FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018—SPLIT SQUADvs. Pittsburgh Pirates: LH Vidal Nuño vs. RH Tyler Eppler

at Baltimore Orioles: RH Yonny Chirinos vs. RH Mike Wright Jr.

vs. Pittsburgh ¡ First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Charlotte County, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: MLB.comat Baltimore ¡ First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: None

Game Nos: 1 & 2 (0-0-0) | vs. AL: 0-0-0 | vs. NL: 0-0-0 | Home: 0-0-0 | Road: 0-0-0Day 10 of Spring Training | 35 Days Until Opening Day—Thursday, March 29 vs. Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field (4:00 p.m.)

PLAY BALL!—Today is the Rays fi rst and second of 33 games on the Grapefruit League schedule…they will play 14 games at Charlotte Sports Park, 18 games on the road and one game at Tropicana Field… these are the fi rst and second of 195 games the Rays are scheduled to play in 2018.

Ê This is the Rays 21st spring training and 10th in Charlotte County…over the past 10 years, the Rays have captured three Grapefruit League titles (2008, 2010, 2014) while win-ning at least 15 games seven times—something they were unable to do in all 10 springs as the Devil Rays (1998–2007).

A TIP OF THE CAP—Prior to the Rays-Pi-rates game at Charlotte Sports Park, a mo-ment of silence will be held at 12:55 for the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting…the Rays will join the Pirates (at Charlotte Sports Park) and Orioles (in Sarasota) in wearing Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS baseball caps for both batting practice and the split-squad games, to pay tribute to last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla. …the Rays caps from the home game will be autographed and auctioned off to raise money for the Broward Education Foundation…the auction will run at raysbaseball.com/auctions from Feb 27 at 8:30 a.m. until March 6 at 8 p.m. …Major League Baseball announced that all 30 clubs will wear the Stoneman Douglas caps at some point this weekend.

CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCHES—Ceremonial fi rst pitches will be thrown today by four Charlotte Coun-ty Commissioners (Chris Constance, Joe Tiseo, Stephen R. Deutsch, Bill Truex)…then, ceremonial fi rst pitches will be thrown by servicemen and servicewomen representing fi ve military branches: Sergio Stephens (U.S. Army), Dorothy Carter (U.S. Navy), Kevin Mangles (U.S. Marines), Katie Scott (U.S. Air Force), Stephen R. Deutsch (U.S. Coast Guard).

LOOK UP—Today’s pregame ceremonies will feature a fl yover by the U.S. Coast Guard Airstation Clear-water…the Sikorsky MH-60 T Jayhawk is a multi-mission, twin-engine, medium-range helicopter oper-ated by the U.S. Coast Guard for search and rescue, law enforcement, military readiness and marine environmental protection missions…today’s H-60 is piloted by Lt. Rachel Post and Lt. Chelsea Kalil.

PACE OF GAME—Major League Baseball announced this week changes for the upcoming season de-signed to improve the pace of play…these changes will be in effect for Grapefruit League games…rules were changed to limit the number of mound visits in a game and to reduce the time required for inning breaks and pitching changes…Commissioner Rob Manfred has decided to defer the implementation of a pitch timer and a between-batter timer in 2018 in order to provide players with an opportunity to speed up the game without the use of those timers.

ON THE AIRWAVES—Today’s game against the Pirates will be broadcast on MLB.com, with Dave Wills and Andy Freed on the call…fans can meet the broadcasters at the mobile WDAE 620 AM studio (third base side) at 12:30 p.m. …Dave and Andy are entering their 14th season together, the 3rd-longest tenured full-season radio broadcast duo in the majors behind Detroit and San Francisco.

Ê Pitching coach Kyle Snyder and RH Chris Archer are guests on this weekend’s edition of the Countdown to Opening Day radio show, airing on WDAE 620 AM at 12:30 p.m. prior to both games this weekend.

