Rangers Limp Into Tropicana After Getting Blanked — Rays Poised to Pile On

Twenty-four hours after shutting out Texas, the Rays trot out Shane McClanahan to finish the job, and that should terrify anyone holding a Rangers ticket. McClanahan's 3.09 ERA and 1.14 WHIP represent nearly a full run of separation over Nathan Eovaldi, who's been leaking base runners all season at a 4.05 clip. The Trop has been a fortress lately — Tampa Bay is 5-2 at home, surrendering barely over two runs per game in those contests, while the Rangers' bats managed a grand total of zero yesterday.

Sure, Texas flashes some pop with Langford and Pederson both sporting OPS marks above .830, but power means nothing when you can't string together at-bats. The Rays hold opponents to a .230 average as a staff compared to Texas allowing .244, and that gap widens when McClanahan takes the hill. DarkHorse has the Rays at -158, implying a 61.2 percent win probability, but the actual edge feels closer to 65 given the pitching mismatch and home-field momentum. Tampa's riding a 7-3 stretch in their last ten, Eovaldi's been shaky, and the Rangers just got blanked. Laying the juice isn't pretty, but sometimes the obvious play is the right play. Back the Rays to make it two straight.