After two games, the Tampa Bay Rays have had a lot more success in the standings during their series than the Cleveland Indians, moving up to second in the AL East despite splitting the games. Cleveland is still stuck in third place of the AL Central, pushing to get above the Tigers and White Sox.
If they want to do that, their starting pitcher is going to need to do some trend bucking. Justin Masterson (6-8, 4.14 ERA) has never won a game at Tropicana Field, going 0-4 there and 1-7 overall against the Rays in his career. He is coming off an impressive 1-0 win over Toronto where he held the Blue Jays to only five hits in seven innings, so now's the time to get a win against Tampa if ever there was one.
He'll be facing an opponent who is dealing with his own struggles, Jeremy Hellickson (4-6, 3.48 ERA). The 2011 Rookie of the Year started off the season 4-0 but has lost his last six games which has ballooned his ERA a bit. One of those games was a loss to the Indians, back on July 5.
The game will be at Tropicana Field at 7:10 p.m. ET.
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