Tampa Bay @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 29, 2023 ) Tampa Bay 4, Houston 17
There were some extenuating circumstances tied to the Houston Astros' five-homer outburst in their 17-4 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday, namely the fact that Rays reserve catcher Rene Pinto pitched the seventh inning and was taken deep three times.
But there were other factors at play for the Astros, who squared the three-game series by recording nine extra-base hits.
While renowned sluggers Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez homered in the seventh, it was the handiwork of the bottom third of the order that sparked the attack. Chas McCormick, Yainer Diaz and Jake Meyers finished a combined 8-for-13 with seven runs, five RBIs, three extra-base hits and two walks.
"That's why you stagger your lineup, to try to have some balance all the way through versus stacking guys that are swinging well," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "That's always a plus."
Right-hander Brandon Bielak (5-5, 3.62 ERA) is scheduled to start the rubber match for the Astros on Sunday.
Bielak allowed a season-high six runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks with five strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings but did not factor into the decision of a 10-9 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday. In four starts since being recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land on July 3, Bielak is 2-1 with a 2.01 ERA. Houston has won three of those starts.
Bielak will make his first career start against the Rays.
Right-hander Zack Littell (0-2, 5.11) is the scheduled starter for Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Littell worked two scoreless innings of relief Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing one hit and no walks with three strikeouts in the Rays' 5-3 loss.
He made his most recent start, his third of the season, on July 19 against the Rangers and surrendered one run on five hits with four strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings in a 5-1 loss.
Littell will make his first career appearance against the Astros. In 18 lifetime appearances against American League West opponents, he is 0-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings.
Before the start of the series, right-hander Tyler Glasnow was scheduled to start the finale on Sunday. Now that responsibility falls on Littell as the Rays pursue a victory in the rubber match.
It will mark just the eighth career start for Littell, whom the Rays selected off waivers from the Boston Red Sox on May 12. He threw a season-high 51 pitches in his start against the Rangers and only 37 when he started against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 5. Given those workloads, it's difficult to predict what the Rays can expect from Littell on Sunday.
"He's pretty fresh," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It was a two-inning outing against (Baltimore). Hand him the ball and let's see how far he can go. We were encouraged by how he did against Texas. Will he get to 100 pitches? Probably not. He'll probably say that he's good to throw 100 pitches.
"Hopefully we'll have similar results to what we had the other day against Texas because that was encouraging."
--Field Level Media