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Jac Caglianone had 5 hits, 4 of them homers, against the Cardinals this past weekend in a high-scoring series in which the Royals took 2 of 3 while scoring 30 runs. I hope the 32-46 Royals bring that offense to Tampa Bay to face off against the 43-31 Rays<\/a>.<\/p>\n It will be a four-game series between the two teams, who have yet to meet on the field in 2026. The Rays sit in second place in the AL East, only 2 games behind the Yankees<\/a>. They\u2019ve gotten to this point through their typical \u201cWho is this guy? Why is he a borderline All-Star?\u201d rotating cast of characters. Yandy D\u00edaz<\/a>, Junior Caminero<\/a>, and Jonathan Aranda<\/a> are known guys, but the rest? Well they\u2019re actually not hitting all that well for the most part. Their offense is mostly those 3 guys. They\u2019ve gotten to this point from generally solid pitching and some small-ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Rays will start Drew Rasmussen<\/a> tonight. Rasmussen will turn 31 next month and has generally been an effective pitcher for the Rays\u2026when he\u2019s on the mound. That\u2019s been his problem \u2013 staying healthy. His maximum innings pitched in a single season is only 150, which he did last year. Nevertheless, he\u2019s in the midst of an excellent season, with a solid strikeout rate, miniscule walk rate, and low homer rate. His pitching metrics are all generally around or below 3.00. He\u2019s good.<\/p>\n The Royals counter with Michael Wacha<\/a>. His last outing was a quality start against the Nationals, but he\u2019s been knocked around a bit his past few starts. Hopefully he can get right tonight.<\/p>\n