The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays are facing off on Thursday and the game starts up at 1:10 pm ET from Tropicana Field and has Ricky Nolasco facing off against Erik Bedard as the two AL teams try to pull up over .500 early in the season and both have been in the mix in their divisions and the matchup will be streaming from the MLB.com website.
The Rays come into the game at 10-11 and they are currently in fourth place in the AL east and they have been up and down to start the season, including when they tagged the Yankees for 16 runs in a game, which was a season high for both teams early on. The Rays are playing a series against the White Sox next and they come in looking for Bedard to settle things down after losing Matt Moore to Tommy John surgery and Alex Cobb to an injury and the Rays need the pitching to get better with David Price and Chris Archer.
The team comes in after a 6-4 loss against the Twins and now they are trying to get the series finale and the Rays are ranked 19th in runs this season early on and they are also 19th in slugging percentage and batting average, while they come in at 10th in on base percentage. The pitching has been all over the place and they are 16th in ERA and 23rd in quality starts and they are also seventh in WHIP and 11th in BAA as the season presses into the end of April and they are hoping they can overcome those serious injuries. Archer will get the first start for the Rays against Chicago in the next series.
The Twins will play the Tigers next and they have started out well compared to last season, as they are 10-10 and second in the division with the White Sox and Indians there as well and all the teams in the central have a chance this year based on the way they have started. The Royals are improved and so are the White Sox and the game on Friday will have Rick Porcello starting for the Tigers at Target Field.
Chris Colabello has been red hot and he is one of the league leaders in batting and that is one reason why the team is ranked fourth in runs. Nolasco starts after signing a four-year, $49 million deal in the offseason and he comes in at 1-2 and is looking to get back on track and the Twins now have the chance to win the series while taking two games of the three game set.
Check here for the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins live coverage from MLB.
