Ian

Seymour

Seymour needed just 55 pitches to navigate four frames after entering Tampa Bay’s starting rotation in place of an ineffective Steven Matz. The 27-year-old lefty didn’t stick around long enough to qualify for a win, but he limited Boston’s offense to just a solo homer by Marcelo Mayer. He struck out five and only issued one walk. There’s some definite streaming appeal when he takes the ball against the Angels on Sunday.

Englert allowed one run over five innings in relief against the Tigers on Wednesday, throwing 82 pitches in the process. Ideally, he’ll end up in similar territory again tomorrow.

Taylor Ward lined out to center before Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman grounded out in a two-run game. Seymour got to close today in place of Bryan Baker, who didn’t pitch after working three of the previous four days. Seymour has a 4.81 ERA in 24 1/3 innings, though his 27/8 K/BB is fine and he’s allowed only three homers and 21 hits.

Seymour made it through the first inning unscathed, retiring all three batters he faced, but allowed a solo homer to Connor Norby in the top of the second inning to give the Marlins their first run of the night. Serving as the Rays’ opener for the night, Seymour was pulled after just two innings, giving way to Jesse Scholtens. This is the first time Seymour has been used as an opener this season, so it seems unlikely he would draw another start any time soon.

The Rays turned to Bryan Baker in the eighth inning to face the top of the Toronto lineup, and he set them down in order while recording one strikeout. That meant Seymour was given the ninth inning, even though Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was leading. The decision may not have been the same had the Rays not had a three-run cushion, but Seymour struck out Vladdy and then retired the next two hitters he saw on lineouts. This was the left-hander’s first save of the season, but it’s unclear if there will be many more.

That’s not great news. Matz looked good on Sunday, allowing one run in six innings to lower his ERA to 3.86 and his WHIP to 1.10. Obviously, he did not respond well after the start, so we’ll have to wait and see how long he will be sidelined for. The Rays are in the process of stretching out Griffin Jax and Mason Englert (forearm) as starters, and Joe Boyle (elbow) is on the injured list, so they may have to turn to Joe Rock or Ian Seymour to take at least one start in Matz’s place.

Kelly got the call to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning with a runner on first base after southpaw Ian Seymour retired left-handed batters Garrett Mitchell and David Hamilton. He managed to retire pinch-hitter Blake Perkins on a harmless ground ball to extinguish the threat and preserve the victory. Griffin Jax looked sharp while working a scoreless seventh inning of a tie ballgame while Garrett Cleavinger got the eighth. We’re anticipating the Rays continue deploying a closer-by-committee approach, which makes it a virtually stay-away fantasy-wise.

Not only does Martinez miss pitching against the Cardinals, but he now has to face the Brewers in Milwaukee. In addition to that, he has a hamstring issue after pitching to a 14.49 ERA this spring. The Rays are downplaying the issue, but it’s hard to see Martinez lasting long in the rotation with the way Ian Seymour pitched this spring. Seymour likely should have been given a chance to start anyway, with how well he pitched at the end of last season.

Seymour came on for Joe Boyle to start the fourth inning and all he did was retire all 10 hitters that he faced in order — including strikeouts of Max Schuemann, Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Paul DeJong and George Lombard Jr. It’s going to take at least one injury to open up a spot in the Rays’ rotation for Seymour, but he’ll be a very intriguing option for fantasy purposes if/when he does get that chance.

Seymour actually threw 61 percent strikes and got ahead in the count often; he just couldn’t get any Tigers hitters to chase when he was ahead. He had just a seven percent whiff rate on the day, with his only whiff coming on a sweeper. He’ll need to get his command in order if he has any chance of beating out Steven Matz and Joe Boyle for the final spot in the Rays’ rotation.