The Rays have been in a bad funk recently. After going 2-5 on their recent road trip, the Rays have slipped out of first place in the AL East and currently sit a game and a half behind the Yankees and Red Sox. The Rays' offense has seemingly turned off, the starting pitching has been shaky at times, and the bullpen has blown a few late leads. It's been a maelstrom of slumps hitting the team all at once.
Thankfully, the road trip is over and the Rays are back at Tropicana Field. Not only that, but the Rays have their top three pitchers throwing this weekend: David Price, James Shields, and Jeremy Hellickson. They'll need every bit of good pitching they can get, as the red hot Cleveland Indians (30-17, 1st place in AL Central) come to town.
Facing David Price today is Josh Tomlin (2.41 ERA, 4.25 FIP), a low strikeout control artist that has a bit of a problem with the long ball. Tomlin has hittable stuff and doesn't induce many groundballs, so the Rays should be able to hit him. While Tomlin's ERA makes him look like an ace, he's feasted on weak competition so far this season and isn't likely to keep that shiny ERA much longer.
Tonight's game will start at 7:10 PM. Here's hoping the Rays can get the series off on the right foot.