The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Tampa Bay Rays – INSIDE PITCH
Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson woke up nauseous and felt worse as Sunday went on, so sick that he threw up once on the mound and several times in the dugout.
But he felt well enough to pitch, and the Rays were better for it as he worked six innings to help the Rays post back-to-back shutouts of the Los Angeles Angels.
“My stuff felt good, and my arm felt good,” he said. “That’s really all I needed to feel good.”
Manager Joe Maddon praised Hellickson for the grit he showed in pitching six innings despite feeling so bad, but Maddon also liked how he pitched, abandoning the cutter he likes more than the coaches do and sticking with his main arsenal of fastball-curveball-changeup.
“It was absolutely wonderful to watch him pitch that way,” Maddon said.
Hellickson said the thought never crossed his mind to back out of his start or ask out early. “I just had to do it,” he said.
He improved to 6-6 and lowered his ERA to 3.23.
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MLB Team Report – Tampa Bay Rays – NOTES, QUOTES
–Manager Joe Maddon said Sunday he does not expect the Rays to make any trades before Tuesday’s deadline for non-waiver deals. “My feeling normally is this, and I’ve been right almost all the time, is that we’re not going to do anything,” Maddon said. “We talk a lot and it always takes two to dance, and at the end of the day it’s difficult to match up all the time. So I would bet that nothing really happens.”
–RHP Fernando Rodney made the most of his return to Anaheim, where he struggled in two seasons with the Angels, logging his 29th and 30th saves. He became the fourth Ray to have a 30-save season, joining Rafael Soriano (2010), Danys Baez (2004-05) and Roberto Hernandez (1999-2000).
–Rookie LHP Matt Moore showed a lot in his Saturday night start, specifically the way he navigated the difficult situation of facing Albert Pujols, and then Mark Trumbo, with the bases loaded in the fifth inning with a 3-0 lead. “The big part of that was Matt Moore retaining his composure,” Maddon said. “That game was more reminiscent of what you saw at the end of last season and in the playoffs, where he had pretty much everything going on. He was really good.”
–LHP David Price starts Monday in Oakland, seeking his 15th win in the Rays’ 103rd game. Since 2000, only three American League pitchers got to 15 in fewer games: Toronto’s David Wells, 88 in 2000; Chicago’s Jon Garland, 95 in 2008; New York’s CC Sabathia, 101 in 2011.
–3B Evan Longoria (left hamstring) was back in the lineup for Triple-A Durham as the DH on Sunday, going 1-for-3 with a sac fly and a walk in the third game of his rehab assignment. Longoria, out since April 30, could return this week.
BY THE NUMBERS: 23 — Consecutive innings without allowing a run in a series against the Angels, starting with the fourth inning of the July 27 opener.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I made sure when he came in I fist-bumped his glove and not his bare hand.” — Manager Joe Maddon, on congratulating RHP Jeremy Hellickson, who was ill during his Sunday start.
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MLB Team Report – Tampa Bay Rays – ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
–DH Luke Scott (right mid-back tightness) went on the 15-day disabled list July 21.
–3B Evan Longoria (partial tear of left hamstring) went on the 15-day disabled list May 1, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on July 24. He began a rehab assignment with Class AAA Durham on June 16, but he left the June 18 game with renewed discomfort and was pulled from the minor league assignment. He increased his baseball activities July 24, and he began a rehab assignment with Class AAA Durham on July 26. He could return to the Rays this week.
–RHP Jeff Niemann (fractured right fibula) went on the 15-day disabled list May 15, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on May 16. As of mid-July, he was throwing at a distance of 90 feet, and he threw bullpen sessions July 21 and July 24. He was on target to return in late August.
–C Robinson Chirinos (concussion) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 19.
–OF Brandon Guyer (torn labrum in left shoulder) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 13, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on May 29. He underwent season-ending surgery May 30.
ROTATION:
RHP James Shields
LHP David Price
LHP Matt Moore
RHP Alex Cobb
RHP Jeremy Hellickson
BULLPEN:
RHP Fernando Rodney (closer)
RHP Joel Peralta
LHP J.P. Howell
LHP Jake McGee
RHP Burke Badenhop
RHP Wade Davis
RHP Kyle Farnsworth
CATCHERS:
Jose Molina
Jose Lobaton
INFIELDERS:
1B Carlos Pena
2B Ben Zobrist
SS Sean Rodriguez
3B Elliot Johnson
INF Ryan Roberts
INF Jeff Keppinger
INF Brooks Conrad
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Desmond Jennings
CF B.J. Upton
RF Matt Joyce
OF Sam Fuld
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