• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Rays give Andriese another shot vs. White Sox

Jun 12, 2015 - 2:42 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Andriese gets another shot to prove he belongs in the Tampa Bay Rays rotation when he takes the mound Friday in the opener of a three-game series versus the Chicago White Sox at Tropicana Field.

Andriese was recalled from Triple-A Durham on Thursday and is taking the spot of injured starter Jake Odorizzi (oblique). He is 1-0 with a 2.70 earned run average in five game (4 starts) with the Bulls and 0-1 with two saves and a 4.79 ERA through seven appearances, three of which have been starts, at the major league level.

The young right-hander tossed four innings of one-run ball for the save in a 6-1 win over the New York Yankees on May 14 and his worst outing came against the Yanks back on April 19, when he allowed four runs in 3 1/3 frames.

Tampa Bay hopes to bounce back with the inexperienced Andriese on the mound and lost two of three meetings with the L.A. Angels to begin an eight-game homestand. In Thursday's 6-2 setback at the Trop, Kevin Jepsen gave up three runs in relief to take the loss and Tampa Bay blew an early 2-0 lead.

"It was just one of those days where they had a couple well-placed balls," Jepsen said. "Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that."

Steven Souza Jr. hit the two-run blast in the second inning and starting pitcher Alex Colome pitched well in the no-decision, charged with just a run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The Angels had a 14-5 advantage in hits.

Tampa Bay entered the game with eight wins in the last 11 contests and has lost seven of its last eight home games.

Chicago is coming off a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros and took Wednesday's finale by a 4-1 score.

The Astros grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly from Jake Marisnick, but the hosts evened the score on an Adam LaRoche home run in the sixth inning. Chicago took the lead for good when Geovany Soto led off the seventh with a home run, then Jose Abreu got into the act with a two-run blast in the eighth inning.

Jose Quintana picked up the win and held the Astros to a run and six hits in seven innings of work.

"He just grinds, he continues to go out and pitch well," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.

Ventura's club went 4-2 on the homestand and will visit Pittsburgh twice on this upcoming trek. The White Sox went 5-6 on their last road trip and will be without Ventura this series for the college graduation of his daughter. Bench coach Mark Parent will assume managerial duties.

Vance Law, the White Sox minor-league hitting coordinator, will serve as the bench coach against the Rays.

White Sox veteran left-hander John Danks takes the mound Friday and he is 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA in 11 starts. Danks is 1-2 in his last four starts and was hammered for five runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 7-1 loss to Detroit on Saturday. He has allowed 16 runs during this rough four-game stretch.

Danks has faced the Rays 12 times in his career and is 6-5 with a 4.01 ERA across 74 innings.

The White Sox went 5-2 against the Rays last season. Abreu batted .385 with three home runs and 13 RBI in those seven games.