Rays at Padres
The Tampa Bay Rays are taking on the look of a playoff team, armed with the best road record in baseball and a strong historical trend in their corner. Tampa Bay on Wednesday afternoon tries for its sixth straight victory after setting a club record with its ninth win in a row away from home when it goes for a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres, who may be without top rookie Fernando Tatis Jr.
Tampa Bay (71-50), which leads Oakland by three games for the final American League wild card spot, is 40-22 on the road - 2-8 at Yankee Stadium - and since the second wild card was added in 2012, all 27 teams to win at least 70 of their first 120 games made the postseason. Tatis left Tuesday's 7-5 loss with what the club is calling lower back spams, which appeared to have occurred during a sixth-inning at-bat in which he struck out. San Diego rookie Cal Quantrill takes the ball Wednesday after going 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA in his last five starts. “The ultimate compliment for a pitcher is: 'Do you give the team a chance to win every single time?'” Quantrill told reporters. “I'm feeling closer and closer. … Lately I’ve been going good.”
TV: 3:40 p.m. ET, MLB Network; FS Sun (Tampa Bay), FS San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays LH Jalen Beeks (5-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. Padres RH Cal Quantrill (5-3, 3.21)
Beeks allowed two runs (one earned), two walks and five hits with four strikeouts as a starter in 3 2/3 innings of Tampa Bay's 5-3 victory at Seattle on Aug. 9. The 26-year-old Arkansas native followed Diego Castillo in his previous outing - an 8-6 Rays' victory over Miami on Aug. 3, yielding four runs (three earned) in four innings. Beeks, who has never faced San Diego, has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) in two starts over 7 1/3 innings this season.
Quantrill allowed five hits with five strikeouts in seven scoreless innings of a 7-1 victory over Colorado on Friday. “There's just real attack to everything he's doing, and the hitters feel that,” San Diego manager Andy Green told reporters about the 24-year-old Canadian. “He's owning the momentum on the mound.” Quantrill owns a 1.14 WHIP and .235 batting average against with 57 strikeouts and 18 walks in 70 frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Tampa Bay RF Avisail Garcia (.278, 17 home runs, 57 RBIs) left Tuesday's game reportedly with right oblique tightness.
2. Rays 1B Ji-Man Choi was hitless in his previous 14 at-bats before going 3-for-5 on Tuesday, including a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning.
3. Tampa Bay, which has won nine straight versus the Padres, is 8-2 in a stretch of 21 straight games versus teams with losing records and is 14-3 in its last 17 overall.