San Diego Padres (76-60, third in the NL West) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (66-67, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Friday, 6:50 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Padres: Martin Perez (3-5, 4.60 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 87 strikeouts); Rays: Taj Bradley (6-8, 3.77 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 119 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rays -131, Padres +111; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays host the San Diego Padres on Friday to open a three-game series.
Tampa Bay is 66-67 overall and 34-34 in home games. The Rays have gone 25-14 in games decided by one run.
San Diego has a 76-60 record overall and a 39-28 record in road games. The Padres have the top team batting average in MLB play at .264.
The teams meet Friday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz has 11 home runs, 39 walks and 57 RBI while hitting .273 for the Rays. Christopher Morel is 9-for-35 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI over the past 10 games.
Jurickson Profar has 21 home runs, 60 walks and 80 RBI while hitting .282 for the Padres. Luis Arraez is 15-for-43 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .188 batting average, 3.38 ERA, outscored by 14 runs
Padres: 5-5, .252 batting average, 4.39 ERA, outscored by seven runs
INJURIES: Rays: Peter Anderson Fairbanks: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Zack Littell: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Richard Palacios: 10-Day IL (knee), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)
Padres: Yu Darvish: 15-Day IL (groin), Fernando Tatis Jr.: 60-Day IL (quadricep), Ha-Seong Kim: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Stephen Kolek: 15-Day IL (forearm), Wandy Peralta: 15-Day IL (aductor), Luis Patino: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
By The Associated Press