GameDay Preview: Rays Look to Even Series With Yankees Behind Shane McClanahan

After a big win on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays look to even the series with the New York Yankees on Sunday, with ace Shane McClanahan on the mound. Here's a look at what has made McClanahan successful so far this year, along with the starting lineups, bios and a ton of newsy nuggets.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to even their series with the New York Yankees, and they'll trot out ace Shane McClanahan on Sunday afternoon to try to get that done.

The Yankees won the first two games of the series, but the Rays bounced back with a huge 3-1 win on Saturday. Now they'll turn to McClanahan, who's been one of the best pitchers in baseball lately. In his last three starts, he's allowed only one earned run total in 20 innings of work, and still leads all of baseball in strikeouts with 74, and is first in the AL in both strikeout rate and swing-and-miss rate.

Rays catcher Mike Zunino gets the luxury of seeing him up close every day, and he continues to be impressed with the 25-year-old's progress. 

"The growth, and watching him take on something new every day, is impressive. He knows he has good stuff, but he continues to learn,'' Rays catcher Mike Zunino said. "That's really what it takes, and he's going to be successful for a long, long time.''

The big change for McClanahan in 2022 is expanding his repertoire with four pitches now. He has a high-90s fastball, a great slider and cutter and an ever improving changeup that he's used much more this season. And he'll throw any of the four pitches at any time in the count, regardless of the hitter or the moment. 

"The more he can expand that menu and make guys honor all four pitches, there's only so much a hitter can cover,'' Zunino said. "Mixing speeds and mixing locations, I think the key has been that he's thrown all four pitches early in the strike zone to make them respect them all, and then putting guys away with expanding the zone.''  

Here's how to watch Sunday's series finale, with TV information and starting lineups and more. 

How to watch Yankees at Rays

• Who: New York Yankees (33-14) at Tampa Bay Rays (27-19)
• When: 1:40 p.m. ET, Sunday, May 29
• Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
• TV: Bally Sports Sun
• Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
• Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Ryan Bass (reporter).
• Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM, SiriusXM Channel 176
• Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
• Latest line: The Rays are favored at minus-143 on the money line according to the SISportsbook.com website opening line as of Sunday morning. The Yankees are plus-120. he over/under is 6.5.

Projected starting pitchers

• Yankees right-hander Luis Severino: Luis Severino is making his ninth start of the season for the Yankees, and he's 3-0 with a 3.02 earned run average. He hasn't pitched since last Sunday, when he threw seven scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox. His previous start, on May 16 at Baltimore, he pitched six innings and allowed just one hit, a home run by Anthony Santander. Over his last two starts, he has an 0.69 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. Severino, who missed most of 2019 and all of the 2020 season, hasn't faced the Rays since Sept. 25. 2018.
• Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan: Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan makes his 10th start of the season, and he's been very good lately. He's 4-2 on the season with a 2.06 earned run average, but in his three starts covering 20 innings, he's allowed just one earned run. McClanahan has struggled against New York in his career. In three starts, he's 0-2 with a 5.84 ERA. He made his major-league debut against the Yankees during the 2020 American League Division Series, which the Rays won.  

Projected lineups

• Yankees lineup: DJ LeMahieu 3B, Aaron Judge DH, Anthony Rizzo 1B, Gleyber Torres 2B, Miguel Andujar LF, Aaron Hicks CF, Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS, Kyle Higashioka C, Joey Gallo RF, Luis Severino P.
• Rays lineup: Kevin Kiermaier CF, Yandy Diaz 1B, Wander Franco SS, Ji-Man Choi DH, Manuel Margot LF, Taylor Walls 3B, Brett Phillips RF, Mike Zunino C, Vidal Brujan 2B, Shane McClanahan P.

Newsy nuggets

• No. 1 — Cash on Poche: Left-handed reliever Colin Poche got his second save of the week on Saturday night, and he continues to shine in 2022. He's only allowed two runs and eight hits in 15 innings of work. "He's been very impressive,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He's really worked on the shape of his breaking ball and that's a really good pitch for him now.  The fastball is always going to be playing at the top. We've got a lot of confidence in him. 
• No. 2 — Day off for Arozarena: Left fielder Randy Arozarena, who has played in 45 of the Rays' 46 games and leads the team with 172 at-bats, is getting the day off on Sunday. Manuel Margot is starting in left field.
• No. 3 — Lowe improving: Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, on the injured list with a low back injury, continues to improve, but Cash said a return isn't imminent.  He went on the IL on May 16. "He says he's feeling good, but the timetable still hasn't changed. It'll be a little while,'' Cash said.   
• No. 4 — Off to Texas: The Rays hit the road after the game, traveling to Texas for a four-game series with the Rangers. They'll play night games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night, and a day game on Thursday before returning home for series against the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. Drew Rasmussen starts Monday's game for the Rays.

Related stories on Rays baseball

• RAYS DINK TO WIN (Sat.): Needing offense in the worst way after a three-game funk, the Tampa Bay Rays finally beat the New York Yankees on Saturday thanks to two bloop hits and a soft infield hit, winning 3-1 at sold-out Tropicana Field. CLICK HERE
• TAILLON BLANKS RAYS (Fri.): Tampa Bay was looking forward to challenging the New York Yankees this weekend, but their bats haven't showed up. The Rays were silenced for the second straight night, this time by Yankees starter Jameson Taillon, who only allowed two hits through eight innings in the 2-0 victory. CLICK HERE
• CORTES DOMINATES RAYS (Thurs.): Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough matched New York's Nestor Cortes for five innings Thursday night, but a tough sixth inning led to a 7-2 Yankees' victory. Cortes went eight-plus and was tough to figure out for Rays' hitters. CLICK HERE
• TOM BREW COLUMN: The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays did something usual on Thursday, taking to social media to highlight this country's serious problem with gun violence after events in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas in the past week or so. There were no game updates, just gun violence statistics. Good for them. CLICK HERE
• 1-2 PUNCH WITH McCLANAHAN, RASMUSSEN: The argument can be made that Tampa Bay starters Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen are the best one-two punch in the American League, and they've been really good the past month or so. Their numbers are exceptional, and here's our comparison of the best pair of pitchers in the league. CLICK HERE
• RAYS 2022 SCHEDULE: Here is the complete 2022 schedule for the Tampa Bay Rays, with results and stats from every game far, and dates, locations and gametimes for the rest of the season. CLICK HERE

Watch Mike Zunino's pregame press conference