Gameday Preview (Sunday): Rays try to Avoid Series Sweep vs. Mariners

The Tampa Bay Rays will enter Sunday’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners with the opportunity to end a difficult weekend with a win.

After losing in heartbreaking fashion on Friday night, Tampa Bay fell short of tying the series up with a 7-4 loss on Saturday, which doubled as Ichiro Suzuki's jersey retirement ceremony.

Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero both homered for the second day in a row, but it was not enough after the Ichiro-inspired Mariners scored six unanswered runs as a result of center fielder Julio Rodriguez going deep twice, and catcher Cal Raleigh hitting another three-run blast for his MLB-leading 44th home run of the season.

Now, the Rays can only hope to avoid the sweep before moving to the next stop of their West Coast trip, Sacramento, Calif., to play the Athletics. As it stands, Tampa Bay (57-61) is chasing an American League wild-card berth and needs to start piling up the wins.

Houser’s Chance to Bounce Back

After Tampa Bay acquired right-hander Adrian Houser in a deadline trade that sent first baseman Curtis Mead and right-handers Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples to the Chicago White Sox, Houser’s debut in a Rays uniform was shaky at best.

The 32-year-old allowed 11 hits and five earned runs over 5.2 innings in a 5-1 loss to the Angels on Aug. 4.

Despite a difficult opening appearance with his new team, Houser still holds a 6-3 record with a 2.54 ERA through 12 starts in 2025. In two appearances against the Mariners, Houser is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. Players on Seattle’s roster who have faced Houser are collectively hitting .250 (14-for-56) with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Rays Face Woo

Tampa Bay’s batting order will face Bryan Woo, Seattle’s 25-year-old right-hander. In his third season with the Mariners, Woo’s 3.02 ERA is No. 16 among qualified starters, according to MLB.com.

Woo has just one appearance vs. the Rays, which came last season. In the game, Woo pitched five innings while striking out three and allowing five hits and one earned run. The Rays won, 4-3.

As a result of Woo’s limited time facing the Rays, only four players on Tampa Bay’s roster have faced him (Yandy Diaz, Tristan Gray, Josh Lowe and Taylor Walls) while only registering seven total at-bats. They are hitting .429 (3-for-7) against Woo.

How to Watch Rays/Mariners

Who: Tampa Bay Rays (57-61, fourth in AL East) vs. Seattle Mariners (65-53, second in AL West).
When: Sunday, Aug. 10 at 4:10 p.m. ET.
Where: T-Mobile Park
TV: FanDuel Sports Sun
Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM/620 AM, WQBN 106.7/1300 AM (Spanish)
Betting information: The Mariners are favored on the money line at HardRockBet.com at minus-200 odds, and the money line odds for the Rays are plus-165. On the run line, you can bet the Rays plus-1.5 at minus-130 odds, and the Mariners minus-1.5 at plus-105 odds. The over/under is 7.5 runs.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams:

Rays Batting Order

Chandler Simpson LF
Yandy Diaz 1B
Brandon Lowe 2B
Junior Caminero 3B
Josh Lowe DH
Hunter Feduccia C
Ha-Seong Kim SS
Jake Mangum RF
Tristan Peters CF

Mariners Batting Order

Randy Arozarena LF
Cal Raleigh DH
Julio Rodriguez CF
Josh Naylor 1B
Eugenio Suarez 3B
Jorge Polanco 2B
Mitch Garver C
Dominic Canzone RF
J.P. Crawford SS

Rays Newsy Nuggets:

BRINGING THE HEAT: In Friday’s 7-4 loss to Seattle, Rays right-hander Joe Boyle threw 20 fastballs at 100-plus miles per hour in three innings, nearly doubling the Rays single-game record of 11 set by Diego Castillo on Sept 14, 2018, against the Athletics.

JUNIOR GOES DEEP: Rays All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero hit his 32nd home run of the season on Friday, his second in as many days and his fourth in the past three games. His 32 homers are sixth in Major League Baseball.