Skip to main content

Braves move on to Florida to play the Rays

The Braves open up a two-game series in St. Petersburg Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays

The Braves (2-1) continue their season-opening road trip Monday when they move to St. Petersburg to play the Tampa Bay Rays (2-1).

In the first game, Mike Foltynewicz will go for the Braves. After he looked awful in the exhibition game against the Marlins last week, Foltynewicz will be under the spotlight as fans wonder if he can be a dependable starter for the Braves.

Of course, last year, Foltynewicz had two different stretches:

Foltynewicz in his first 11 starts of 2019: 2-5, 6.37 – 64 hits allowed 59.1 IP, 20 BB, 50K
Foltynewicz in his last 10 starts of 2019: 6-1, 2.65 – 45 hits allowed in 57.2 IP, 17 BB, 55K

He will face Tyler Glasnow, who was 6-1 last season with a 1.78 ERA in 12 starts.

On Tuesday, Kyle Wright makes his first start of the season. Yonny Chirinos will start for the Rays. He was 9-5 last season with a 3.85 ERA in 26 games (18 starts).

Here are some notes on the Rays:

C – Mike Zunino - Former Florida Gator
1B – Ji-Man Choi – had a HR Sunday
2B – Joey Wendle or Brandon Lowe (hitting .455 – was 3-5 Sunday)
SS – Willy Adames – hitting .333
3B – Yoshi Tsutsugo - hitting .111
LF – Manual Margot – 1-10 to start the season
CF – Kevin Kiermaier – hitting only .083
RF – Hunter Renfroe – 0-7 to start the season
DH – Jose Martinez – off to a slow start - .125

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.