Connelly Early will get the ball for the Red Sox when Boston opens a road series in Tampa Bay on June 8, and the Rays plan to use Ian Seymour as an opener before turning the game over to Mason Englert.
The matchup pairs a Red Sox club that split a brief road series in New York — beating the Yankees in Friday's opener, seeing Saturday's game rained out and postponed, and losing Sunday's finale 6-1 — against a Rays team that dropped a 4-1 decision to Miami on Sunday. Tampa Bay enters the day tied with the Yankees atop the American League, even though it has lost 10 of its last 13 games and sits 10½ games ahead of Boston in the division.
Early comes in with a 5-3 record and a 3.26 ERA, and he has had success specifically against Tampa Bay: he is 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA in two career appearances against the Rays, totaling 12 strikeouts in 11 innings. His most recent outing vs. Tampa Bay was a seven-inning, eight-strikeout, scoreless start on May 8 that helped Boston to a 2-0 win. Seymour is 3-0 this season with a 5.23 ERA; Englert has no decision in seven career appearances against the Red Sox and has worked 12 innings against them.
The Red Sox listed Jarren Duran in left, Ceddanne Rafaela in center, Wilyer Abreu in right, Carlos Contreras at first base, Nick Gasper as the designated hitter, Marcelo Durbin at third, Isiah Kiner-Falefa at second, Marcelo Mayer at shortstop and Carlos Narváez behind the plate. Boston's offense has struggled for stretches: the club has been held to three runs or fewer in 35 of 63 games and was limited to a combined 10 runs in its last five losses; nonetheless the team remains spotless when preserving a late lead, at 25-0 when leading after seven innings.
Tampa Bay countered with Yandy Díaz at DH, Austin Slater in left, Junior Caminero at third, Ryan Vilade in right, Jonathan Aranda at first, Ben Williamson at second, Taylor Walls at short, Nick Fortes catching and Chandler Simpson in center. Díaz comes in riding a 21-game on-base streak. The Rays' lineup has also struggled for production recently: they have scored three or fewer runs in eight of their last 13 games and failed to score more than one run in four of those outings.
The mismatch between standings and form is the day's friction: Tampa Bay remains tied for the AL lead despite that 10-of-13 slide. Manager Kevin Cash summed up the club's mood by saying the team has players who are "going through it right now," and that both pitching and offense have not been clicking over the last stretch. Cash also moved Steven Matz to the bullpen on Sunday after two rough turns pushed Matz's ERA to 5.48, leaving the length of his relief stay an open question.
What matters next is immediate and practical: Boston will hand the ball to Early and hope his previous dominance of the Rays carries into this start, while Tampa Bay plans to start with Seymour and hand things to Englert in relief. The single urgent unresolved item leaving the field: how long Tampa Bay keeps Matz out of the rotation. The June 8 opener will be the first regular-season chance to see whether the Rays can stop the slide while clinging to the division lead and how Boston's lineup responds to an opponent that has not been hitting its stride.
