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The Rays head out to the west coast for six games as they'll first head to Los Angeles for three games, and then up north to Seattle for another three game set. In Los Angeles, they'll be facing a depleted Angels squad -- at least on the pitching side -- as they will be without Houston Street and Garrett Richards.
Heading into play tonight, the Rays are 12-14 , four games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place in the division. Meanwhile, the Angels are 13-15 and are also four games back of their division leaders, the Seattle Mariners.
The Rays will not be televising tonight's game, but the Angels will have it covered.
Today's Starting Pitchers:
| 2016 | W | L | IP | G/GS | ERA | FIP | K% | BB% | HR | AVG | BABIP | fWAR |
| Chris Archer | 1 | 4 | 32.1 | 6/6 | 5.01 | 4.63 | 29.5% | 10.3% | 7 | .275 | .358 | 0.1 |
| Cory Rasmus | 0 | 1 | 14.1 | 8/0 | 4.40 | 4.47 | 17.9% | 14.3% | 1 | .106 | .111 | -0.1 |
Chris Archer is finally on the rebound after a horrific start to the season, as he put together consecutive quality starts and has just given two runs during that time, with both of those runs coming from a Jose Bautista home run. Archer would pick up a no-decision after delivering six innings, while he struck out four, allowed just one hit, and although he was successful, Archer is still struggling with the command of his best two pitches, and is having to rely more frequently on his change-up as he walked four batters.
Cory Rasmus Scouting Report:
Rasmus is basically Matt Andriese for the Angels as he's filled in as a spot starter when needed but has mainly served as a long relief option out of the pen. Garrett Richards was supposed to get this start, but much to the disappointment of the Angels fan base, and every fan base in general, it was revealed that Richards would have to undergo Tommy John Surgery for a torn UCL.
So far in 2016, Rasmus has appeared in eight games, with his longest outing being three and two-thirds innings and that was back on April 24th. His last appearance was on the third against Milwaukee where he tossed a perfect inning of relief, striking out a batter. For the Angels though, they'll hope for Rasmus to pitch somewhat deep as the starting pitching matchups the next couple of days will make the bullpen taxed.
His arsenal:
| PITCH | AVG. VELO. | FREQUENCY | vs LHB | vs RHB |
| Fastball | 93.0 MPH |
47.9% vs LHB *** 48.3% vs RHB |
Paints the outside corner | Paints the outside corner |
| Sinker | 92.2 MPH |
1.3% vs LHB *** 0.0% vs RHB |
Sporadic | Non-existent |
| Change-up | 86.1 MPH |
32.1% vs LHB *** 8.1% vs RHB |
Low and away, usually below or away from the zone | Sporadic |
| Slider | 85.6 MPH |
6.1% vs LHB *** 31.2% vs RHB |
Low and inside | Low and away, usually off the plate |
| Curveball | 75.4 MPH |
11.6% vs LHB *** 12.2% vs RHB |
Anywhere below the zone | Low and away from the zone |
His splits:
| 2016 | TBF | wOBA | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | K% | BB% |
| vs LHB | 33 | .232 | .107 | .242 | .250 | 1 | 15.2% | 15.2% |
| vs RHB | 23 | .215 | .105 | .261 | .158 | 0 | 21.7% | 13.0% |
| HOME | 32 | .311 | .160 | .344 | .320 | 1 | 9.4% | 18.8% |
| AWAY | 24 | .110 | .046 | .125 | .091 | 0 | 29.2% | 8.3% |