ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This has been a mostly-ugly first half of the baseball season for the Tampa Bay Rays, but they're starting to come to life after winning
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This has been a mostly-ugly first half of the baseball season for the Tampa Bay Rays, but they're starting to come to life after winning five of their last seven games on this recent road trip.
This is a different Rays team right now compared to what we saw in April and May. It starts with the bats. Defending AL batting champ Yandy Diaz, left fielder Randy Arozarena and center fielder Jose Siri were all awful those first two months. But they've all hit their stride in June, and that makes this lineup look much more dangerous.Diaz hit just .202 in April with no homers and only six RBIs. He was better in May , but has been on fire in June. He's hitting .
Now comes an important homestand, with three games against AL West leader Seattle and three more against a Washington team that's 38-39 and for more competitive than anyone expected this year. The Rays haven't been good at all at home this year, going just 19-23 against a fairly soft schedule.During this five-year playoff run, the Rays are a combined 105 games over .500 at Tropicana Field. That's why this year's troubles seem so out of character.
The middle of the AL is pretty mediocre, and the Rays fit right in. But a hot streak over the next two or three weeks might change their perception in a hurry.Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jared Jones nailed Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Amed Rosario in the face with a 100 mile-per-hour fastball Saturday afternoon.
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