Tampa Bay @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 16, 2019 ) LA Angels 5, Tampa Bay 6

The Tampa Bay Rays haven't done much losing over the last two weeks, but the few defeats they have suffered are coming at a poor time for a club trying to end a five-year postseason drought. The Rays begin a critical five-game West Coast road trip on Friday, when they visit the Los Angeles Angels for the opener of a three-game series.

Tampa Bay appeared to be on the verge of creating some separation from Oakland and Cleveland in the American League wild-card race as recently as Tuesday, when it won for the 11th time in 12 games. The Rays, who will visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for two contests early next week, saw their six-game winning streak come to an end the next day in Texas and watched their lead over the Indians for the second wild card shrink to one-half game following Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Rangers in the rubber match of that series. The Angels may present Tampa Bay an opportunity to get back on track, however, as they have dropped four in a row, eight of their last 10 and 15 of 19. American League home-run leader Mike Trout has missed four straight games after undergoing a procedure to deaden the tissue around an irritated nerve in his foot last weekend but is expected to return to the lineup Friday.

TV: 10:07 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), FS West (Los Angeles)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Charlie Morton (14-6, 3.11 ERA) vs. Angels LH Andrew Heaney (4-4, 4.30)

Morton will take a second shot at matching his career high in wins after settling for a no-decision Saturday against Toronto despite giving up three runs and registering 10 strikeouts over six innings. The outing marked the seventh time this season the 35-year-old native of New Jersey registered double digits in strikeouts and sixth time in his last 13 turns. Trout is 3-for-15 with a home run and two RBIs versus Morton, who saw his 21-game unbeaten streak end on June 15 after yielding four runs in six frames against the Angels.

After posting a 2-0 record and 1.82 ERA over four starts in August, Heaney fell to 1-1 with a 6.55 ERA in two outings this month after he surrendered four runs over six innings in a road loss to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. The Oklahoma State product has allowed four runs in each of his last two turns after holding the opposition to a combined nine earned runs over his previous six turns. Heaney did not factor in the decision June 14 at Tampa Bay despite yielding one run in five frames.

WALK-OFFS

1. Rays 1B Ji-Man Choi enters this series having reached base in a club-record 10 consecutive plate appearances. Over that span, he has drawn seven walks and hit two homers.

2. The Angels announced on Thursday that DH Shohei Ohtani is set to undergo season-ending surgery to address bipartite patella in his left knee.

3. Tampa Bay is 26-11 at Angel Stadium since the start of the 2010 season and 9-1-1 in series play.

PREDICTION: Rays 6, Angels 2