The Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates are playing on the MLB schedule on Wednesday and the interleague series has an afternoon game from Tropicana Field starting up past 12:10 pm ET and the Rays come in as one of the worst teams in baseball and this is the third game of a three game series and the Bucs are trying to stay above .500 after pulling up in this series.
The Pirates have a tough pitching matchup with David Price against Charlie Morton and the team is looking to win its fifth straight and that would be the best of the season after their slow start. The Rays have been terrible and Price comes in with a 5-7 record and a 3.81 REA and he is looking to get his team back in the mix and they look like they are way done already, as they have 48 losses on the season and are in last place in the AL East after many thought they would be contenders in the AL and now they may not even come close to finishing with an even record.
Jeff Locke won the game for the Pirates in the last matchup and Mark Malancon had the save while Chris Archer was hit with the loss. The Rays pinch pennies and while they have a ton of young talent, the team cannot be carried by just Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist and now they are clearly in a slight rebuild as they go through this season. The Pirates have played better of late and they are now in third place in the NL Central behind the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, who have been one of the best teams in baseball.
The Pirates come into the game ranked in the top 10 in batting average and on base percentage and the team is also 17th in runs scored. The pitching has been up and down and they are improving and if the team can get that right, they could make it back into the playoffs after snapping their streak last year. The team opens up with the Mets next and that is an important series as well as they try and keep up this strong play.
The Rays play the Orioles next in Baltimore and the team has been struggling hard on offense, ranking 27th in runs and 25th in slugging. The team has been hit hard by injuries and they are ranked 20th in ERA and 26th in quality starts this season so far.
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