Blue Jays begin 3-game series with the Rays

Tampa Bay Rays (77-82, fourth in the AL East) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (91-68, second in the AL East)

Toronto; Friday, 7:07 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Adrian Houser (8-4, 3.18 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 87 strikeouts); Blue Jays: Shane Bieber (3-2, 3.57 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 34 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Toronto Blue Jays host the Tampa Bay Rays to open a three-game series.

Toronto has a 91-68 record overall and a 51-27 record in home games. Blue Jays hitters are batting a collective .265, the highest team batting average in the AL.

Tampa Bay has a 77-82 record overall and a 36-42 record in road games. The Rays are 36-18 in games when they did not give up a home run.

The teams meet Friday for the 11th time this season. The Rays are ahead 7-3 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Junior Caminero has 28 doubles, 44 home runs and 109 RBIs for the Rays. Brandon Lowe is 10 for 41 with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jays: 4-6, .178 batting average, 5.22 ERA, outscored by 24 runs

Rays: 4-6, .250 batting average, 3.50 ERA, outscored by three runs

INJURIES: Blue Jays: Jose Berrios: 15-Day IL (elbow), Ty France: 10-Day IL (oblique), Chris Bassitt: 15-Day IL (back), Bo Bichette: 10-Day IL (knee), Robinson Pina: 60-Day IL (elbow), Nick Sandlin: 60-Day IL (elbow), Yimi Garcia: 60-Day IL (ankle), Bowden Francis: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Burr: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Angel Bastardo: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Rays: Everson Pereira: day-to-day (back), Yandy Diaz: day-to-day (groin), Taylor Walls: 60-Day IL (groin), Jonny Deluca: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Brian Van Belle: 60-Day IL (elbow), Mason Englert: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Stuart Fairchild: 60-Day IL (oblique), Jonathan Aranda: 10-Day IL (wrist), Manuel Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (forearm), Hunter Bigge: 60-Day IL (lat), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (tricep), Alex Faedo: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.