Jose Cabrera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the ball Saturday at 6:10 PM ET for Arizona, making just his 2nd career MLB start. His debut June 21 in Phoenix was genuinely impressive — 5 shutout innings against Minnesota, 62 pitches, 3 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts — but the bullpen coughed up a 2-0 lead and the D-backs lost 4-2. Tampa Bay counters with Cole Sulser (1-0, 5.40 ERA) in an opener role as the Rays run a bullpen game.
The reason Cabrera is even here tells the real story about Arizona's rotation. Corbin Burnes — the $210 million ace — is shut down with a teres major strain and likely out until September. Ryne Nelson (elbow) just moved to the 60-day IL on Thursday. Michael Soroka (glute) is on the 15-day IL. Blake Walston hasn't seen competitive innings since spring. Cabrera was called up after 3 Triple-A starts and walked into this mess. He handled his debut better than anyone had a right to expect, but now he's back on the road against a team that's been mashing.
Tampa Bay at 46-33 is one of the better teams in the American League, and right now they're rolling. After getting knocked around by Kansas City — including a 12-5 beatdown — the Rays reeled off 3 straight wins, capped by a 13-2 demolition of the Royals on June 25 and Friday's 6-1 win over Arizona. They outscored opponents by 18 runs over those 3 games. They're playing at home. They have momentum. The matchup couldn't set up much cleaner for them.
- Day-To-DayA.J. Vukovich CF — no
- Day-To-DayDerek Law RP — no
- Day-To-DayKyle Amendt RP — Amendt was invited to major-league spring training by the Diamondbacks, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports.
- 10-Day-ILJordan Lawlar LF — The Diamondbacks placed Lawlar on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right hamstring strain.
- 10-Day-ILJames McCann C — McCann (quadriceps) is expected to begin playing in complex league games next week, Alex Weiner of ArizonaSports.com reports.
- 15-Day-ILMichael Soroka SP — The Diamondbacks placed Soroka on the 15-day injured list Saturday due to a strained left glute.
- developmental listJuan Centeno C — The Diamondbacks re-assigned Centeno to minor-league camp Friday.
- 60-Day-ILRyne Nelson SP — The Diamondbacks transferred Nelson (elbow) to the 60-day injured list Thursday.
- Day-To-DayTre' Morgan 1B — no
- Day-To-DayLogan Davidson 1B — Davidson signed a minor-league contract with Tampa Bay on Monday, which includes an invitation to spring training, Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston reports.
- Day-To-DayAustin Vernon RP — The Rays have shut Vernon down from throwing due to right elbow soreness, per MLB.com.
- Day-To-DayAlfredo Zarraga RP — no
- 10-Day-ILJake Fraley RF — Rays manager Kevin Cash said Monday that Fraley (hernia) will require surgery and will face a recovery timeline of 6-to-8 weeks, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
- developmental listLuis Guerrero RP — The Rays acquired Guerrero from the Red Sox on Tuesday in exchange for Tristan Gray.
- 15-Day-ILSteven Matz SP — The Rays placed Matz on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a left ankle sprain.
- 15-Day-ILJesse Scholtens RP — Scholtens was charged with a blown save and dropped to 5-3 on the season in Monday's 9-7 loss to the Orioles in 13 innings after yielding five runs (three earned) on four hits across 1.1 frames. He struck out one batter.
Jordan Lawlar is also out for Arizona (hamstring), which chips away further at their lineup depth. The Diamondbacks are 41-40 — credit to them for treading water through all this — but there's only so far grit takes you when your rotation is a MASH unit and your bullpen is already stretched. Cabrera showed legitimate stuff in his debut, and the Rays are running a bullpen game themselves with Sulser opening, so this isn't a total mismatch in pitching. But Tampa Bay's offense has been in a different gear lately, and the D-backs' margin for error at this point is basically zero.