ALL FOR THE KIDS—The 10th Annual BaseBALL Dinner & Auction benefi ting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Charlotte County will be held tomorrow at Charlotte Sports Park…to purchase tickets, fans should call (941) 235-2472…for the 10th consecutive year, the Rays will be featured at the event…expected this year

RAYS SPRING TRAINING HISTORYW L T Att.

2018 0 0 0 --

2017 12 16 5 81,752

2016 12 13 2 68,566

2015 15 13 2 80,406

2014 16 7 4 78,264

2013 15 17 2 90,935

2012 10 16 6 87,916

2011 15 14 2 95,859

2010 20 8 2 97,971

2009 15 16 1 103,255

2008 18 8 2 54,960

2007 10 19 2 79,044

2006 13 16 1 70,756

2005 13 16 0 61,261

2004 11 8 0 43,916

2003 8 19 3 51,324

2002 10 16 1 49,043

2001 12 15 1 57,081

2000 14 17 0 67,089

1999 14 14 1 59,230

1998 12 18 0 66,781

Total 265 285 37 1,441,905

STARTING LINEUP vs. PITTSBURGHNo. Player Pos. Avg. HR RBI

2 Denard Span (L) LF -- 0 0

5 Matt Duffy 3B -- 0 0

39 Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF -- 0 0

40 Wilson Ramos C -- 0 0

13 Brad Miller (L) 1B -- 0 0

11 Adeiny Hechavarria SS -- 0 0

0 Mallex Smith (L) RF -- 0 0

17 Jason Coats DH -- 0 0

28 Daniel Robertson 2B -- 0 0

38 Vidal Nuño LHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

STARTING LINEUP at BALTIMORENo. Player Pos. Avg. HR RBI

7 Micah Johnson (L) LF -- 0 0

18 Joey Wendle (L) 2B -- 0 0

1 Willy Adames SS -- 0 0

70 Jake Bauers (L) 1B -- 0 0

14 Ryan Schimpf (L) 3B -- 0 0

74 Johnny Field CF -- 0 0

71 Justin Williams (L) RF -- 0 0

76 Johnny Monell (L) DH -- 0 0

31 Adam Moore C -- 0 0

64 Yonny Chirinos RHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

UPCOMING PROBABLESToday vs. PIT

Pittsburgh Tampa Bay

RH Tyler Eppler LH Vidal Nuño

RH Alex McRae RH Austin Pruitt

RH Casey Sadler RH Ryne Stanek

RH Tyler Jones LH Dan Runzler

RH John Stilson RH Diego Castillo

RH Yeudy Garcia RH Colton Murray

RH Damien Magnifi co RH Cody Hall

RH Brett McKinney RH Edwin Fierro

Today at BALTampa Bay Baltimore

RH Yonny Chirinos RH Mike Wright Jr.

