NEWS » Two pitchers headed in completely different directions hook up

Friday night in St. Petersburg Chris Hatcher Jersey , Fla.Blake Snell, the American League pitcher of the month for August, goes for the Tampa Bay Rays against the floundering Dylan Bundy and the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a three-game set at Tropicana Field.While Snell is 17-5 with a 2.02 ERA and a Cy Young candidate after going 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in August, Bundy hasn’t won since July 29 — and it has been ugly.Article continues below ...The Rays, 22-11 since the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline to sneak into the American League wild-card picture, come in 7-3 in their last 10 games. They were still a long shot for the playoffs and if they don’t make it they can point to their troubles with the lowly Orioles as a key reason.The Birds fly in with 41 wins but are 8-8 against the Rays, outscoring them 102-77 in those 16 games.“I think every year, there are some teams, for whatever reason — I won’t say match up well, because I think we match up well with a lot of clubs, we just don’t perform well,” Rays manager Kevin Cash says. “We’ve got an opportunity to perform well. …“It’s a big series. It’s a big homestand. We’re going to face some teams who are in different spots in the standings right now http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , but I’ve said it for a long time, Baltimore is a team with a lot of young guys who are getting opportunities.”Snell, who has a streak of 14 straight home games (dating to last season) of allowing one earned run or fewer runs, has one of his losses against the Orioles. On May 13, the left-hander worked 3 1/3 innings, giving up three home runs and five earned runs.He tied the club record with for wins in a month with four in August, yielding two earned runs in 22 innings. He has already equaled the 17 wins by Matt Moore in 2013. David Price holds the club mark of 20 wins, set in 2012.For the season, Snell, 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA in four career starts against Baltimore, has 177 strikeouts in 151 2/3 innings.Bundy is 0-4 with an 8.51 ERA in his last six starts, allowing nine home runs in those games. He has yielded at least one homer in 10 straight starts while falling to 7-13 with a 5.36 ERA.He is 2-1 with a 4.62 ERA in three starts against the Rays this season and 3-3 with a 5.67 ERA in nine games (eight starts) against Tampa Bay in his career.The Orioles lost their 99th game of the season as Andrew Cashner allowed three home runs in a 5-2 loss to the Mariners on Wednesday night in Seattle.The Birds were 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position in their latest failure.“There were some opportunities there Boog Powell Jersey ,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said after that game. “It seems like every play we make is magnified by our inability to score runs.”The current Orioles are 11-for-44 (.250) lifetime against Snell. Adam Jones is 3-for-7 (.429) and Trey Mancini 3-for-8 (.375), and Mark Trumbo is 2-for-9 (.222).The current Rays are a combined 16-for-61 (.262) with five homers against Bundy — C.J. Cron with three of those homers while going 4-for-13 (.308) against the right-hander. Mallex Smith is 4-for-12 (.333) and Carlos Gomez is 1-for-7 (.143).The Rays should get Tommy Pham back from his latest injury. Pham was resting a sore groin Wednesday.“He’s missed enough time already with some fluke injuries that were out of his control,” Cash said. “So I think two days off will really do well. But he came in today feeling better.”The Orioles released veteran Craig Gentry on Wednesday, a surprising move for a September team going nowhere. Gentry had been designated for assignment last Friday. ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas got to celebrate twice on Saturday.The St. Louis right-hander was all smiles early in the afternoon when his twins, Miles and Madelyn, were released from the hospital for the first time after being born prematurely a month ago.That good feeling continued hours later as Mikolas tossed six effective innings to push the St. Louis Cardinals into the second wild-card spot in the NL with a 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.“A special day,” Mikolas said.St. Louis moved a half-game ahead of Milwaukee and within four of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.The Cardinals, who are a half-game behind wild card-leading Philadelphia, have won 10 of their last 11 and captured their seventh straight series after winning the opener of the three-game set on Friday.“We’re surging and we’re dangerous,” Mikolas said. “This is the time of year to get hot.”The seven-series winning streak is the longest since the Cardinals won eight in a row from April 10-May 7, 2015.Travis Shaw and Christian Yelich homered for the Brewers, who have lost six of eight.Marcell Ozuna hit his 15th homer of the season in the second off Wade Miley (2-2).Paul DeJong and Harrison Bader added two-run hits as St. Louis improved to 21-10 under interim manager Mike Shildt Giancarlo Stanton Jersey , who took over after Mike Matheny was fired on July 14.When Shildt claimed the job, the Cardinals sat in fourth place in the wild-card standings, four games behind the second spot and 7 1/2 games behind first-place Chicago. They have made up plenty of ground in a relatively short amount of time.“This is nice,” Shildt said. “If we keep playing good baseball, the process will take care of itself.”Mikolas (13-3) gave up one run on five hits. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter in winning his fifth consecutive decision.He said he felt motivated by the progress made by his twins. His wife, Lauren, gave birth last month, with Mikolas returning early from the All-Star festivities.“I think it’s good to keep those happy thoughts in your head while you’re pitching,” Mikolas said. “It’s nice to have my family healthy and happy.”Mikolas lowered his ERA to 2.80.Miley surrendered four runs on four hits over five innings. Three of the runs were unearned thanks to a missed third strike by catcher Erik Kratz that prolonged a three-run third inning.“It’s my fault,” Miley said. “I crossed (Kratz) up on the fastball with two outs. He put down cutter and I thought I saw fastball.”Tyler O’Neill broke a 1-all tie with a bloop single to right following the passed ball by Kratz, which would have ended the inning. Following a walk to Ozuna, DeJong hit a two-run single to push the lead to 4-1.DeJong had two hits and drove in three runs.“We can beat you in a lot of different ways Derek Jeter Jersey ,” DeJong said. “That’s something we’re figuring out.”St. Louis infielder Matt Carpenter had a 35-game streak of reaching base snapped with an 0-for-4 performance.Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell was ejected in the first inning by home plate umpire Cory Blaser. Blaser had warned Miley for throwing inside to O’Neill. Mikolas hit Lorenzo Cain in the top of the first.Counsell came out to argue the warning and was ejected for the fourth time this season.The Brewers have lost four of five.“We’ve kind of got our tails kicked the last couple nights,” Miley said. “Not to put a lot of pressure on us, but we’ve got to play better baseball.”St. Louis infielder Kolten Wong was removed in the fourth inning with a bruised right elbow. He was hit by a pickoff attempt from Miley. Shildt says he is day-to-day.TRAINER’S ROOMBrewers: OF Ryan Braun missed his second straight game with a sore rib cage. He is listed as day-to-day.Cardinals: OF Jose Martinez was originally in the starting lineup, but was scratched 90 minutes before the game with right hip tightness. He was replaced by O’Neill. … RHP Carlos Martinez will make his second rehab appearance on Sunday for Double-A Springfield. Martinez, who was bothered by a right shoulder strain, threw two innings on Friday.UP NEXTRHP Jhoulys Chacin (12-4, 3.72) will face RHP John Gant (5-4, 3.74) in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday. The Brewers are 18-8 when Chacin starts. He is 0-2 with a 5.65 ERA in three career starts in St. Louis. Gant hit a two-run homer in his last outing, a 6-4 win over Washington on Tuesday.