Rays look to rebound, begin long homestand vs. Angels

With their Texas-sized terrible weekend behind them and two weeks of home baseball on tap, the Tampa Bay Rays return home for a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels that opens on Tuesday night.

Manager Kevin Cash’s players are probably happy to return to the minor league park they call home this year, as the Rays start a stretch of 16 games out of 22 played in Florida.

After winning four of six home games against National League weaklings Colorado and Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay went to the Lone Star State and left with a goose egg: Three losses against the Texas Rangers, who have now beaten the American League East club nine straight times in their Arlington stadium.

All three games were close — the Rays were outscored 15-9 — but the series’ stinging loss was Sunday’s 4-3 setback, as Jonah Heim lined a walk-off single to give Texas an 8-2 start, its best since 2012.

Cash said the nine-game skid in Texas has been “frustrating” and the team needed to be better offensively and defensively in tight contests.

“We’ve got to find a way to pull out a win here,” he said. “Not scoring enough runs, not doing things on defense that we need to do — it resulted in a good team taking advantage of us.”

Three outfielders pace the club in hitting: Jonny DeLuca and Jake Mangum (team-best-tying .435 each), while Kameron Misner checks in at .375. Brandon Lowe leads with three home runs and eight RBIs.

Tuesday starter Shane Baz (1-0, 0.00 ERA) fired six scoreless innings and fanned a career-high 10 against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 7-0 win a week ago. He will be making his first appearance against the Angels.

The American League West has limped out of the gate so far this season, but the second-place Angels enter the series as one of only two clubs with winning records as they chase the Rangers.

Los Angeles won its first three series for the first time since 2018. The six wins in a season’s first nine outings is tied for the most in franchise history.

Much of that is owed to the hot bat of Logan O’Hoppe.

Under the tutelage of acquisition Travis d’Arnaud, the 25-year-old O’Hoppe has set a franchise record as the first backstop to homer in four straight games, popping one in the Angels’ 6-2 win over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon.

A 2018 23rd-round selection by the Philadelphia Phillies, the West Islip, N.Y., product is slashing .345/.367/.862 with nine RBIs over seven contests.

“He’s been the same since the first day I met him,” said d’Arnaud, a 13-year veteran. “Very consistent with how he is as a person every day. Great guy, really easy to work with, listens really well, asks all the right questions and is continuously learning.”

The Angels had three players leave Friday’s game against Cleveland — infielders Yoan Moncada and Luis Rengifo plus reliever Ryan Zeferjahn — but fortunately those players will not go on the injured list.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0-0, 3.00) will make his second start after a solid season debut in St. Louis on April 1.

As a member of the Chicago Cubs, the 12-year veteran went 0-0 with a 2.89 ERA in two career starts against the Rays.

–Field Level Media