A pair of teams on the right side of the playoff cut line take the diamond down in the Lone Star State as a pair of American League teams kick off a series. The Tampa Bay Rays are on the road as they play the opening game of a three-game series with the Houston Astros Friday night. Tampa Bay closed a three-game set on the road with the Guardians Thursday evening. The Rays were beaten 2-1 in 10 innings in the middle game of the series Wednesday night. Houston split a two-game home interleague set with the Diamondbacks as they were beaten 5-2 in 10 innings Wednesday night. In the season series between the teams, the Astros swept the two meetings earlier this season at Tropicana Field September 19-21.
Tampa Bay battled but their lack of offensive production doomed them to a defeat in a pitchers’ duel against the Guardians Wednesday night. The Rays entered Thursday third in the AL East, 11 games behind the Yankees for the top spot. They were 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the top wild card spot and half a game ahead of Seattle, who held the final wild card position. On Wednesday, Tampa Bay finished with six hits with Ji-Man Choi (run) the lone player with two in the contest. Tyler Glasnow didn’t factor in the decision in his season debut as he went three innings, allowing one run on two hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Javy Guerra (2-1) took the loss in relief as he allowed one run (none earned) on one hit with two walks and no strikeouts in one-third of an inning.
Drew Rasmussen is on the mound for the Rays as he makes his 28th start of the season in this cont est. He comes in 10-7 with a 2.85 ERA, a 1.058 WHIP, 31 walks and 122 strikeouts over 139 innings of work on the year. Rasmussen took the loss in his last start, which came at home against the Blue Jays Saturday. He threw 6.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in a 3-1 Rays defeat. In his last three starts, Rasmussen is 0-3 with a 4.96 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, four walks and nine strikeouts over 16.1 innings of work. Rasmussen makes his third career start against the Astros in this contest. He comes in 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA, a 0.727 WHIP, one walk and five strikeouts over 11 innings of work against them. Rasmussen earned the win in his lone career start at Minute Maid Park, which came with the Rays on September 29, 2021. He threw five shutout innings, allowing one hit with no walks and two strikeouts in a 7-0 Tampa Bay victory.