ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Rays opened the season as an honorary member of the National League Central having played 15 of their first 24 games against the division. They went 5-10 having lost two of three to the Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Pirates and Reds.
While interleague play has not been kind, the Rays have more than balanced the scale in their favor against their American League brethren. Indeed, they head into Tuesday evening’s game in Cleveland having won 12 straight against the AL after losing their first such game at Minnesota on April 3.
Tampa Bay is the seventh team in MLB annals to win 12 of their first 13 games against the American League. Here is a glimpse at some other numbers behind this early domination.
2.70 – Steven Matz’s ERA in four starts against the AL. It is 9.00 in two starts versus the NL.
3 – Consecutive three-game sweeps against AL teams. The Rays seek to make it four straight in Cleveland this week after administering the broom to the visiting Yankees (April 10-12), the White Sox in Chicago (April 14-16) and Twins at the Trop (April 24-26).
3 – Career high single-game hits for Ryan Vilade, which he has done twice and both times against AL teams: Monday evening at Cleveland and April 14 in Chicago against the White Sox.
3.05 – Staff ERA in 13 games against the AL compared to 5.63 in 15 games against the NL.
5 – Homers (of his 8) by Junior Caminero in 13 games against the AL.
5.4 – Runs per game against fellow AL clubs versus 4.3 against the NL.
6 – Saves by Bryan Baker (of his career high seven) against the AL.
7 – Hits and walks by Jonathan Aranda in intraleague play. He is 7-for-49 (.142) with three homers.
11 – RBI by Aranda in intraleague play. So, there is production despite the low average.
12 – Yandy Diaz’s hitting streak in intraleague play before going 0-for-3 (two walks) in Cleveland on Monday evening.
29 – Rays’ run differential (70-41) against AL opposition. Remarkably, it is also their differential in the other direction (94-65) against NL.
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