The Tampa Bay Rays are comfortable waiting to the late innings to pull off comebacks and certainly at ease in those situations against the New York Yankees.

The only thing that stopped the Rays so far was heavy rain postponing Saturday’s game and the Yankees will attempt to beat the AL East rivals when the teams try to conclude the abbreviated series Sunday, though rain remains in the forecast.

The teams will make Saturday’s game as part of a split doubleheader on Sept. 22. Another doubleheader may be forced upon the teams since heavy rain is projected for New York throughout Sunday.

If the game can get played, the Rays will attempt to widen their lead in the AL East over the Yankees to 6 1/2 games.

The Rays are on a five-game winning streak and are 22-4 in their past 26 games since a 12-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on April 21 after scoring four times in the eighth inning of Friday’s 4-2 win.

“That’s who we are. I think everyone’s bought into our style of play, how we play,” starter Nick Martinez said after the Rays improved to 14-2 against divisional opponents. “We don’t give up, man. We’re not down until it’s over.”

The Rays scored four times in the eighth inning for the second straight game after also doing so in Wednesday’s 5-3 win over Baltimore.

“We’re a grindy team,” Martinez said. “We’re going to scrap our way in it.”

Jonathan Aranda is hitting .338 (22-for-65) with 13 RBIs in his past 18 games after getting a tying double. Richie Palacios is hitting .394 (13-for-33) with nine RBIs over his past 10 games after contributing a two-run single.

The Yankees are 4-10 in their past 14 games and have been held to three runs or fewer nine times in that span. During their past three games, the Yankees have scored three times while going 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

On Friday, the Yankees totaled 11 hits, marking only the third time during their 14-game slide they finished with double-digit hits.

“With what we’re going through, you hate losing the game,” said manager Aaron Boone, whose team won nine of 13 meetings with Tampa Bay last season. “We’ve got to find a way to beat that club.”

Aaron Judge is homerless in his past 11 games since May 10 in Milwaukee and is mired in a 1-for-24 slump after ending Friday’s game with a flyout to center field.

Drew Rasmussen (4-1, 3.19 ERA) pitches for the Rays and attempts to win three straight starts for the third time in his career. Rasmussen allowed two earned runs or fewer for the sixth time this season in Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins when he permitted two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Rasmussen is 4-1 with a 1.03 ERA in eight career outings (seven starts) against the Yankees. He also is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA in three career starts in New York and Judge is 1-for-13 against the right-hander.

Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.58), who is coming off a pair of no-decisions, pitches for the Yankees. Weathers pitched in Monday’s 7-6 win over Toronto and tied season highs by allowing five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Weathers is starting against the Rays for the second time. On June 7, 2025 for the Marlins, Weathers allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits in three hits and took a no-decision.

–Field Level Media

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The Chicago Cubs know their losing streak won’t go on forever, but the long string of defeats definitely is getting uncomfortable.

The Cubs will attempt to end their seven-game skid when they host the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.

The losing streak is Chicago’s longest since a nine-game slide from July 7-16, 2022.

“You stick to things that have gotten you out of (losing streaks). You stick to things that have made you good, and you keep trying to reinforce that the challenge is to stay with that stuff when you’re not getting results,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ve struggled as a team for two weeks here.”

The Cubs were shut out for the second time in three games on Saturday, wasting a solid seven-inning effort by Colin Rea in a 3-0 defeat to the Astros. Counsell tried shuffling his batting order, but the Cubs still managed just three singles.

Houston starter Kai-Wei Teng confounded the Cubs with his breaking ball for six innings before three relievers blanked them the rest of the way.

“We’re trying to square balls up, and we’re just not having much success,” Counsell said after the game. “The breaking ball today was good from (Teng). He just threw a lot of breaking balls at kind of varying shapes, and we struggled with it. We couldn’t square it up, essentially ended up being a bunch of pop-ups and some swing-and-miss.”

Teng’s six shutout innings marked the third time in the past four games that Houston’s starter went at least five innings without allowing a run.

