The Florida Marlins placed pitcher Josh Johnson on the disabled list yesterday with shoulder issues, much to the relief of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays have had some offensive struggles recently, only scoring three runs in each of the first two games of this series, and losing both games this weekend. They're in danger of being swept out of Miami and heading north to Detroit in the midst of a bad losing skid and in danger of falling into third place in the AL East.
Without Josh Johnson starting, though, the Rays seem to have a fighting chance. Starting for the Rays today is James Shields (3.19 FIP), who has pitched even better than David Price so far this year: he's struck out more batters, gotten more groundballs, has generated more swinging strikes, has lasted longer into games, and has a much lower ERA. Considering the Rays' recent offensive production, he'll have to do better than Price did yesterday (6.2 IP, 5 ER) in order to get a win.
To face Shields, the Marlins have called up minor leaguer Jay Buente. Buente is a 27 year old right-handed pitcher that has spent most of his career thus far in the minor leagues. He pitched a few innings in the Marlins' bullpen last season, but this will be his first start at the major league level. He's works a split-fingered fastball and gets a large amount of groundballs, and you can find a full scouting report on him over at The Process Report.
Today's game will start at 1:10 PM.