RH Andrew Kittredge RH Pedro Araujo

RH Ryan Weber RH Jeff Ferrell

LH Adam Kolarek LH Jason Gurka

RH Hunter Wood LH Donnie Hart

RH Ian Gibaut LH Chris Lee

RH Forrest Snow LH Joely Rodriguez

LH Kyle Bird RH Jimmy Yacabonis

Tomorrow at BOSTampa Bay Boston

RH Jake Faria LH Roenis Elias

RH Matt Andriese RH Brandon Workman

RH Dustin McGowan RH Heath Hembree

LH Ryan Yarbrough RH Kyle Martin

RH Chaz Roe LH Bobby Poyner

LH José Alvarado RH Ty Buttrey

RH Evan Scribner

RH José Mujica

Sunday at MINTampa Bay Minnesota

LH Blake Snell RH Kyle Gibson

LH Dan Jennings RH Myles Jaye

RH Chih-Wei Hu RH Zach Littell

RH Jaime Schultz LH Lewis Thorpe

RH R.J. Alaniz RH Michael Kohn

LH Jonny Venters LH Gabriel Moya

LH Kyle Bird

RH Edwin Fierro

RH Cody Hall

RH Colton Murray

PRONUNCIATIONS—Willy Adames (ah-DAH-mes), R.J. Alaniz (ah-lah-NIECE), Matt Andriese (ann-DREESE), Christian Arroyo (ah-ROY-yoh), Anthony Banda (BAHN-da), Jake Bauers (BOW-ers), Xorge Carrillo (HOR-hay cah-REE-yo), Yonny Chirinos (chih-REE-nos), Nick Ciuffo (SHOO-fo), Alex Colomé (COLE-uh-may), C.J. Cron (krohn), Nate Eovaldi (ee-VAUL-dee), Jake Faria (fuh-REE-uh), Ian Gibaut (jih-BOH), Adeiny Hechavarria (etch-ah-vah-REE-yah), Chih-Wei Hu (CHEE-way HOO), Kevin Ki-ermaier (KEER-my-er), Adam Kolarek (koh-LAIR-ick), Johnny Monell (mo-NELL), José Mujica (moo-HEE-kah), Vidal Nuño (vee-DAHL NOON-yoh), Wilson Ramos (RAH-mos), Dan Runzler (RUHNZ-ler), Ryan Schimpf (shimf), Evan Scribner (SKRIB-ner), Nick Solak (SO-lack), Ryne Stanek (STAN-ik), Jesús Sucre (heh-SOOS SUE-cray), Ryan Yarbrough (YAHR-bro)

are Rays Manager Kevin Cash, coaches Stan Boroski, Charlie Montoyo and Chad Mottola, 1B/OF Jake Bauers, C Nick Ciuffo, RH Jake Faria, INF Daniel Robertson, LH Blake Snell and INF Kean Wong, among others.

RAYS ON THE TUBE—Tonight at 8 p.m. is the premiere of FOX Sports Sun’s “Inside the Rays: Spring Training”…the episode will bring fans all the sight and sounds from camp, as well as the happenings off the field…among the footage is the annual Fan Fest at Tropicana Field, CF Kevin Kiermaier train-ing with the University of Tampa baseball team and coaches Kyle Snyder and Ozzie Timmons at for a free coaches clinic.

VIDEO ON A SILVER PLATTER—A video feed of today’s home game will be available, featuring highlights and interviews…with questions, contact Chris Tilley at 727-434-0497 or raysspringtraining@gmail.com…the Rays will provide a daily postgame video feed of all non-televised spring games, which will include about two minutes of highlights plus two short inter-views…for day games, video should be uploaded by 5:15 p.m.

560 AND COUNTING—The Rays will enter the 2018 season with a streak of 560 games started by a pitcher under the age of 30, the longest current streak in the majors…35-year-old LH Erik Bedard on July 3, 2014 at DET was the last 30-plus pitcher to start a game for the Rays…entering the season, since June 26, 2006, the Rays have started a pitcher under the age of 30 in 96 pct. (1,795 of 1,869) of their games…the Rays have used only 30 different starting pitchers over the last 10 seasons, fewest in the majors.

SPRING TRANSACTIONS— Ê Feb 17 Acquired 1B C.J. Cron from the Los Angeles Angels in ex-

change for a player to be named; designated OF/DH Corey Dickerson for assignment.

Ê Feb 17 Acquired minor league SS Jermaine Palacios from the Min- nesota Twins in exchange for RH Jake Odorizzi.

Ê Feb 20 Acquired LH Anthony Banda and two players to be named from the Arizona Diamondbacks and minor league 2B Nick Solak from the New York Yankees in a three-team trade in exchange for OF Steven Souza Jr.

Ê Feb 22 Acquired RH Daniel Hudson, minor league INF Tristan Gray and cash considerations from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for OF/DH Corey Dickerson.

2018 TAMPA BAY RAYS SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULEDAY DATE OPPONENT SITE R/TV TIME/SCORE W-L WINNER LOSER ATT

Fri Feb 23 Pittsburgh Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

@Baltimore Sarasota 1:05 p.m.

