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The Rays finally had a off day yesterday after playing 20 consecutive games stemming from April 28th. Before the off day though, the Rays had just garnered a series victory of the Indians in Cleveland, taking the final two games of the three game series. The back to back victories have improved the Rays to 21-22 on the season.
The Rays return to the Trop tonight and they’ll welcome in the division leading New York Yankees, who currently hold a record of 24-14, with a five and half game lead over the Rays (while they have a game and half lead over the Orioles, who are in second place).
The Yankees are coming off a series victory over the Royals, although they dropped the final game of the series last night, 5-1. The Yankees have actually lost four of their last six games.
Starting Pitchers
Erasmo Ramirez
Rays fans have to love Erasmo Ramirez. He does whatever he is asked to do, and always does it well. So far this season, he has been an incredible relief option for Kevin Cash, but has also been called upon to make a start as well. That came back on April 20th against the Tigers where he surrendered a lead off home run, the shut down the Tigers for five innings.
Luis Severino
He has been one of the Yankees best pitchers thus far in 2017, but he suffered one of the worst outings of his career during his last start. It came on the 14th against Houston where the Astros knocked him out of the game with an out in the 3rd inning. The damage wasn’t too much though as he only allowed three runs on six hits, while he walked three and struck out two.
Severino keeps it simple for opposing hitters as he only has three offerings for batters to decipher. A fastball in the upper 90’s, with a change-up and slider in the upper 80’s. Righies can expect an even split between the fastball and slider, while he relies on the fastball much more of the time to lefties.
He has been a reverse splits guys thus far this year, with righties faring much better than lefties. However, he striking out over 30% of righties compared to just over 20% of lefties. On the road this season, he has been dominant while he has struggled heavily at Yankee Stadium.