Guardians meet the Rays with 2-1 series lead

Audio By Carbonatix

Cleveland Guardians (71-70, third in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (71-71, fourth in the AL East)

Tampa, Florida; Sunday, 12:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Guardians: Parker Messick (1-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 14 strikeouts); Rays: Drew Rasmussen (10-5, 2.74 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 115 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rays -146, Guardians +122; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians take a 2-1 advantage into the next game of the series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Bay has gone 38-35 at home and 71-71 overall. Rays hitters are batting a collective .252, the seventh-best team batting average in MLB play.

Cleveland has a 36-37 record on the road and a 71-70 record overall. The Guardians are 44-23 in games when they record at least eight hits.

The teams meet Sunday for the seventh time this season. The Guardians are up 4-2 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brandon Lowe has 16 doubles and 28 home runs for the Rays. Josh Lowe is 11 for 35 with three doubles, a triple and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Jose Ramirez has 27 home runs, 55 walks and 73 RBIs while hitting .283 for the Guardians. Steven Kwan is 14 for 42 with three doubles and seven RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 7-3, .263 batting average, 2.49 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs

Guardians: 6-4, .231 batting average, 3.89 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs

INJURIES: Rays: Brian Van Belle: 15-Day IL (elbow), Stuart Fairchild: 60-Day IL (oblique), Taylor Walls: 10-Day IL (groin), Jonny Deluca: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jonathan Aranda: 10-Day IL (wrist), Manuel Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (forearm), Hunter Bigge: 60-Day IL (lat), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (tricep), Alex Faedo: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Guardians: Nic Enright: 15-Day IL (elbow), Lane Thomas: 10-Day IL (foot), Will Brennan: 60-Day IL (forearm), Andrew Walters: 60-Day IL (lat), Ben Lively: 60-Day IL (forearm), John Means: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sam Hentges: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.