. We will go with the Jays -185. The Astros continue to be terrible.
