GameDay Preview: Rays Roll Over Rotation With Extra Day of Rest For McClanahan
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rest and recovery is important for pitchers this time of year, and Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan is back on the mound Friday night, feeling fresh after an extra day off this week.
McClanahan, who is 11-5 this season with a 2.28 ERA. beat Baltimore last Saturday. The Rays decided to call up Luis Patino from Triple-A Durham to pitch Thursday night's game and give their rotation an extra day of rest. It was a brilliant move, because Patino pitched 5 2/3 scorless innings on got his first win of the season.
The Rays got a 7-1 and now go into the rest of the weekend with McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen both well refreshed.
"It's huge. Luis is young, and just between injuries and almost a lack of outings on the mound for us, it has to be frustrating for him,'' said starter Drew Rasmussen, who will go on Saturday with a much-needed extra day of rest after pitching into the ninth inning last Sunday in his near-perfect game. ''Just to see him go out there and have fun and dominate was great.
"He provided depth for us, and always having that arm available for us is huge, it's key. It's always great to see him have success.''
The Rays sent Patino back down to Durham on Friday, but it's highly likely that he will be back with the Rays very soon. This current roster move was made more to have another fresh arm in the bullpen. That's why the Rays called up Kevin Herget, who was 8-1 at Durham with a 2.45 ERA.
Here's how to watch Friday night's game, with TV information, starting lineups, pitching bios and so much more:
How to watch Royals at Rays
- Who: Kansas City Royals (48-72) at Tampa Bay Rays (63-54)
- When: 7:10 p.m. ET, Friday, Aug. 19
- Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
- TV: Bally Sports Sun
- Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Ryan Bass (reporter).
- Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM, SiriusXM Channel 181
- Latest line: The Rays are favored at minus-200 on the money line in according to the Fanduel.com website line as of Wednesday morning. The Royals are plus-168. The over/under is 6.5.
Starting lineups
- KANSAS CITY ROYALS: MJ Melendez LF, Bobby Witt Jr. SS, Salvador Perez C, Vinnie Pasquantino 1B, Brent Rooker DH, Hunter Dozier 3B, Michael A. Taylor CF, Nicky Lopez 2B, Nate Eaton RF, Brady Singer P
- TAMPA BAY RAYS: Brandon Lowe 2B, David Peralta LF, Harold Ramirez DH, Ji-Man Choi 1B, Randy Arozarena RF, Taylor Walls SS, Roman Quinn CF,Isaac Paredes 3B, Francisco Mejia C, Shane McClanahan P.
Pitching matchup
- BRADY SINGER, KANSAS CITY ROYALS: Brady Singer is a 26-year-old right-hander and a native of Eustis, Fla., who had a great college career at the University of Florida. He is 6-4 on the year, with a 3.29 earned run average, and is the only Royals starter with a winning record. Singer pitched six innings of one-run ball and beat the Rays 6-3 on July 23 in Kansas City, allowing just three hits and recording 12 strikeouts.
- SHANE McCLANAHAN, TAMPA BAY RAYS: Shane McClanahan has been brilliant all year for the Rays. He is 11-5 with a 2.28 ERA. He is third in the AL in ERA, fourth in strikeouts and sixth in wins. McClanahan missed the Royals earlier this year, but pitched five scoreless innings and allowed just three hits to get a win in May of 2021.
Newsy Nuggets
- RAYS DOMINATING: The Rays have won five of their past six games, and have outscored the opposition 33-13 in that stretch. That's pretty impressive, especially since the New York Yankees scored eight of those runs after the sixth inning on Wednesday in the only loss in that stretch. The 20-run differential in a six-game stretch is tied for the most all season, along with July 2-6 stretch against Toronto and Boston.
- WILD-CARD RACE: For 47 of the past 48 days, the Rays have been in the playoff bracket, and that's still true on Friday. They are tied for second in the AL East, nine games behind the Yankees. They are tied with the Blue Jays for the fifth and sixth wild-card spots, one game behind the No. 4 seed Seattle Mariners, and 1.5 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins.
- SCHEDULE BREAK: According to Elias, the Rays have the toughest remaining schedule in the American League, but the only real remaining break is this eight-game homestand between the Royals (48-72) and Los Angeles Angels (51-67). It's a perfect time to make some hay.
- MARGOT RETURN: Rays outfielder Manuel Margot is set to come off the 60-day injured list on Saturday, provided all goes well in his final workouts. He was back in the Rays' clubhouse on Friday, and got lots of hugs and high-fives from teammates.