“Just like hitting, pitching can be contagious too,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Everybody’s starting to do their part. The level of confidence is starting to rise. The guys are starting to believe in one another. ‘It’s my turn. I want to pass the baton to the next guy,’ and we’re starting to get quality start after quality start.”

The Astros, who have won three of their past four games, plan to start right-hander Peter Lambert in the series finale.

Lambert (2-4, 3.57 ERA) has lost his past two outings, but the Cubs combined for one run in those games. The right-hander most recently gave up five runs and three hits in six innings of an 8-0 loss to the Texas Rangers last Sunday.

Lambert has made three appearances against the Cubs in his career, including two starts, and is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA.

“Our offense continued to produce some good at-bats (Saturday) again, but for us to get going and create consistency in how we win games, we need both sides of the ball, and it starts with our pitching,” Espada said.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga (4-4, 3.38 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Cubs on Sunday.

Imanaga is coming off his worst outing of the season, surrendering eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday to end a streak of three quality starts.

“Shota just didn’t have a good night,” Counsell said. “He just didn’t have real good command, the command that he usually has. … It was, frankly, not being able to put the ball where he wanted to put it.”

Imanaga has never faced the Astros.

–Field Level Media

Regardless of what happens when the Cincinnati Reds host the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon, it will be hard to top the heartwarming debut of rookie Bryan Torres.

The National League Central rivals played for the first time this season on Saturday and split a doubleheader. St. Louis won the first game 8-1, and Cincinnati prevailed 7-6 in 11 innings in the nightcap.

The Cardinals called up Torres, 28, from the minors on Friday to make his long-awaited major league debut following an injury to fellow outfielder Nathan Church (left-shoulder strain).

Torres, signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015, spent five-plus seasons in the minor leagues in the United States — plus played in games in many locations in the Dominican Summer League, Puerto Rican Winter League and the independent leagues — waiting for his chance. He was signed as a minor league free agent by St. Louis in 2023 and was leading the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds with a .336 batting average when he was called up.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Torres walked in his first plate appearance, singled in the fourth inning and hit a two-run homer in the ninth. He went 2-for-4 and made a nice catch in left field. In the nightcap he was 1-for-4 with a walk.

“Eleven years to get to here,” Torres said. “I’m not a homer guy. Today, my debut, it just happened. I’ve been learning to manage the pressure. When the heart is going too fast, you have to slow things down. I felt a little pounding in my chest today.”

Of Torres’ day, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said: “That was awesome. That guy’s waited a long time to get his shot. You talk about being resilient and, even before the game started, you could tell he was locked in and just having a good time. That was fun.”

The other offensive star for St. Louis on Saturday was right fielder Jordan Walker, who was 4-for-9 with two homers, three runs and seven RBIs.

For Cincinnati, Elly De La Cruz snapped a 1-for-17 streak when he crushed a three-run homer in the second game, and Nathaniel Lowe hit a pair of home runs for the day.

The pitching matchup for the series finale will pit Cincinnati right-hander Brady Singer (2-4, 6.26 ERA) against St. Louis southpaw Matthew Liberatore (2-2, 4.70).

Singer did not pitch well in his most recent outing, a 10-3 loss at Cleveland on May 17. He pitched four innings and allowed five runs on seven hits — including three home runs — and one walk, striking out six. He had worked just 3 2/3 innings in his previous start — a 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on May 12 — after being struck on the right ankle by a line drive in the second inning, but he didn’t use the injury as an excuse.

“I was able to get to strikes. That’s what I wanted to do,” Singer said. “But I wasn’t able to put them away. The ankle is fine. I didn’t feel it when I was pitching.”

Reds manager Terry Francona said it wasn’t an easy outing for Singer.

“He had to work for everything, and when he missed, he paid the price,” Francona said.

Singer has made five career starts against St. Louis, going 2-3 with a 3.04 ERA.

Liberatore was roughed up by the Pittsburgh Pirates in his most recent start on Tuesday, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He tied a career high with nine strikeouts. The Cardinals won 9-6 in 10 innings, but Liberatore didn’t figure into the decision.

Liberatore has made 10 career appearances against the Reds, three of them starts, going 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA.

–Field Level Media