After splitting the first two games of their series, the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays face off one more time. David Price takes the mound for the Rays, and Kyle Drabek for the Blue Jays.
David Price (3.95 ERA, 3.70 FIP) has pitched well in his starts so far this year, pumping heat while lasting deep into games and keeping the Rays close. While his strikeout numbers are slightly down so far this year (only 6.6 K/9), he's still generating a high number of whiffs (9.1%) and getting batters to hit a decent number of groundballs. He's also limiting walks so far this year like never before (1.98 BB/9), but that number will likely increase going forward along with his strikeout rate. In his last start against the Blue Jays, Price went eight innings while allowing four runs and striking out five, so we'll see if he can improve upon that this time out.
Kayle Drabek (4.45 ERA, 4.65 FIP) is taking the place of Ricky Romero, who was scratched from his start today due to a mild oblique strain. Drakek is a promising young pitcher for the Blue Jays, although he has struggled with his command this year and walked over five batters per nine. He strikes out a good number of batter (6.8 K/9) while inducing a high percentage of groundballs (50%), so it will be interesting to see how the Rays do against him today. This is his first start against the Rays this season.
Game time is 1:10 PM.