In line for G1 start in Wild Card, McClanahan keeps trending up

HOUSTON -- The Rays woke up Saturday morning with the satisfaction of having secured a spot in the postseason. They may not know where they’ll take the field next weekend, but they’ll be playing playoff baseball somewhere. That mission has been accomplished.

In the meantime, as manager Kevin Cash reminded reporters on Saturday afternoon, “We’re still playing for quite a bit.”

Finishing atop the American League Wild Card standings and getting home-field advantage next weekend is a “clear No. 1” priority for Tampa Bay, Cash said. At the same time, the Rays want to get as healthy as possible and as hot as possible with October officially underway.

The Rays’ chances of hosting a Wild Card Series at Tropicana Field were diminished by their 2-1 loss to the Astros on Saturday night and victories by the Blue Jays and Mariners earlier in the day. After scoring seven runs in Friday’s clincher at Minute Maid Park, they were held to four hits -- two of them by David Peralta, who notched his 1,000th career hit on the night -- and didn’t score until the ninth inning.

On the bright side, and perhaps most importantly, Shane McClanahan looked and felt more like himself in his final start of the regular season.

Standings update: 86-72 (third AL Wild Card spot)
Games remaining: 4
AL Wild Card: The Blue Jays lead the Rays by three games for the first spot; the Mariners lead the Rays by 1 1/2 games for the second spot
Seeding battle: Tampa Bay owns tiebreakers over Toronto (10-9 in the season series) and Seattle (5-2); Seattle owns the tiebreaker over Toronto (5-2)

McClanahan, who’s lined up to start the first game of the Wild Card Series next Friday, limited the Astros to two runs on five hits while throwing 67 pitches in five innings. It was not his best performance, by any means, but it was a notable improvement from the nine runs he gave up in nine innings over his past two starts.

And it left McClanahan feeling good about where he stands before his biggest start of the year.

“I think I'm pretty proud of the way I threw the ball tonight. Made some big pitches. I feel like I responded really, really well after those last two [starts] I had,” McClanahan said. “I feel like I'm at a good finishing point this year, and I'm excited for whenever I get the ball next in the postseason.”

McClanahan will end his first full Major League season with a 2.54 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings over 28 starts. He earned the starting nod in the All-Star Game with a dominant first half, although he slipped a bit with a 4.20 ERA in the second half and a brief bout with a left shoulder impingement that cost him two weeks.

McClanahan returned from the injured list by pitching five outstanding innings in Toronto on Sept. 15, then he gave up five runs in four innings against the Astros on Sept. 20 and four runs in five innings against the Blue Jays on Sunday. Cash and McClanahan chalked up those performances to less precise command, but Cash said he thought McClanahan was “better” on Saturday night -- and McClanahan agreed.

“There was obviously some damage, some pitches that I thought were really, really well-executed. They just put the ball in play, and kudos to them,” said the left-hander, who matched a season low with only two strikeouts despite throwing 67 percent of his pitches for strikes. “It tells a lot about what they do as a team. They don't strike out. They always battle. I'm proud of the way I threw it, though.”

The only sequence that went awry for McClanahan came in the third inning. After a leadoff single, Jake Meyers took second base on a wild pitch, only McClanahan’s eighth of the season, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. McClanahan walked Jose Altuve, setting up a potential double play, but Jeremy Peña knocked an RBI single to left. Altuve eventually scored on McClanahan’s second wild pitch of the inning.

“We've got to do a better job of executing in those moments,” Cash said. “Good teams are going to take advantage, and they did.”

Astros right-hander Cristian Javier pitched six scoreless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 25 1/3 innings, the longest active mark in the Majors. Yandy Díaz delivered a pinch-hit RBI single off Ryan Pressly with two outs in the ninth, but Harold Ramírez lined out to right to strand a pair of runners.

“They can really pitch,” Cash said. “Pressly, we know how good he is. Strikes kind of got away from him there for a minute, but he got back out and made a big pitch.”