First pitch on Saturday, June 13 is set for 7:07 PM PT at the Big A, with Griffin Jax penciled in for the Rays in the middle game of the weekend set. The Angels' Saturday starter was still TBD as of the latest probables, which is its own kind of tell about where this rotation is after the Jack Kochanowicz Tommy John news. The Rays are the story of the AL East right now. They just swept the Red Sox at the Trop, capped by Drew Rasmussen carving Boston up for a career-high 13 strikeouts in 7 scoreless innings on Wednesday. Tampa Bay has gone 3-0 since dropping back-to-back games in Miami, and Yandy Diaz is sitting on a 24-game on-base streak — the longest active run in the majors. The Angels, meanwhile, are not the easy mark the 27-42 record makes them look like this week. They just took 2 of 3 from Houston for their first series win over the Astros in nearly 25 months, including a 10-1 stomp behind Walbert Urena and a 3-2 grinder on Wednesday. Jo Adell and Wade Meckler both came up huge in the Tuesday blowout, and the home crowd is actually getting something to cheer about in the middle of June. The catch is the injury list. The Angels are down Nolan Schanuel (calf, day-to-day), Jorge Soler, Vaughn Grissom, Adam Frazier, Sebastian Rivero, and a rotation that just lost Kochanowicz to Tommy John on top of the long-running Yusei Kikuchi absence. Tampa Bay is missing Jake Fraley, Jonny DeLuca, Gavin Lux and a stack of arms including Ryan Pepiot and Craig Kimbrel. Neither dugout is whole, but the Angels are running on fumes positionally. Stylistically this is a tough spot for L.A. The Rays beat you with depth and execution — Rasmussen and Taj Bradley have been ace-level, the bullpen is deep even without Kimbrel, and the lineup keeps churning at-bats even when the names aren't household. The Angels need their starter to give them length and Adell, Mike Trout and Meckler to keep the line moving. If this turns into a bullpen game past the 5th, Tampa's been winning that fight all year. Saturday is the swing game of the series and the kind of spot where the Rays usually push their advantage. Anaheim's playing with house money after the Houston series; the Rays are playing like the team that wants to bury the AL East by July. The vibe gap is real, but so is the Angels' last week.