Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda will look to keep swinging a hot bat when the Rays begin their three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The first baseman led the majors in May by producing a .374 batting average, which included nine extra-base hits, 18 RBIs and an active nine-game hitting streak.
The lefty hitter blistered his 11th homer and drove in his 43rd run in the first inning of Sunday’s 5-2 series-clinching win over the Angels as the Rays won their sixth straight home series.
“It’s just being able to be myself and be calm up at the plate,” Aranda said in an on-field interview after the Rays moved to 18-8 in May. “I’ve been able to make some adjustments this entire month that have been working. … It’s just about me being comfortable in the batter’s box.”
The Rays put reliever Craig Kimbrel and his 440 career saves on the 15-day injured list with a right wrist strain and designated reliever Andrew Wantz for assignment ahead of Sunday’s game.
In their absence, the club added left-hander Cam Booser and right-hander Trevor Martin from Triple-A Durham.
The former’s arrival puts another southpaw into a bullpen that ranks 23rd in the majors in ERA (4.69). Booser will join lefties Garrett Cleavinger and Ian Seymour in giving the Rays more late-inning options.
Booser, 34, had a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings in Durham.
Griffin Jax (1-3, 3.60 ERA) will make his 18th appearance overall and seventh start in Monday’s opener against Detroit after being drilled in the back by Leody Taveras’ line drive in Baltimore last week.
The right-hander is 0-1 with a 1.71 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP as a starter. Opposing teams are hitting .230 against him in the new role.
May was a sour month for the Detroit Tigers, who had extremely high expectations entering the 2026 season and were considered a favorite in the American League Central by many.
The last-place Tigers’ miserable month continued Sunday on the south side of Chicago, where the White Sox swept manager A.J. Hinch’s club in a series in which Detroit scored just five runs.
Detroit held a 1-0 lead after one inning Sunday on Spencer Torkelson’s RBI double, but the South Siders plated two in the seventh on Colson Montgomery’s solo homer and a Tristan Peters single.
While tallying just five times in three contests is on its own a terrible number, there are others.
Detroit is winless in seven straight in a division in which every club except the second-place White Sox — triumphant in five straight – currently possesses a multi-game losing streak.
The club has lost 21 of its past 25 games and went 6-22 in May.
Hinch faced questions afterward about pulling starter Keider Montero, who used just 65 pitches to blank Chicago over six innings.
Reliever Drew Anderson took the loss by allowing both runs in the seventh.
“Clearly, it’s a tough call because it’s a 1-0 game,” said Hinch after the second one-run defeat in the series. “I felt that was the best way (to win) with Drew’s dominance against lefties. … We’re just trying to win the game, I’m not going with my gut.”
Added Montero: “I was so focused I didn’t realize I was at 65. … I could’ve gone farther, but I was just doing my job.”
The Tigers will start Ty Madden (0-0, 2.38) in Monday’s series opener. While it will be his first start of the season in his fourth appearance, he’s capable of carrying a starter’s load, with one five-inning relief appearance and another covering six innings this season.
–Field Level Media
