My Two Cents: New Guys in Rotation Need to Help Rays Get Hot

TAMPA, Fla — The trade deadline is over and all the moves have been made, at least on the personnel side. Now the Tampa Bay Rays need to make another move — back up in the standings. To do that, they're going to new their two new guys in the rotation to step up.

And that starts on Sunday

Rookie Joe Boyle, who replaced Taj Bradley in the rotation last week after five impressive outings, gets the nod on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And then, when the Rays head west for 12 games in 14 days, new addition Adrian Houser — who has pitched well all year the Chicago White Sox — will start Monday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim.

It seems so weird seeing new faces in the Rays' rotation after Drew Rasmusse, Ryan Pepiot, Shane, Bradley and Zack Littell all made 20 straight starts to begin the season. But Bradley was struggling and Littell has an expiring contract, so the Rays were able to move them for good pieces in return.

There has been a spot waiting for Boyle all season, because he dominated Triple-A hitters all year in Durham. But it was a bit of a surprise that the Rays traded for Houser, who is 32 years old and is on an expiring contract, too.

That, to me, was a sure sign that the Rays aren't giving up on a playoff run here in the last two months. And one thing is clear, Boyle and Houser are both going to have a lot to do with that. The Rays are 55-57 right now, and they'd love to wake up Tuesday morning back at .500.

"I'm very excited to be here,'' Houser said this weekend in the Rays' clubhouse. ''Being a pitcher, you hear about the good stuff that goes on around here and I'm excitedf to be a part of this group. It's going to be a fun two months down the stretch here, and hopefully I can jump right in and help the team win as many games as possible.

"For me, I'm going to go out there every game and try to pitch as many innings as possible, and put the team in the best spot possible every time in go out there. I want to give the guys in the bullpen a break whenever I can. ''

Houser broke into the big leagues in 2015 and was up and down with the Milwaukee Brewers through 2023. He was teammates with Drew Rasmussen there for a few years, so he does a familiar face in the clubhouse. He was just 1-5 with the New York Mets last year, with a lofty 5.84 ERA in 23 games, including seven starts.

He's been one of the big surprises across baseball this season, posting a 6-2 record in 11 starts with the White Sox, and posting an impressive 2.10 ERA. He debuted this season on May 20, and had back-to-back six-inning scoreless outings to start the season.

He also pitched seven scoreless innings against San Francisco on June 28 and eight ininings against Colorado on July 4 without allowing an earned run. He watched supposed to start for the White Sox on Wednesday, but got scratched as a deal was getting close before the Thursday deadline.

"It's been a crazy couple of years, but you play the cards you're dealt through the ups and downs,'' Houser said. "Throwing the ball so well, it seemed kind of evident that a trade would happen. I'm glad I landed here. I'm in a good spot and I'm ready to rock and roll.''

Boyle is new to the rotation, but he's been someone we've talked about all year. During a long stretch in April with no days off, Tampa Bay called up Boyle to start against the Atlanta Braves on April 13. All he did was pitch five no-hit innings — and then went straight back to Triple-A Durham.

He dominated down there, with an ERA at 1.85 and 96 strikeouts in 73 innings. In his first four appearances in July, he allowed just three earned runs in 14 innings, and slid into Bradley's spot in the rotation last week in New York.

It did not go well, as he struggled to find command of his fastball, which topped out at 100 mph on several occasions. He gave up six runs, four earned, and didn't make it out of the fourth inning.

Boyle said he learned a lot from that start, and is excited to get back on the mound on Sunday. The game starts at 12:10 p.m. ET.

"I learned the importance of count control and staying on the attack,'' Boyle said of his start against the Yankees, which ended with a 7-5 loss. "I just have to trust my stuff in the strike zone. Each time you go out there, you're exposing yourself to the stresses of a big-league game. I'm glad they've given me the opportunity here, and I'm excited about the next one.

"This is a good time to double down on my strenghts.''

Boyle and the entire pitching staff is having to get acclimated to new catchers, too. Hunter Feduccia and Nick Fortes were added to the roster at the break after Danny Jansen was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and Matt Thaiss was released.

Boyle pitched to Fortes Tuesday in New just a few hours before he met up with the Rays.

"I trust the coaching staff to get them up to date on what we like to do, but I'm also pretty simple out there. I'm probably going to throw a few fastballs.''

The Rays got a boost on Saturday, shutting out the Dodgers 4-0 behind a great performance from Drew Rasmussen and home runs by Yandy Diaz, who hit two, and Junior Caminero. The Rays have been up and down the past two months, going 25-9 in one stretch, but 8-21 since.

"The run we had in May and June was so long, and even though July wasn't the best month ever, that run was so long that it is sustainable. It is who we are. It's not like we got hot for 10 days. That was, what, six or eight weeks? That team is in here. It was great (Saturday). It was pretty stereotypical. We got good pitching one through nine and we got some big hits that left the yard.''

The Rays need more of that going forward, starting with this 12-game, 14-day road trip to the West Coast that starts Monday night in Anaheim. They have to finish that trip with a winning record to start reeling some teams in.

The Rays are 10 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East race. The good news there is the Rays still have seven games with the Jays, so they can make up group in head-to-head matchups. It's certainly possible, because the Rays are 5-1 against them so far.

They Rays are four games behind the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race — the Yankees and Red Sox have the first two wild-card spots — but the problem during this swoon is that the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals have all passed them too,.

They have work to do for sure, and it starts with getting big games from Boyle and Houser.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams:

Dodgers batting order

Shohei Ohtani DH
Mookie Betts SS
Freddie Freeman 1B
Will Smith C
Michael Conforto LF
Andy Pages CF
Alex Freeland 3B
Tommy Edmon 2B
Alex Call RF

Rays batting order

Yandy Diaz DH
Brandon Lowe 1B
Junior Caminero 3B
Josh Lowe RF
Ha-Seong Kim 2B
Hunter Feduccia C
Jake Mangum LF
Jonny DeLuca CF
Taylor Walls SS