Pittsburgh Pirates vs Tampa Bay Rays Picks and Predictions June 22nd 2024

Rays’ Improving Offense Takes Another Crack at Pirates

The tide gives off an impression of being turning well for a portion of the Tampa Narrows Rays’ stars, and they will hope to push it along in the center challenge of a three-game set against the host Pittsburgh Privateers on Saturday.

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Rays’ Offensive Surge

A 14-game hitting streak by Yandy Diaz matches his career high. He has only been hitless once this month, on June 5, but he did draw a walk in that game. Since then, he has reached base in a career-high 23 games.

Randy Arozarena is recuperating from a lazy initial two months of the time, batting .309 in June subsequent to entering the month with a .158 normal. Jose Siri is on a comparable direction, with 17 hits this month subsequent to having only 25 hits on the year through the finish of May.

“I think it was just a matter of time, we have great hitters, and I think that everyone’s just getting activated and getting ready to go at the same time.”

Yandy Diaz

Josh Lowe’s Breakout

Josh Lowe appears to be joining the club. The right fielder mashed two home runs while going 3-for-5 with four RBIs in the Rays’ 10-3 win on Friday. He is 6-for-15 over his past four games, picking up half of his 12 RBIs in that stretch. It’s a welcome turnaround for the 26-year-old after injuries delayed his season debut until May 6 and then hampered him again at the end of last month.

“We know what he’s capable of doing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We saw, for a really young player, he had a pretty big season for us last year. … He’s certainly capable, if he’s getting his timing, of being a really, really good player for us.”

Pirates’ Pitching Challenges

The Pirates will hope for a better result on the mound as they try to level the series. Due to injuries in the rotation, manager Derek Shelton turned to the duo of Carmen Mlodzinski and Luis L. Ortiz in a collective effort early in the Friday game, but the pair allowed seven runs in 5 2/3 innings.

“I think we have to just kind of internalize it, in terms of the way we feel and what we feel the matchups are and how they go”

Derek Shelton of the strategy for bullpen games

Rookie Jared Jones’ Home Advantage

Rookie Jared Jones (4-6, 3.76 ERA) will get the nod on Saturday for his first career appearance against Tampa Bay. Home field has been an advantage for the 22-year-old right-hander, who has a 2.14 ERA over seven games in Pittsburgh compared to a 5.59 ERA in seven road starts.

Pittsburgh had won four of six before the Friday loss, holding opponents to two runs or fewer in five of those contests. The exception was when the Pirates were on the wrong end of a 16-4 result against the Colorado Rockies on June 15. After knocking out 42 hits while winning three of four from June 14-17, the Pirates’ offense tapered off over the past three games, managing just 12 hits.

Pirates’ Offensive Performance

They had five hits on Friday and rarely threatened outside of the fourth inning, when they halved their deficit to 4-2. Bryan Reynolds added a solo homer in the eighth inning, extending the longest active hitting streak in the major leagues to 18 games.

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Zach Eflin’s Track Record

Zach Eflin (3-4, 4.12 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays on Saturday. The righty is 2-1 with a 1.35 ERA in three career starts against Pittsburgh.

Conclusion

As the Tampa Bay Rays to proceed with their hostile resurgence, they will depend on their further developing stars and strong pitching to get one more win against the Pirates. The Pirates, then again, will mean to balance out their pitching and reignite their offense to even the series. The contest promises to be exciting due to the strong performances of key players on both sides.