Clinging to slim playoff hopes, Rays seek series win vs. Athletics

Aug 22, 2024, 7:26 AM | Updated: 7:38 am

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 20: Christopher Morel #24 of the Tampa Bay Rays gets the out of Abraha...

(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

Sactown Sports

Two consecutive victories in Oakland have moved Tampa Bay two games above .500 and 6 1/2 games out of the final American League wild-card spot. It’s reasonable to think the mood among the Rays could be upbeat ahead of the series-ending matinee on Thursday.

That’s not quite the case.

Late in their 4-2 win against the A’s on Wednesday night in the third game of a four-game series, Tampa Bay third baseman Jose Caballero and first baseman Yandy Diaz were seen arguing with each other in the visitors’ dugout, apparently over the effort on a play in the eighth inning. They needed to be separated.

“You know, emotions,” Caballero said in the Rays’ clubhouse postgame. “We’re just trying to be the best that we can be. Things happen. We’re in a bad stretch. We wish we would be in a playoff position … and that could be one of the things that got us. Emotions got us.”

Lightning strikes twice ⚡ pic.twitter.com/hjjIzJzzHV

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 22, 2024

Athletics vs. Rays preview

Though it might feel like it, especially since they were sellers at the trade deadline and are in fourth pace in the AL East, the Rays are not out of the playoff picture, even if they are barely hanging on. They have won five of their past six games, and Jose Siri was instrumental in the past two.

The center fielder snapped an 0-for-21 slide with a solo shot, the lone run in the Rays’ 1-0 win on Tuesday. Then he crushed a 423-foot, go-ahead two-run blast on Wednesday in the seventh inning against Oakland starter Mitch Spence.

Siri has 16 homers this year, four against Oakland.

“He’s a special player. We know that,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “What he’s capable of doing, it’s pretty consistent defensively, and the hitting is pretty streaky, but when he gets timed up at the plate, he can hit the ball a long way.”

The A’s are tied for the second-worst record in the AL, yet even after two straight losses, they are still 17-12 since the All-Star break. That is the seventh-best record of any big-league team in that span. Oakland took the series opener 3-0 on Monday and will seek a bookend win on Thursday.

The Athletics’ JJ Bleday is on a homer hot streak as well, hitting his fourth in nine games on Wednesday in the first inning.

Perhaps Oakland’s hottest pitcher — right-hander Osvaldo Bido (4-3, 3.40 ERA) — takes the mound Thursday against Tampa Bay lefty Jeffrey Springs (1-1, 3.86).

Bido, 28, has never faced the Rays. He was a middle reliever for much of the season, but injuries opened a spot in the rotation last month, and Bido has proven to be a capable starter lately with two career-best performances.

He allowed a total of three hits in his past two starts, throwing six scoreless innings in each. In a 91-pitch outing the last time out, Bido struck out six, surrendered only an infield single and walked two in a 2-0 home at against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

“That was probably his best outing of the year,” A’s manager Mark Kotstay said. “He commanded the ball really well. He really dominated the lineup.”

Springs, 31, will make his fifth start of the season, all since July 30 when he joined the Rays’ rotation to replace Zach Eflin, who was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles. Springs had Tommy John surgery last year. He has thrown 18 2/3 innings in 2024, allowing 22 hits, striking out 21 and walking five.

He is 5-1 with a 3.34 ERA in 16 appearances, including two starts, against the A’s. His most recent start against Oakland occurred on April 8, 2023. Springs allowed three hits in seven shutout innings, striking out seven, in an 11-0 win.

–Field Level Media