Preview: Rays take aim at another sweep in finale against Red Sox
TV: FOX Sports Sun
TIME: Pregame coverage begins at 12:30 p.m.
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BOSTON -- Back on April 17, the Tampa Bay Rays lost 7-2 to the Texas Rangers in St. Petersburg, Fla., falling to 4-13.
On Sunday, the Rays, who have smashed and bashed their way to eight straight victories, have a chance to get to .500 for the first time since they were 1-1 when they look for a sweep of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.
"These guys feel good right now," manager Kevin Cash said after the Rays scored a season-high 12 runs in Saturday's 12-6 victory over the Red Sox. "They're having fun playing, and as maybe as sloppy as it was early on, they found a way to tighten it up and win against a good team.
"When you get some momentum like we have now, things are looking to be going in our favor."
The Rays have their longest winning streak since a nine-gamer for former manager Joe Maddon in July 2014. They have outscored their opponents 63-34 and outhit them 101-72 during the streak. They have scored at least eight runs in six of their last seven games and have 16 homers in their last six games.
They are the first team with an eight-plus-game winning and eight-plus-game losing streak in the same season before May 1 since the 1985 Minnesota Twins.
On Saturday, Wilson Ramos became the first Rays catcher to homer in three straight games. He left with some leg problems and is considered day-to-day (he won't start Sunday).
Cash needed a pitcher for Sunday and the favorite for the start was left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. But Yarbrough was needed in the third inning and picked up his first career victory, taking him out of any chance at Sunday.
Enter right-hander Matt Andriese, who has worked two innings or longer in each of his last three relief appearances. Right-hander Chin-Wei Hu has been summoned from Charlotte to fortify the bullpen.
Andriese will face Rick Porcello, 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA this season, with two wins coming against Tampa Bay. The Red Sox have dropped five of their last seven after a 17-2 start.
"I've been saying it the last few days, we were really really good early -- it's still early, but when we were swinging the bats well, (we were) putting the ball in play with two strikes, staying in the middle of the field," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "Right now, we're striking out too much.
"We had chances. We had chances to put them away early in the game, at least get a big lead, and we didn't do it. Right now, they're swinging the bat well. We didn't take advantage of the opportunities and that was the result."
The Red Sox had the bases loaded with nobody out twice in the first three innings Saturday -- and scored one run each time.
Porcello has been great. His opponents' OPS is .456, which was second in the league starting play Saturday.
Lifetime, he is 14-8 with a 3.22 ERA against the Rays -- the 14 victories his most against any team.
Brad Miller is hitting .279 against Porcello but has five homers and 11 RBIs in 43 at-bats. Denard Span, who wound up with an inside-the-park home run Saturday thanks to a bad hop past Jackie Bradley Jr., is hitting .381 against Porcello. Adeiny Hechavarria is 3-for-19 and Mallex Smith 3-for-17 against the right-hander.
Andriese, who has worked in seven games as a reliever this season, is 2-2 with a 5.95 ERA lifetime in 11 games (seven starts) against the Red Sox. He is 1-2 with a whopping 12.21 ERA at Fenway Park.
Eduardo Nunez is 5-for-7 against Andriese. Mookie Betts, who left Saturday's game with hamstring tightness and is day-to-day, is 7-for-19 with a homer versus Andriese.
