Gameday Preview (Tuesday): Rays Try to Reverse Fortunes At Home vs. Rangers
In this story:
TAMPA, Fla. — Wins against the Texas Rangers have been hard to come by lately for the Tampa Bay Rays. They'll try to change that this week, with a three-game series at Steinbrenner Field starting on Tuesday night.
The Rangers won all three games in Texas in early April, and are 12-2 in the regular season against the Rays since 2023. And that doesn't include the 2023 postgame heartbreak, when the Rays got swept by Texas in the playoffs at Tropicana Field in the AL Wild-Card series, losing 4-0 and 7-1 after winning 99 games that season.
We have a great pitching matchup tonight. It's Tyler Mahle (5-2, 1.64 ERA) for the Rangers against Drew Rasmussen (4-4, 2.33). Rasmussen has pitched 18 straight scoreless innings in his last three starts.
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 Rays-Astros
- Who: Texas Rangers (29-31) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (30-29)
- When: Tuesday, 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-144, and the Rangers' money line odds are plus-122. On the run line, you can bet the Rays minus-1.5 at plus-146 odds, and the Rangers plus-1.5 runs at minus-178 odds. The over/under is 7.5 runs.
Here are the starting lineups for both teams:
Rangers batting order
- Josh Smith DH
- Wyatt Langford LF
- Corey Seager SS
- Josh Jung 3B
- Alejandro Osuna RF
- Marcus Semien 2B
- Jake Burger 1B
- Evan Carter CF
- Kyle Higashioka C
Rays batting order
- Josh Lowe RF
- Brandon Lowe 2B
- Yandy Diaz DH
- Jonathan Aranda 1B
- Junior Caminero 3B
- Jake Mangum LF
- Kameron Misner CF
- Danny Jansen C
- Taylor Walls SS
Pitching matchup
- DREW RASMUSSEN, Tampa Bay: Drew Rasmussen is 4-4 with a 2.33 ERA, and is making his 12th start of the season. ... He has been the best pitcher in baseball the past two weeks, throwing six scoreless innings in all of his last three starts. ... The three wins during this run tie a career high, and his first three-game winning streak since 2022. He's never won four in a row. ... Rasmussen faced the Rangers earlier this year, allowing just one run in five innings. He didn't get a decision in the 4-3 Rays loss. ... Rasmussen has thrown just 81, 76 and 74 pitches in the three outings. It's the first time in Rays history that a pitcher has thrown six scoreless three times in a row without exceeding 81 pitches.
- TYLER MAHLE, Texas: Tyler Mahle is 5-2 with a 1.64 ERA and he has allowed two runs or less in 11 of his 12 starts. The 30-year-old right-hander from Newport Beach, Calif. pitched six scoreless innings in his last start against Toronto on May 29, allowing just four hits in a 2-0 loss. ... He pitched five scoreless innings in the 5-2 win over the Rays on April 4. He allowed only one hit that night, and had five strikeouts. ... Mahle has actually pitched at Steinbrenner Field before. He pitched a High-A minor-league game in Tampa in 2016. ... Opponents are batting just .192 against him.
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 this first hiomestand against the Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins. 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.
Follow tombrewsports