Tagged: Rays spring training battle

Rays Tie Baltimore in Opening Day Preview, Rotation to Be Set Today

The Rays tied the Orioles Thursday night 4-4 in 10 innings.

David Price was on the mound for his final start of the spring before opening up the season against the O’s Tuesday afternoon. He was limited to just four innings, but looked great, not allowing a single run. He also struck out three batters, while giving up just one hit and one walk.

The Rays’ lineup—which was mostly regulars—collected nine hits. Desmond Jennings had a 4-5 game with a stolen base and a run, and Evan Longoria went 2-for-3 with a long solo homer and an RBI single.

Here’s a full boxscore of Thursday’s game.

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Joe Maddon will make the decision on the fifth spot in the starting rotation this morning.

The Rays’ rotation order will also be announced today. Maddon has actually made up his mind on both already, but he’s not saying just yet. Roberto Hernandez appears to be the favorite for the job, despite having the worse spring.

Maddon has made it clear that he wants to get innings (preferably 7+) out of whoever wins the battle. 

One big hint pointing towards the likelihood of Hernandez getting the job is that the Rays are saying he’ll pitch three innings in a minor league game of the season. This could also possibly mean that  he’ll be the No. 3 starter rather than the No. 5.

Pretty interesting….we’ll see how it plays out later this morning.

Other Rays News and Notes:

  • The Rays traded RHP Dane De La Rosa to the Angels for RHP Steve Geltz Thursday. 
  • TampaBay.com’s annual Meet the Rays video series has arrived!
  • Forbes ranked the Rays last in MLB Team Values.
  • David Price and Sam Fuld do the famous “Who’s on First?” :

Niemann Sharp as Rays Fall to Jays 6-1, 5th Starter Decision to Come Later in Week

The Rays lost Wednesday by a score of 6-1 in Port Charlotte, but the main headline of the day was Jeff Niemann, who was excellent in his final Grapefruit League start.

The Tall Texan tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while walking none and striking out two.

The battle for the fifth spot in the rotation between Niemann and Roberto Hernandez is a very close one, and Joe Maddon’s decision may not come until Friday.

I think the right choice is to put Niemann in the rotation and Hernandez in the ‘pen, and I say that for a couple of reasons. Niemann has had the better spring statistically (2.92 ERA vs. 5.33 ERA) and Hernandez is better suited for the ‘pen, being a good groundball pitcher. Niemann has also proven that he’s a very effective starter when healthy, while Hernandez has been flat-out awful since 2008.

What do you guys think? :

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Back to the ballgame, not much news other than Niemann’s outing.

Both Fernando Rodney—making his first appearance since the World Baseball Classic—and Jake McGee had themselves a scoreless inning each.

The only Rays run was scored off a Yunel Escobar RBI triple, which was one of Escobar’s two hits of the day (finished game 2-2). Ryan Roberts also had had two hits, including a double (finished game 2-4).

Evan Longoria walked twice in three plate appearances, flying out in his only at bat.

Here’s for a full boxscore.