The Rays lost to a pair of left-handed starters over the first two games of the series -- Cliff Lee in Game 1 and C.J. Wilson in Game 2 -- so they have a bit of a different look against right-hander Colby Lewis for Game 3 this afternoon (via Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times).
John Jaso, C
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Carl Crawford, LF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Matt Joyce, RF
Dan Johnson, DH
Carlos Pena, 1B
B.J. Upton, CF
Jason Bartlett, SS
Jaso, Johnson and Joyce will start for the first time in the series. Pena was benched in Game 2 after going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk in Game 1. Including Wednesday’s 0-fer, Pena is batting just .112 with 35 strikeouts in his last 89 at-bats.
With the Rays on the brink of elimination, I’m a little surprised to see Bartlett in there over Reid Brignac. Keep in mind, Lewis held right-handed batters to a meager .216 batting average and 627 OPS during the regular season. Bartlett batted just .244 with a 647 OPS against righties this season while Brignac batted .261 with all eight of his home runs and a 706 OPS. Minor quibble, but something to look out for.
