Rays ready for another tight series with Yankees
ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays are set for their usual battle with the Yankees when the American League East rivals open a weekend series at Tropicana Field on Friday night.
The teams met in New York three weeks ago, and all three games were decided by one or two runs, with the Yankees winning two.
“We had three really tight ballgames,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It felt like we could have won all three. They felt like they probably could have won all three.
“It seems to go that way when we play them.”
The Rays won the season series in three of the previous four years, with a 35-26 record over that span (2020-23) that is the best of any AL team against the Yankees.
The games tend to be emotional, close — nine of 13 last year were determined by three or fewer runs, six by one — and occasionally chippy, with the Rays hit by pitches 12 times last year.
“We know it’s going to be a good series,” said top Rays slugger Isaac Paredes, via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “They’re looking for it and we’re looking for it. We know we’re going to have to battle against them.”
The Yankees, who lost to the Astros on Thursday, come to the Trop with an AL-most 25 wins and one of the most potent offenses, led by Aaron Judge and 2024 addition Juan Soto. Cash also noted the effectiveness of their pitching staff, specifically the three starters they will face this weekend.
“They’ve got a lot of thump right in the middle of the order. We’ve got to execute pitches at a high rate,” Cash said. “And their pitchers who we’ve faced — we know (Clarke) Schmidt can pitch; (Nestor) Cortes has given us troubles in the past, feel like we’ve kind of gone back and forth with him; (Luis) Gil, a guy that we don’t know very well who’s got a big arm and only seems to be getting better.”
Bradley set for debut
Taj Bradley will make his first start of the season Friday after recovering from a spring pectoral muscle strain, saying he handled the frustration of the injury delay well.
“This being my first injury, I felt like I was in the principal’s office the first day,” he said. “But once they told me it was something that I could be back in a few months, it kind of just went away from my mind.
“I had a good group of guys in rehab with me, and they just helped me just have fun with it along the way. Our rehab coach, (Rick) Knapp, he helped me with my mechanics and stuff. And I kind of just turned a blind eye to it. Going back to Triple A was always fun. The guys I grew up playing with in the minors, they were there, so you got to goof around and just kind of make light of a bad situation.”
Rehab report
Infielder Jonathan Aranda went for 1-for-5 as the DH for Triple-A Durham and is 8-for-38 in 10 rehab games. … Closer Pete Fairbanks worked a 1-2-3, 10-pitch inning in his second, and possibly last, outing. … Second baseman Brandon Lowe, 2-for-4 with three walks in his first two games, had a scheduled night off.
Roster shuffling
Two players designated for assignment in the last week were lost on waivers.
Relief prospect Colby White, whose rise was slowed by April 2022 Tommy John surgery and who was off to a rough start at Triple A (17.61 ERA), was claimed by the Yankees. White was dropped from the 40-man roster to make room for catcher Alex Jackson.
Infielder/outfielder Niko Goodrum, who hit .188 in nine games for the Rays, was claimed by the Angels. He was dropped so Edwin Uceta could be added to the bullpen.
Miscellany
With the City Connect win streak over, expect the Rays to go back to their planned uniform rotation: Devil Rays throwbacks on Friday, City Connects on Saturday, light blue jerseys on Sunday. ... Cash on why there didn’t seem to be much energy in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss: “You’re not going to have energy when you get one run. That’s the reality of it.”
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