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Game 24 Preview: Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox

The Rays bring their 6 game winning streak to Fenway

Tampa Bay Rays v Boston Red Sox Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Will the magic continue for the Tampa Bay Rays as they voyage back to Boston for their second series in Fenway in 2018.

The Rays are coming off back-to-back sweeps as they’ve won six games in a row to bring their record thus far in 2018 to 10-13. They’ll have their work cut out for them as they face the Boston Red Sox, who are the best team in baseball currently with a record of 19-5.

Starting Pitchers

Blake Snell vs Drew Pomeranz

Snell has been the best pitcher on the Rays stuff this far in the early stages of the 2018 season. After stumbling a bit out of the gate, Snell has been fantastic over his last three outings as he has given up just one run per outing, while pitching deeper with each passing contest.

His last start came on the 21st against the Twins where he allowed a run on five hits, while he didn’t walk batter and racked up six strikeouts.

Drew Pomeranz Scouting Report

He was activated from the disabled list last week and made his season debut against the Athletics on the 20th where he proceeded to allow three runs on five hits, before leaving with two outs in the fourth inning. Although he was hit around, he was missing bats as he struck out seven during his brief stay in the game.

His repertoire per Brooks Baseball

In 2018, he has relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (89mph) and Curve using a Knuckle Curve grip (78mph), also mixing in a Cutter(85mph) and Sinker (88mph).

His fourseam fastball is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ fourseamers, has less armside movement than typical, has slightly below average velo and has some added backspin. His curve has an exceptional bite and is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ curves. His cutter (take this with a grain of salt because he’s only thrown 12 of them in 2018) is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers’ cutters, is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ cutters and has good “rise”. His sinker (take this with a grain of salt because he’s only thrown 9 of them in 2018) is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, has less armside run than typical and has slightly below average velo.

Starting Lineups

Today's Lineups

TAMPA BAY RAYS BOSTON RED SOX
Matt Duffy - 3B Mookie Betts - RF
C.J. Cron - DH Hanley Ramirez - DH
Carlos Gomez - RF J.D. Martinez - LF
Wilson Ramos - C Mitch Moreland - 1B
Daniel Robertson - 2B Xander Bogaerts - SS
Brad Miller - 1B Eduardo Nunez - 3B
Adeiny Hechavarria - SS Jackie Bradley - CF
Mallex Smith - CF Christian Vazquez - C
Rob Refsnyder - LF Tzu-Wei Lin - 2B
Blake Snell - LHP Drew Pomeranz - LHP