Sat Feb 24 @Boston Fort Myers W 1:05 p.m.

Sun Feb 25 @Minnesota Lee County W/F 1:05 p.m.

Mon Feb 26 Toronto Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Tue Feb 27 Baltimore Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Wed Feb 28 @Minnesota Lee County 1:05 p.m.

Thu March 1 Baltimore Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Fri March 2 Philadelphia Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Sat March 3 @Detroit Lakeland W 1:05 p.m.

Sun March 4 @New York-AL Tampa W/F 1:05 p.m.

Tue March 6 Boston Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Wed March 7 Baltimore Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Thu March 8 @Boston Fort Myers 1:05 p.m.

Fri March 9 Minnesota Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Sat March 10 @Philadelphia Clearwater W 1:05 p.m.

Sun March 11 Minnesota Charlotte County W/F 1:05 p.m.

Tue March 13 @Philadelphia Clearwater 1:05 p.m.

Wed March 14 @Pittsburgh Bradenton 1:05 p.m.

Thu March 15 Minnesota Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

Fri March 16 @Minnesota Lee County 1:05 p.m.

Sat March 17 @Boston Fort Myers W 1:05 p.m.

Sun March 18 Detroit Charlotte County W 1:05 p.m.

Mon March 19 @New York-AL Tampa W 6:35 p.m.

Tue March 20 @Baltimore Sarasota W 6:05 p.m.

Wed March 21 Boston Charlotte County M/F 1:05 p.m.

Thu March 22 @Toronto Dunedin 1:07 p.m.

Fri March 23 Toronto Charlotte County M 1:05 p.m.

@Baltimore Sarasota 1:05 p.m.

Sat March 24 @Pittsburgh Bradenton W 1:05 p.m.

Sun March 25 New York-AL Charlotte County W/F 1:05 p.m.

Mon March 26 @Detroit Lakeland F 1:05 p.m.

Tue March 27 Detroit Tropicana Field 12:35 p.m.

Home Games shaded grayRADIO: WDAE 620 AM/95.3 FM (W), MLB.com (M)TELEVISION: FOX Sports Sun (F)

2018 SPRING INNINGS PLAYED (“A” GAMES)Player C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DHAdamesArroyoBauersBoldtCarrilloChesterCiuffoCoatsCronCronenworthDuffyFieldHaleyHechavarriaHernándezJamesJohnsonKayKellyKiermaierLoweLukesMarisMcCarthyMillerMiloneMonellMooreOlmedo-BarreraPadloRamosRobertsonRussellSánchezSchimpfSmithSnyderSolakSpanStoneSucreSullivanVelazquezWendleWilliamsWong

TODAY’S STARTER vs. PIT—LH Vidal Nuño (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Ê 2017 Majors (Orioles): 0-1, 10.43 ERA (14.2-IP, 17-ER), 12 apps Ê Career Majors: 5-21, 4.29 ERA (344-IP, 164-ER), 138 apps, 42 starts Ê In 2017, was acquired by the Orioles during spring training…made

the Opening Day roster and spent three stints with the club Ê Was on the Mariners active roster for the entire 2016 season, going

1-1 with a 3.53 ERA (58.2-IP, 23-ER) in 55 apps (1 start)

TODAY’S STARTER at BAL—RH Yonny Chirinos (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Ê 2017 Minors (MTG, DUR): 13-5, 2.73 ERA (168.1-IP, 51-ER), 141 SO Ê Career Minors: 36-17, 2.75 ERA (474.1-IP, 145-ER), 363 SO Ê In 2017, named Minor League Pitcher of the Year by the Rays Base-

ball Operations department…led Rays minor leaguers in innings, tied for 2nd in wins, ranked 3rd in strikeouts and 4th in ERA

Ê Is the No. 23 prospect in the Rays system (Baseball America)

Day-by-Day W-L IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP ResultDay-by-Day W-L IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP Result