Jason Hammel’s been pretty good so far, but he’s going to have to be better than that as he goes up against one of the true star starting pitchers in baseball in Roy Halladay tonight. This will be a great test for the young right-hander. How will he handle the adversity of taking on a pitcher who his universally accepted as his superior in every way? He can either crack under the pressure, or he’ll rise to the occasion and deliver the solid outing the Rays need.
What to watch for: Many of the Rays have surprisingly decent numbers against Roy Halladay: Crawford (14-53), Pena (8-27), Gomes (6-21), and Upton (4-10). Can they build off of that success and put some runs on the board? You certainly can’t expect a shutout from Hammel.
Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Jason Hammel - Hammel earned his first victory of the season in a 7-3 win over Minnesota on Thursday. He pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while striking out five and walking two. The big right-hander continues to audition for a permanent rotation spot as starters Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza work their way back from injuries. In his last two starts, Hammel is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA. Over that span he has yielded 11 hits and struck out 11 over 13 innings.
Roy Halladay - The ace turned in his second straight complete game on Thursday, but the right-hander still picked up a hard-luck loss against the Rangers. In the effort, Halladay surrendered four runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts and one walk. The outing marked the first time since Aug. 19, 1997 (Detroit’s Willie Blair) that a pitcher turned in a complete game with no putouts from his outfielders.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Roy Halladay.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS |
TORONTO BLUE JAYS |
| 2B - Akinori Iwamura | SS - David Eckstein |
| LF - Carl Crawford | LF - Shannon Stewart |
| CF - B.J. Upton | 2B - Aaron Hill |
| 1B - Carlos Pena | CF - Vernon Wells |
| 3B - Evan Longoria | RF - Matt Stairs |
| RF - Eric Hinske | 1B - Rod Barajas |
| DH - Jonny Gomes | C - Gregg Zaun |
| C - Dioner Navarro | DH - Robinzon Diaz |
| SS - Jason Bartlett | 3B - Joe Inglett |
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