![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SUT-l-martinez-rays-08282026.jpg\")
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Nick Martinez throws to an Athletics batter during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo\/Scott Marshall)\nPitching matchups<\/p>\n
San Diego Padres at Tampa Bay Rays<\/p>\n
Game 1: 4:10 p.m. Friday (Padres.TV)
\nGame 2: 1:10 p.m. Saturday (Padres.TV)
\nGame 3: 10:40 a.m. Sunday (Padres.TV)<\/p>\n
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In the standings<\/p>\n
San Diego Padres (72-62, 2nd in NL West)<\/p>\n
The Padres eight games behind the Dodgers in the division, but they have a 1 \u00bd-game lead on the Diamondbacks in race for the NL\u2019s third wild-card spot. The Phillies are up two games on the Padres as the NL\u2019s second wild-card team. The Padres begin the weekend their postseason odds at 66%, as calculated by FanGraphs.com.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Rays (79-54, 1st in AL East)<\/p>\n
The Rays have spit their last 10 games and have a four-game lead on the Yankees in the division. They are also nine games ahead of the White Sox as the AL\u2019s No. 1 seed. As such, they are 100% locks to make the postseason, according to FanGraphs.com. The Rays swept a three-game series last year in San Diego.<\/p>\n
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Trending<\/p>\n
San Diego: OF Fernando Tatis Jr. has nine homers and a 1.002 OPS this month, while OF Jackson Merrill has six homers and an .854 OPS in August. The only other regular with an OPS over .800 is 1B Ty France (.806). Meanwhile, 3B Manny Machado has two extra-base hits \u2014 one homer and one double \u2014 while posting a .573 OPS to start August.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay: 3B Junior Caminero has five homers and a .789 OPS to start August. He is hitting .409\/.458\/.455 over the last week, but has just one extra-base hit (a double). C Liam Hicks leads the team with a .972 OPS this month, while no other regular has an OPS over .800. DH Yandy Diaz is hitting .167\/.231\/.167 over the last week.<\/p>\n
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Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Nick Martinez throws to an Athletics batter during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo\/Scott Marshall)
\nPitching matchups<\/p>\n
Friday<\/p>\n
Padres RHP Casey Mize (5-7, 3.44 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s making his start on turn despite leaving his last start after 2\u2154 innings with a right ankle sprain. He has a 7.00 ERA in four starts with the Padres, but has two quality starts between a poor debut (3 \u2153 IP, 8 ER) and last week\u2019s injury-shortened start (2 \u2154 IP, 4 ER). Mize has a 4.50 ERA in four games (12 IP) against the Rays, the last start coming in 2025 (5 IP, 1 ER).<\/p>\n
Rays LHP Shane McLanahan (9-6, 3.10 ERA)\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 His strikeout rate (8.3 per nine innings) is a career low in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. McLanahan missed roughly two weeks this month with a back injury, but he threw five shutout innings last week in his second start off the injured list. His only start against the Padres was a win in 2023 (6\u2154 IP, 1 ER).<\/p>\n
Saturday<\/p>\n
Padres RHP Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.63 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s thrown three straight quality starts (2.00 ERA, 18 IP), doubling his total for the season. Buehler has a 5.21 ERA in 12 starts on the road so far. He\u2019s made three career starts against the Rays, all last year (18 IP, 4.00 ERA).<\/p>\n
Rays RHP Nick Martinez (13-4, 2.93 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 The former Padre was a first-time All-Star this year and he leads qualifying starters with 1.3 walks per nine innings. His strikeout rate (5.3 per nine innings) is his lowest since returning from Japan. Martinez has a 4.50 ERA in 18 innings since leaving the Padres as a free agent after the 2023 season.<\/p>\n
Sunday<\/p>\n
Padres LHP Robbie Ray (11-7, 3.21 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s 1-1 with a 3.98 ERA, 15 strikeouts and 13 walks in four starts (20 \u2153 IP) since joining the Padres after the trade deadline. Ray has a 3.21 ERA in 61\u2154 career innings against the Rays, including a loss in quality start (6\u2153 IP, 3 ER) earlier this year with the Giants.<\/p>\n
Rays RHP Drew Rasmussen (14-5, 2.95 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s been an All-Star each of the last two years (24-10, 2.85 ERA) and is 10 innings from passing last year\u2019s career-high innings total (150 IP). He has a 2.00 ERA over his last seven starts (2.20 ERA), all wins for Rasmussen. He has only two relief appearances in his career against the Padres, the last in 2024 (2 IP, 2 ER).<\/p>\n
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Qualifying leaders<\/p>\n
OPS: Padres\u2014OF Fernando Tatis Jr. (.801), OF Jackson Merrill (.705), 3B Manny Machado (.703); Rays\u20143B Junior Caminero (.897), DH Yandy Diaz (.829), 1B Jonathan Aranda (.783).
\nHRs: Padres\u2014Machado (24), Merrill (21), 1B Ty France (18); Rays\u2014Caminero (35), Diaz (19), Aranda (16).
\nRBIs: Padres\u2014Machado (72), Tatis (67), Merrill (67); Rays\u2014Caminero (84), Aranda (78), Diaz (72).
\nSteals: Padres\u2014Tatis (30), Merrill (24), SS Xander Bogaerts (17); Rays\u2014OF Chandler Simpson (35), SS Taylor Walls (19), OF Cedric Mullins (18).
\nSaves: Padres\u2014RHP Mason Miller (32-for-33, 0.96 ERA); Rays\u2014RHP Bryan Baker (38-for-41, 1.56 ERA).
\nHolds: Padres\u2014LHP Adri\u00e1n Morej\u00f3n (21, 2.63 ERA), RHP Jason Adam (17, 2.51 ERA), RHP Jeremiah Estrada (12, 3.48 ERA); Rays\u2014RHP Kevin Kelly (27, 2.04 ERA), LHP Garrett Cleavinger (23, 3.63 ERA), RHP Cole Sulser (11, 4.86 ERA).<\/p>\n
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Training room<\/p>\n
San Diego: RHP Casey Mize exited Saturday\u2019s start with a right ankle sprain, but he is starting Friday. RHP Jeremiah Estrada (shoulder) hit the injured list on Wednesday. RHP Joe Musgrove (elbow) made his fourth rehab start on Thursday, while RHP Nick Pivetta (flexor) made a rehab start Tuesday for low Single-A Lake Elsinore. INF Miguel Andujar (wrist) is swinging a bat but progressing slowly, while RHP Jason Adam (shoulder) is in a throwing program. RHP Lucas Giolito (elbow) has been working in Arizona, while OF Samad Taylor (oblique) is rehabbing with Triple-A El Paso.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay: RHP Griffin Jax (elbow) made a rehab start on Aug. 23 and could by early September. The Rays are also without, OFs Victor Mesa Jr. (hamstring) and Jake Fraley (hernia), 2B Gavin Lux (shoulder), INF Ben Williamson (hamstring) and RHPs Cole Sulser (back), Edwin Uceta (shoulder), Jonathan Heasley (elbow) and Ryan Pepiot (hip).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego Padres at Tampa Bay Rays Game 1: 4:10 p.m. Friday (Padres.TV) Game 2: 1:10 p.m. Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[114,3817,53537,110,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-385503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}