Rich Hill will be on the mound tonight as the Rays host the Indians to open a six-game homestand against Cleveland and Toronto.
Hill seems confident he has corrected the pitch-tipping issues that surfaced in his start against the Nationals, and manager Kevin Cash said the same, though with a caveat.
“I guess if he gets a bunch of outs, then he’s not tipping his pitches,” Cash said. “It has become consuming, not with us, with just the league, about pitch-tipping. We still have to appreciate what hitters are doing even if they are picking something up.
“But we’re just excited to see Rich get out there. Let’s have a good start. Give us a chance. We’ve had some really good starts here between (Ryan Yarbrough on Sunday) and (Shane) McClanahan back to back that it’d be nice to get on a little bit of a run with that path.”
The Rays put a good ending on a bad road trip Sunday by beating the Blue Jays in Buffalo, N.Y., snapping a five-game losing streak, and now look to build momentum going into next week’s All-Star break.
Cash said lefty Josh Fleming, who had been on the injured list with a calf strain, was doing well and likely to be activated soon. That would seem likely for Wednesday’s doubleheader, as Tuesday’s game was postponed due to the projected path of Tropical Storm Elsa.
The Indians tonight are starting lefty Logan Allen, a product of Bradenton’s IMG Academy, who has a 1-5, 8.38 record in six starts and tends to do better against right-handed hitters than lefties.
Here is the Rays’ lineup, which has more lefties than you might have expected, though Cash said it was more a matter of splitting playing time.
And here is the Indians lineup:
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