Game Notes: Ramirez vs Gonzalez

As I put my daughter to sleep last night, the last of my optimism was quickly dispersing as the Rays had been shutout for the first seven innings of last night's ballgame. Chris Archer had been dominant, but used a lot of pitches and only lasted six innings. Chris Tillman managed to be excellent against the Rays while he's been usually terrible against everyone else. As my wife and I settled in for the night, I turned the game off my laptop and put it on my phone, propped it up so I could see the game as we watched TV. I took the occasional glimpse at the game to see a double play had been turned and the Orioles pitcher leaving the mound in excitement, furthering my descent into pessimistic thoughts.

Only, that was replay of earlier in the game and to my sudden surprise I see Kevin Kiermaier dashing around third and sliding home to score the game tying run. A little later Tim Beckham hits a single back up the middle the scored two giving the Rays a two run lead. The sudden burst of excitement annoyed my wife to the point of almost bickering, but one the situation was explained she joined me in excitement (she actually just rolled her eyes).

The Rays would go on to win the game by the score of 3-1 as Kevin Cash turned to the seldom used Jake McGee instead of the team's usual MVP closer. The win put the Rays back at the .500 mark and tied for second in the division, 5.5 games back of the Yankees. The Orioles continued their recent slide, as they have now lost 15 of their 20 and their past four in a row.

Tonight, the Rays will hope to make it five straight as Erasmo Ramirez heads to the mound for Tampa Bay and he'll face Miguel Gonzalez.

So far this season Ramirez is 8-3 with a 3.54 ERA and a 3.73 FIP to go along with a 20.5 K% and a 7.6 BB% over the course of 21 games (14 starts) and 84 innings pitched. His last time out was on the 18th against Toronto and may have been pulled a little early only lasting 4.1 innings, and only have up a run during that time on four hits, zero walks, and struck out four.

Miguel Gonzalez Scouting Report:

So far this year, Gonzalez is 8-6 with a 4.21 ERA and a 4.94 FIP to go along with a 18.3 K% and a 7.8 BB%, meanwhile opposing batters have hit .249 off him this season over the course of 17 games and 98.1 innings pitched. He last pitched on the 19th in Detroit and five innings allowing two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out four.

His arsenal:

Gonzalez is pretty much an even ground ball/fly ball guy with grounders being hit more often. A ball is hit on the ground against him 39.3% of the time meanwhile flies are hit 36.6% and line drives make up the remainder at 24.1%

There almost no difference between lefties and righties facing Gonzalez as he has almost faced an equal amount of each. In 201 trips to the plate, righites have slashed .247/.320/.428 with 9 HR to go along with a 17.9 K% and a 8.0 BB%, meanwhile lefties have slashed .251/.319/.435 with 8 HR to go along with a 18.6 K% and a 7.6 BB% during 210 trips to the plate.

There is a noticeable difference between Gonaelz's home/away stats. He's faced 231 hitters in Baltimore and they've hit .226/.290/.406, but while pitching as the visitor, opponents have hit .280/.358/.465 off him in 180 trips to the plate.

Other Rays Notes:

- Drew Smyly to begin his rehab assignment tomorrow with Durham

#Rays LHP @SmylyD will pitch on a rehab assignment with the @DurhamBulls tomorrow at Norfolk.

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 25, 2015

- July 25th in team history, of which they are 9-7 all-time

• 1977 - Travis Phelps is born, he'd become known for being the lowest selected draftee (89th round) to reach the major leagues. He'd part of three seasons in the majors, two with Tampa Bay (2001-2002), during which time he was 3-5 with a 4.34 ERA and a 4.86 FIP over the course of 79 games and 105.2 innings pitched.
• 1980 - Shawn Riggans is born, he'd spend six years in the Rays organization before finally making his MLB debut in 2006. He'd spend parts of four seasons in the majors (2006-2009) all with Tampa Bay before leaving the team to become a free agent after the 2009 season. During the course of his career he slashed .202/.266/.356 with 7 HR and 28 RBI over the course of 64 games.
• 2001 - The Devil Rays dealt Albie Lopez and Mike Difelice to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for prospects, Nick Bierbrodt and Jason Conti.
• 2002 - Pedro Martinez dominates Tampa Bay, striking out 11 batters while only two hits in eight innings of work during a Red Sox 6-0 victory.
• 2005 - In a game that went back and forth a couple of times, the Devil Rays came out on top after Aubrey Huff hit a two out double off of Curt Schilling that scored Jorge Cantu from first giving Tampa Bay the walkoff 4-3 victory.

Doug Waechter Strikes Out 7 [] Julio Lugo Ties The Game [] Aubrey Huff's Walkoff Double

• 2009 - Trailing 8-0 heading into the top of the sixth, the Rays strike for their first run, but immediately gave a run back in the bottom half of the inning. Nonetheless, they continued to tack away at the Jays' lead until they trailed by two entering the ninth. Carlos Pena hit a leadoff homer that made it a one run game, one out later, Willy Aybar made it a tie game. The Rays would eventually win in extras by the score of 10-9.

• 2012 - Behind an offensive outburst and a great performance from David Price, the Rays defeat the Orioles 10-1 in a game that featured three homeruns including Jose Lobaton's first career one and Ryan Roberts homering in his first Rays at-bat. This game can now be referred to as 'The Ice Cream Game'.