The Rays will face right-handed pitcher Nick Blackburn to wrap up this three-game series at the Metrodome. Blackburn is 1-1 in four starts this season and has a 4.44 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He has made one career start against the Rays, and it was a start he’d rather forget. Tampa Bay clubbed him for six runs in just 1 1/3 innings last season.
In that game, Jason Bartlett had a pair of RBI, Aki had a triple and Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena had run-scoring doubles.
Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Rays, making his fifth start of the season. He is 3-1 so far with a 3.97 ERA. In his career, Kaz has made five starts against the Twins, going 2-3 with a 3.18 ERA against them. Three of these starts have been at the Metrodome, where he is 1-2.
The regular Twins lineup has not recorded much success against Kazmir. Justin Morneau is 3-12 with 2 HR against him lifetime. Joe Crede is 2-7. But, look for Michael Cuddyer to possibly get the night off. He is a career 0-10 against Kaz.
Eventhough it’s getaway day, game time is 8:10 ET. This means that the Rays will have a quick turnaround to play the Red Sox on Thursday night. Boston will be about an hour ahead of them, coming in from Cleveland.
A win tonight will make me feel much better going into the Boston series.
Amen to that. I figured they needed to go at worst 4-3 this week. A win tonight goes a long way to that goal.