Tampa Bay @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( May 7, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 4, Oakland 1
The Tampa Bay Rays are simply on a roll and can’t seem to be solved - particularly on the road.
The Rays improved to 22-7 with Friday’s 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics and are off to the best start in the majors since the 2003 New York Yankees began 23-6.
More impressively is the way Tampa Bay has dominated on the road, where they moved to 13-1. The mark is the best road record to open a campaign since the Detroit Tigers went 17-0 away from the friendly confines in 1984.
Tampa Bay’s lone road defeat came at the hands of the Chicago White Sox on April 20.
The Rays again made it look fairly easy in dispatching Oakland in the opener of the squad’s three-game set as David Price allowed just one unearned run on three hits in 7 2/3 innings and three players brought in runs.
The A’s will try to put an end to Tampa Bay’s road dominance as they turn to veteran Ben Sheets on Saturday.
After two dismal starts and a trio of consecutive losses, Sheets must find a way to regain his old form if he wants to have a chance at success.
The right-hander has allowed 17 earned runs on 19 hits in a combined 7 1/3 innings during his last two outings, one of which included an 8-6 loss to the Rays on April 27.
Sheets, a former ace who signed with Oakland over the winter after missing all of last season because of surgery, hasn’t pitched more than six innings in any of his six starts. He has struggled with issuing free passes, holding a career-high 4.7 walks-per-nine-innings rate.
Taking the ball for Tampa Bay is Wade Davis, who has been great in his first full season in the majors and will be looking for his third straight victory.
The 24-year-old is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 20 innings. His best start was his last one, tossing seven shutout innings while scattering three hits with five strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Kansas City.
Rays closer Rafael Soriano recorded his eighth save in as many tries by working a perfect ninth on Friday.
Evan Longoria snapped his 12-game hitting streak as he failed to record a base knock in the win.