Gomez leads Rays against O's, ex-teammate Cobb (Apr 23, 2018)
BALTIMORE -- The Tampa Bay Rays come into Baltimore with a four-game winning streak after sweeping the Twins over the weekend and will try to extend that run versus the Orioles on Tuesday at Camden Yards.
The Rays (8-13) will send Jake Faria (1-1, 5.82) to the mound against former Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb (0-2, 15.43 ERA), who has not done well in his first two starts with Baltimore.
Faria is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in four games against the Orioles. He's had just one bad start out of four and will be facing a Baltimore team struggling at the plate.
Tampa Bay had the day off on Monday but is coming off a big win on Sunday when Carlos Gomez homered to beat the Twins 8-6 and stretch the team's winning streak to four.
"Gomez had an interesting series, but he finished it on a really good note," said Kevin Cash on MLB.com. "Good for him. Veteran player, young player. Any time you do something like that it's pretty special."
Gomez came into the game mired in a 2-for-34 skid.
But he ended the game feeling much better about things.
The Rays scored 26 runs in their three-game sweep of the Twins, getting at least eight in every game. That will help them coming into Camden Yards, where balls often fly out of the ballpark pretty quickly when the weather warms up.
C.J. Cron also has been on a roll lately. He homered three times in his last two games versus Minnesota.
The Orioles, right now, are looking for anything to give them a lift. Cobb (0-2, 15.43) has given up 12 runs on 20 hits in just seven innings in his first two starts.
Baltimore signed him during spring training so Cobb did not have much time to prepare for the season, and it has been showing so far.
If the right-hander can get everything together, the Orioles could have a solid group of starters with Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Andrew Cashner all pitching well.
Cobb, though, will be pitching against his old team for the first time, and that should give him some motivation.
"It will be a little odd seeing the jersey," Cobb said to the Tampa Bay Times. "Been part of the family for so long."
The offense has been the problem for Cobb's new team so far, a big reason they've stumbled to a 6-17 start. Cleveland took three of four from the Orioles, who have lost nine of their last 10.
Injuries also have hurt Baltimore. Jonathan Schoop (oblique) and Mark Trumbo (quad) are on the disabled list, and Trey Mancini has missed the last few games after injuring his knee in left field trying to make a sliding catch. He needed stitches but came on late in Monday's 2-1 loss to Cleveland.
The Orioles may have more problems as infielder Tim Beckham came out due to a sore groin -- he's got a tender Achilles also.
"I'll know a lot more tomorrow and after tonight, but it's a concern," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said on MASNSports.com. "He's been kind of playing through a little bit of a sore Achilles, but I'm a little more concerned about the groin right now. Really, both of them."
