A pair of teams in the thick of the American League wild card race continue a series on the diamond down in the Sunshine State. The Cleveland Guardians are on the road as they play the middle game of a three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday afternoon. Cleveland split a four-game road set up in Beantown as they were beaten 4-2 in the series finale Thursday night. Tampa Bay was blanked 3-0 in the finale of their four-game set in Charm City by the Orioles to drop three of four in the series. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the series opener at Tropicana Field Friday night.
Cleveland was one big swing from winning the series with the Red Sox in Boston as they were knocked off in the series finale Thursday night. The Guardians entered Friday second in the AL Central, two games behind the Twins for the top spot in the division race. In the AL wild card picture, the team was 2.5 games behind the Rays for the final wild card spot. On Thursday night, Cleveland finished with only five hits as Josh Naylor was the lone player with two. Jose Ramirez hit his 20th homer of the season in the loss but the Guardians were zero for eight with runners in scoring position. Triston McKenzie (7-7) took the loss on the mound as he gave up four runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings of work.
Jose Ramirez has always been a pesky hitter.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/GErVeUB5r2
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuar dians) July 29, 2022
Zach Plesac toes the slab for the Guardians as he logs his 19th start of the season in this contest. He comes in 2-8 with a 4.09 ERA, a 1.263 WHIP, 26 walks and 72 strikeouts over 99 innings of work on the year. Plesac took the loss in his last start, which came Monday on the road against Boston. He threw five innings, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a game the Guardians eventually dropped 3-1. In his last three starts, Plesac is 0-2 with a 5.93 ERA, a 1.46 WHIP, four walks and 12 strikeouts over 13.1 innings of work. Plesac makes his third career start against the Rays in this contest. He comes in 0-1 with a 6.17 ERA, a 1.457 WHIP, three walks and seven strikeouts over 11.2 innings of work against them. Plesac lost his lone career start at Tropicana Field, which came back on August 31, 2019. He threw five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in a game the Guardians lost 9-6.< /p>