Gameday Preview (Saturday): Great Pitching Matchup Between Blake Snell, Drew Rasmussen

Former Tampa Bay great Blake Snell is back on the mound after a four-month layoff, and he gets the start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. Here is our gameday preview, with a great pitching matchup, batting orders and lots of newsy nuggets.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell (7) makes his first start in four months on Saturday when he takes on the Tampa Bay Rays. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

TAMPA, Fla. — It's fair to say that Drew Rasmussen is the best pitcher in the Tampa Bay organization right now, and Blake Snell used to be. On Saturday, they will share the same mound at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa when the Rays take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Rasmussen joined the Rays in 2021 and is 27-16 since then. Despite working on pitch count limits, he's been the Rays' best starter this season, going 8-5 with a 2.96 ERA. Snell, who pitched for the Rays from 2016 to 2020, won 42 games for the Rays and the won the Cy Young Award in 2018 with a 21-5 record.

The Rays traded Snell to the San Diego Padres, and he spent three years there. He pitched for San Francisco in 2024 and signed a huge free-agent deal — for five years and $182 million — with the Dodgers in the offseason.

He made two starts to begin the year, but has been out since April with a shoulder issue. This is his first start since coming off the injured list.

"In 2018, Cy Young, he had pretty dominant stuff,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said when asked about him memories of Snell. "What stands out to me now is the longevity that he's shown. He's been a good pitcher for so many years, and we knew that when we had them and he's backed that up.

"He's building himself back up now, and I don't know if we'll see him for five, six innings or not, but I know we have our work cut out for us.''

Here's how to watch the game on Saturday, with all the details:

How to watch Dodgers-Rays

• Who: Los Angeles Dodgers (64-46) at Tampa Bay Rays (54-57)
• When: Saturday, Aug. 2 at 1:10 p.m. ET
• Where: Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, Fla.
• TV: FanDuel Sports Sun
• Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM/620 AM, WQBN 106.7/1300 AM (Spanish)
• Betting information: The Dodgers are favored on the money line at HardRockBet.com at minus-120, and the Rays' money line odds are plus-105. On the run line, you can bet the Dodgers minus-1.5 at plus-130 odds, and the Rays plus-1.5 runs at minus-165 odds. The over/under is 8.5 runs.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams:

Dodgers batting order

1. Mookie Betts SS
2. Shohei Ohtani DH
3. Freddie Freeman 1B
4. Teoscar Hernandez RF
5. Michael Conforto LF
6. Andy Pages CF
7. Alex Freeland 3B
8. Dalton Rushing C
9. Migeul Rojas 2B

Rays batting order

1. Yandy Diaz 1B
2. Ha-Seong Kim 2B
3. Brandon Lowe DH
4. Junior Caminero 3B
5. Christopher Morel LF
6. Josh Lowe RF
7. Jonny DeLuca CF
8. Taylor Walls SS
9. Hunter Feduccia C

Pitching matchups

• DREW RASMUSSEN, Tampa Bay Rays: Drew Rasmussen is 8-5 on the year with a 2.96 earned run average. ... The right-hander who turned 30 years old last week from is making his 22nd start of the season and 14th at home. ... The Rays cut back Rasmussen's work load in July, pitching just eight innings in four starts. He's thrown 75 and 81 pitches in two starts since then, victories over the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. ... Rasmussen made the All-Star team for the first time, and pitched a perfect inning for the American League. ... The Washington native who pitched collegiately at Oregon State has allowed three runs or less in 12 of his 13 starts at Steinbrenner Field. ... This is his first start vs. the Dodgers, but he did pitch two scoreless innings in relief against them on Aug. 25 last year in Los Angeles

• BLAKE SNELL, Los Angeles Dodgers: Blake Snell is making just his third start of the season, missing nearly four months with a shoulder injury after just two outings. He was activated on Saturday. ... The 32-year-old left-hander from Seattle, Wash., pitched for Tampa Bay for five years from 2016 to 2020 and he's faced them twice since then. The Rays clobbered him a year ago when he was pitching for the Giants, scoring seven runs off of him in four innings on April 14. ... Snell is one of only five reigning Cy Young Award winners to throw a no-hitter. He did that a year ago. today — on Aug. 2 against the Cincinnati Reds. He had 11 strikeouts that day. Dodgers Clayton Kershaw (2013) and Sandy Koufax (1963) have done it, along with Bob Gibson (1970 with St. Louis) and Jake Arrieta (Chicago Cubs, 2015).

Newsy Rays-Dodgers nuggets

• RAYS CHANGES UP THE MIDDLE: Taylor Walls is back in the lineup Saturday, and he's getting the start at shortstop. Ha-Seong Kim, who came off the injured list Friday (back), is getting the start at second base. Cash said when both play that Walls will get the starts at shortstop. Kim will play short with Brandon Lowe is in the lineup defensive at second. Lowe is DH on Saturday.

• SLUMPING RAYS: The Rays had the worst record in baseball in June, going 7-18. Even the horrible Colorado Rockies won nine. They are three games under .500 right now at 54-57. The low-water mark on the year was 21-26, five games under .500, but then they went 25-9 after that. The Rays are an MLB-worst 8-22 since June 27.

• ADRIAN HOUSER ARRIVES: Starting pitcher Adrian Houser was in the Tampa Bay clubhouse on Saturday. Acquired from the Chicago White Sox, the plan is for him to start Monday night's road game against the Los Angeles Angels. Reliever Kevin Kelly, who's been really struggling during this losing streak, was sent down to Triple-A Durham to make room for Houser. Kelly has allowed at least one baserunner in 12 straight outings, and 17 of 18. In July he's allowed 12 runs and 18 hits in just 10 innings of work.