Rays at Cardinals
When/where: 7:15 tonight; Busch Stadium, St. Louis
TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)
Probable pitchers
Rays: RH Alex Cobb (5-6, 4.08)
CARDS: RH Lance Lynn (11-6, 3.13)
On Cobb: Worked into the sixth on Friday in post-break opening win over Twins. Is 3-0 over past four starts despite a 4.03 ERA. Has never faced Cards, is 5-3, 3.83 in 10 interleague starts.
On Lynn: Has won his past three starts with a 1.86 ERA and five of seven with a 2.49 ERA. Faced the Rays once, in relief in 2011. Is 2-4, 4.11 in 11 interleague starts.
Key matchups
Rays VS. LYNN
Yunel Escobar 0-for-2
Matt Joyce 1-for-1, HR
James Loney 2-for-3
CARDS VS. COBB
Peter Bourjos 0-for-1
Jhonny Peralta 0-for-6
On deck
Thursday: Off
Friday: vs. Red Sox, 7:10. Rays — LH David Price (10-7, 3.06); Red Sox — LH Jon Lester (10-7, 2.50)
Saturday: vs. Red Sox, 7:10. Rays — RH Chris Archer (6-5, 3.31) or RH Jeremy Hellickson (0-0, 2.08); Red Sox — RH John Lackey (11-6, 3.66)
Marc Topkin, Times staff writer
The Zobrists great adventure
Given the rare opportunity of playing a few hours from his Eureka, Ill., hometown, Rays INF/OF Ben Zobrist wanted to accommodate all the relatives, and a few friends, who rarely get to see him. So he arranged for two chartered buses to bring 110 of them to St. Louis and paid for their tickets to the game. And not only that, after spending two nights at his family home, Zobrist rode on the buses with them right to Busch Stadium on Tuesday. "It's always been something I wanted to do because we have such a large family in Central Illinois and a lot of them are Cardinals fans," Zobrist said. "It was fun."
Shades of La Russa
Rays manager Joe Maddon got creative again Tuesday, batting P Jake Odorizzi eighth. It was only the sixth time an AL pitcher hit higher than ninth since interleague play began in 1997.
TB Andy Sonnanstine 3rd* 5/17/09 vs. CLE 1-for-3
KC Zack Greinke 8th 6/23/09 at HOU 0-for-3
NYY David Phelps 8th 5/8/13 at COL 0-for-2
TB Jeremy Hellickson 8th 8/11/13 at LAD 0-for-1
TB Cesar Ramos 8th 4/13/14 at CIN 0-for-1
TB Jake Odorizzi 8th 7/22/14 at STL 0-for-1
* Lineup mixup Source: Rays