Tampa Bay Rays at Seattle Mariners
SEATTLE (Interstat) — The Tampa Bay Rays will try to complete a three-game sweep when they visit the Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.
Tampa Bay enters with a 70-46 record, while Seattle is 56-62. The Rays have won the first two games of the series, 2-1 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday, and lead the season series 4-1. The forecast calls for cloudy skies and a game-time temperature of 83 degrees.
Tampa Bay’s Steven Matz is a player to watch after earning the win Saturday with two scoreless innings of relief. Matz allowed no hits and struck out two. Over his past five appearances, he has allowed one earned run in 7 2/3 innings with six strikeouts, though he took a loss July 28 against Texas.
Josh Naylor is the Mariners’ player to watch. In Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, he went 3 for 4 with two home runs and two RBIs. Naylor also had two RBIs in Seattle’s 7-6 win over Minnesota on Aug. 2 and has shown power at times during the Mariners’ recent stretch.
The Rays have been strong following Wednesday’s 4-0 shutout at Colorado and a 9-7 extra-inning victory Tuesday. Tampa Bay won the first two games of this series despite Seattle’s late push Saturday. The Rays’ bullpen, including Matz, Tyler Wells and Bryan Baker, helped lock down the latest win.
Seattle has lost four of its last five games, including a 11-0 loss to Detroit and a 8-0 loss at home earlier in the week. The Mariners did win 4-2 on Aug. 5 and 7-6 on Aug. 2, but consistency has been an issue.
According to Interstat’s game simulator, the projected final score is Tampa Bay 7, Seattle 4. Interstat’s ELO system gives Tampa Bay a 52.00 percent probability to win.
After Sunday’s game, Tampa Bay opens a three-game series at on Monday. Seattle will travel to New York to face the Yankees for three games beginning Tuesday.