Ian Seymour pulled in fourth against Rangers

McClanahan’s stuff was pretty normal while he gave up four runs in five innings Thursday in a loss to the Rangers, but it turns out things weren’t right. Maybe this is just a maintenance thing to try to get him ready for the postseason, but we’ll know more in a bit. This means Ian Seymour will continue to start with Griffin Jax back, though that already seemed to be part of the plan with the Rays looking at a six-man rotation. If the Rays still want to use six starters for a bit, Jesse Scholtens could be called up next week.

Seymour relentlessly pounded the strike zone, throwing 65 of 88 pitches for strikes, while notching his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season. He generated an absurd 19 swinging strikes, including 12 on his fastball and changeup combination, to finish with a near-elite 36 percent CSW. He limited New York’s lineup to just a single run into the middle innings before coughing up a solo homer to Mark Vientos in the seventh. He was charged with an additional run after teammate Casey Legumina gave up an RBI single to Francisco Alvarez later in the frame. The 27-year-old southpaw has allowed three earned runs or more in four consecutive starts since August 9. He’s offset that by striking out at least seven batters in four of those five outings. He’ll close out a two-start week with a road matchup against the Rangers on Sunday.

Seymour gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out five. He fell to 9-5 with the loss. Seymour had 33 strikeouts in 23 innings over four starts in August entering play Tuesday. He only struck out five in 5 2/3 innings against the Tigers. Seymour has a 4.21 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Mets at home next week.

Kazuma Okamoto, Nathan Lukes and Daz Cameron all took him deep. That brings Seymour’s total of homers allowed to 18 in 101 1/3 innings. The 123/32 K/BB ratio is really nice, but he needs to do a better job of keeping the ball in the park to emerge as an above average starter. He should face the Tigers next week, but with Griffin Jax making his way back, it’s possible that will be his final start for a spell.

Seymour struck out nine and allowed just four hard-hit balls. Unfortunately, two of those hard-hit balls were homers from Pete Alonso and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. Still, he did notch a third straight quality start. Seymour figures to take his next turn Thursday against the Blue Jays, and he rates as a decent play in mixed leagues, He might be bumped from the Tampa Bay rotation if Griffin Jax returns at the end of the month.

Seymour struck out seven and walked two while throwing 66 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting a 16 percent swinging strike rate. His changeup is starting to get back to previous levels and registered a 29 percent swinging strike rate and 32 percent CSW in this one. Seymour is scheduled for just one more start, next week against Baltimore, but with Griffin Jax (elbow) heading to the injured list, you’d have to assume that Seymour will remain in the rotation even when Shane McClanahan returns.

Seymour has struggled to find much consistency either as a reliever or, more recently, as a starter/bulk guy, but he showed tonight why he remains pretty intriguing. Unfortunately, as a result of the Freddy Peralta acquisition, he might go back to being a true reliever once Shane McClanahan returns. First, he should be in line for at least one more start Sunday against the Mariners.

This is certainly one of the best-case scenarios for those rostering Peralta, as he’ll get to try to turn things around in a very good situation for pitchers in Tampa Bay. A 17-game winner in Milwaukee last year, Peralta is just 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts this year. His elevated .313 BABIP seems rather fluky, given that he’s remained pretty good at limiting hard contract. However, it is a significant concern that his strikeout rate has dropped from 28 percent to 22 percent. The Rays will plug him into Shane McClanahan’s rotation spot for now and probably start him at some point against the Rockies in the series starting Monday. Eventually, Ian Seymour could be bumped back to the pen once McClanahan comes off the IL.

Seymour entered the contest after Tampa Bay got five outs from opener Casey Legumina. He finished with four punchouts and allowed just three baserunners while keeping Texas off the scoreboard into the seventh inning. The 27-year-old southpaw has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine of 10 outings since moving into the rotation back in early June. He’ll face a tough test on the road against the Rockies in high-octane Coors Field on Monday to open a two-start week. It’s tough to trust any pitcher in that environment, but Seymour has earned the benefit of the doubt with his recent performance.

Seymour’s whiff rate remained about what it was in his start against the Red Sox last week, but he allowed just six hard-hit balls in 87 pitches after giving up five in 61 against the Sox. The left-hander’s fastball remains one of the slowest in the league at 91.2 mph but as long as all his offspeed stuff is going this well, he can remain a usable mixed-league starter. Seymour draws the Rangers at home in his next scheduled appearance.