Gameday Preview (Thursday): Rays Look For Sweep of Rangers Behind Ryan Pepiot
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TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to sweep the Texas Rangers on Thursday night, and that's a good thing. They could use it.
The Rangers have been tough on Tampa Bay the past few years, winning 13 of 14 games before the Rays grabbed 5-1 and 5-4 wins to start this series at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
Three of those losses came in early April on the Rays' first road trip of the season, so a payback would be nice. Ryan Pepiot starts for the Rangers and Jack Leiter goes for the Rangers. The Rays have been playing great of late, going 11-3 in their last four games. They have outscored opponents 84-28 in that stretch, a whopping 56 run differential. They also have a plus-11 home run differential, an MLB-best at 23-12.
Here's everything you need to know to watch the game, including the later start for night games that kicks in for June games.
How to watch Rangers-Rays
- Who: Texas Rangers (29-33) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (32-29)
- When: Thursday, June 3 at 7:35 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 Rays are favored on the money line at Fanduel.com at minus-142, and the Rangers' money line odds are plus-120. On the run line, you can bet the Rays minus-1.5 at plus-134 odds, and the Rangers plus-1.5 runs at minus-162 odds. The over/under is 9 runs.
Here are the starting lineups for both teams:
Rangers batting order
- Josh Smith 1B
- Wyatt Langford CF
- Corey Seager SS
- Josh Jung 3B
- Alejandro Osuna LF
- Marcus Semien 2B
- Adolis Garcia RF
- Jake Burger DH
- Jonah Heim C
Rays batting order
- Josh Lowe RF
- Brandon Lowe 2B
- Yandy Diaz DH
- Jonathan Aranda 1B
- Junior Caminero 3B
- Kameron Misner CF
- Christopher Morel LF
- Taylor Walls SS
- Danny Jansen C
Pitching matchup
- RYAN PEPIOT, Tampa Bay: Ryan Pepiot is 3-5 with a 3.21 ERA, and is making his team-high 13th start of the season as the Rays roll back over to the top of the rotation. ... He has five quality starts in a row dating back to May 8. but he's just 1-1 in that stretch. ... In his last outing, he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits on May 30 against Houston. ... This is Pepiot's ninth home starts, which is tied for the lead in the majors with the Rays' front-loaded schedule. ... It might just be coincidence, but June is the worst month of Pepiot's young career. He has a 5.33 ERA in 25 1/3 innings of work.
- JACK LEITER, Texas: Jack Leiter is 4-2 with a 3.66 ERA and the 25-year-old right-hander from Plantation, Fla., has been sharp lately. ... In his last four starts dating back to May 13, he's 2-0 with a 2.28 ERA. ... In his last outing, he pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits in an 11-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. ... On May 18 against Houston, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a solo home run to catcher Yainer Diaz. ... Leiter missed three weeks in April with a blister on his right middle finger. ... Leiter has pitched in 18 games thus far in his career, but this is his first against Tampa Bay, and his first-ever start in the state of Florida. ... The former Vanderbilt star was the second-round pick of the Rangers in 2021. ... He is the son of former All-Star pitcher Al Leiter.
Related Rays stories
- RAYS SCHEDULE CHANGES: As we roll into June, there is a new set of starting times for Tampa Bay Rays baseball games during the rest of the summer. Here's the new schedule, with start times and TV information. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: Home plate umpire Nic Lentz missed a call and Tampa Bay shortstop Taylor Walls didn't like it. And then he went too far and got thrown out of the game, which led to great theatrics. Walls was wrong, though, and went too far. Here is "Tampa Bay Rays on SI" publisher Tom Brew's column CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is the publisher of ''Tampa Bay Rays on SI'' and has been with the Sports Illustrated platform since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He owns eight sites on the "On SI'' network and has written four books.
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