Seattle @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( May 15, 2010 ) Seattle 2, Tampa Bay 3
A walk-off win may help the Tampa Bay Rays start to regain some of their home-field magic from a season ago.
Having Matt Garza on the hill will help as well.
Garza takes the mound today for the Rays looking to notch his American League-best sixth win against Cliff Lee and the Seattle Mariners in the rubber game of a three-game set.
Tampa Bay won in dramatic fashion Saturday, as Willy Aybar capped the Rays’ rally with a walk-off homer in the ninth inning off Jesus Colome.
That type of flair for the dramatic was commonplace last season at Tropicana Field, where the Rays went 52-29, tying for third-best home record in baseball.
This season, things haven’t come nearly as easy at home. Tampa Bay is just 10-7 at home, compared to 15-4 on the road. The Rays are 1-1 on a five-game homestand that ends Tuesday.
Despite its subpar play at home, Tampa Bay is off to a major league-best 25-11 start. The Rays have done so on the strength of their tremendous young pitching staff.
The leader of the staff is Garza (5-1, 2.49), who reached five wins faster than any other pitcher in franchise history when he beat the Mariners on May 5. He allowed just two runs and five hits in eight innings of an 8-3 victory.
Garza gets a chance to pad his stats once more against the feeble Mariners’ offense. Seattle’s .233 team batting average is third-worst in baseball and only a recent power surge has moved it to 28th in home runs (19).
However, two Mariners’ hitters Garza shouldn’t overlook are Mike Sweeney and Ichiro Suzuki. Sweeney has homered in three straight games, and Ichiro has a career-best seven straight multi-hit contests.
Garza will have to slow that pair if he is to move ahead of the New Yankees’ due of Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes for the American League wins lead. He allowed four runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings, but did not receive a decision in a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.
The 26-year-old right-hander has had mixed results in five career starts vs. Seattle, going 2-1 with a 7.01 ERA.
He will be opposed by Lee (1-1, 2.01), a former Cy Young Award winner who looked like nothing of the sort against Garza last time out. The Rays rocked Lee for five runs and 10 hits in eight innings on May 5.
The left-hander responded by tossing a gem against Baltimore on Tuesday for his first win in a Mariners’ uniform. Lee, who was sidelined until April 30 with a strained abdomen, allowed one run and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings of a 5-1 victory.
Lee is 6-3 with a 2.53 ERA in 11 career starts vs. the Rays.