Rays @ Guardians

Who will WIN this matchup?

Tampa Bay Rays (85-69)

@ Cleveland Guardians (86-68)

Starting Pitchers:

Springs (TB): 9-4; 2.56 ERA

Quantrill (CLE) 14-5; 3.59 ERA

Current odds:

Tampa Bay Rays: (-122)

Cleveland Guardians: (+104)

• The starting line-up for the Rays is as follows:

• The starting line-up for the Guardians is as follows:

• Cleveland Guardians right-hander Cal Quantrill will face the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday looking to make a bit of history. Quantrill will seek to remain perfect at home when he and his teammates close a three-game series against the visiting Rays.

• With Cleveland locked into the No. 3 spot among the American League’s division winners, Rays manager Kevin Cash thought the Guardians might take a different tack in the series.

• In his first full season as a starting pitcher, Quantrill (14-5, 3.49 ERA) is on the cusp of tying Vic Raschi’s major league record for perfection in one stadium. Quantrill is 13-0 with a 2.95 ERA in 42 games (32 starts) in Cleveland. Raschi, a three-time 21-game winner for the New York Yankees, went 14-0 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park from 1947-55, never losing to the White Sox.

• While the numbers for Quantrill, 27, have stood out, he’s also been the beneficiary of the best run-support in baseball. The Guardians are scoring 6.47 runs per nine innings for the former San Diego Padres first-round draft pick (No. 8 overall) from the 2016 draft.

• Quantrill has reeled off 10 consecutive winning decisions. He was 4-5 with a 3.86 ERA on July 5 following an 11-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Since then, he is 10-0 with a 3.12 ERA in 15 starts. Over two career starts against the Rays, Quantrill is 1-0 with a 2.38 in 11 1/3 innings.

• Cleveland (87-68) won for the 19th time in 23 games on Wednesday. Pinch hitter Amed Rosario’s walk-off single in the 10th inning lifted the Guardians to a 2-1 victory over the Rays.

• Tampa Bay (85-70) managed only six hits and finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Rays remain 1 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays (87-69) in the race for the top AL wild card.

• The Rays will start Jeffrey Springs (9-4, 2.56 ERA) on Thursday, and the left-hander will attempt to become the fourth starter in Cash’s rotation to earn double-digit wins. He would join Shane McClanahan (12), Drew Rasmussen (10) and Corey Kluber (10).

• In September, Springs is 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA across five starts. Sporting a 1.066 WHIP in the month, Springs has yielded just a .204 batting average and has fanned 26 in 25 1/3 innings. Against the Guardians in three career outings (one start), Springs is 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA. The start came on July 29, when Springs took a loss after yielding three runs on six hits in five innings.

• The Rays announced on Wednesday — the same day that former ace right-hander Tyler Glasnow returned from Tommy John surgery — that promising right-hander Shane Baz underwent Tommy John surgery and would miss the 2023 season. Baz, 23, went 1-2 with a 5.00 ERA in six starts this year before he was shut down in mid-July due what was initially diagnosed as an elbow sprain.