Toronto Blue Jays probable pitchers & starting lineups vs. Tampa Bay Rays, May 23

The Toronto Blue Jays finished off a sweep of the San Diego Padres in a dramatic way on Thursday with a walk-off win in extra innings in a wild back-and-forth affair.

They'll look to keep that momentum going when they travel to Tampa Bay to take on Rays for a weekend series against their division rival.

This'll be the second time the Blue Jays have taken on the Rays this year after the Rays took two out of three from the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre earlier this month.

This series also marks the first time the Blue Jays will be playing a regular season game at George M. Steinbrenner Field after Tropicana Field was destroyed in the offseason by Hurricane Milton.

Eric Lauer will be on the hill for the Blue Jays where he'll go against Drew Rasmussen.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The game will be available to stream on Sportsnet.

Toronto Blue Jays probable pitchers & starting lineups vs. Tampa Bay Rays, May 23

Probable starting pitchers

Eric Lauer (1-0, 2.25 ERA, 14 K) vs. Drew Rasmussen (2-4, 2.93 ERA, 40 K)

While Lauer will be making his second straight for the Blue Jays, this is the first time he'll be making a start in a way that's reminicsent of a starter.

He only went three innings his last time out, but had gone 4+ innings in two of his other three apperances this season. The Blue Jays also had to burn through most of their big relief arms yesterday, so the Blue Jays will need some length out of Lauer regardless.

Lauer's struggled against the Rays in his career (12 earned runs allowed in 12 1/3 innings), and this will obviously be the first regular season start he's made at Steinbrenner Field

His longest appearance of the season came on May 11 when he threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings as a bulk man against the Mariners.

The Blue Jays will be going against a familiar foe in Rasmussen, who is in his fifth season with the Rays. He broke onto the scene with a 2.84 ERA in 146 innings in 2022, but only managed to throw 73 1/3 innings across 2023 and '24 due to arm injuries.

He excelled when he was on the mound in those years, however (2.70 ERA) and has gotten off to a strong start this year (he's coming off a start where he tossed six scoreless innings against the Marlins

He's thrown 45 innings against the Blue Jays in his career (which is far and away the most he has against any team in his career), and has a 3.00 ERA in those innings.

George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are the only Blue Jays to have hit homers against Rasmussen in their careers.

Toronto Blue Jays starting lineup, May 23

• 1. SS Bo Bichette
• 2. 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
• 3. CF Daulton Varsho
• 4. DH George Springer
• 5. C Alejandro Kirk
• 6. 3B Addison Barger
• 7. 2B Ernie Clement
• 8. LF Jonatan Clase
• 9. RF Nathan Lukes

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Tampa Bay Rays starting lineup, May 23

• 1. DH Yandy Díaz
• 2. 3B Junior Caminero
• 3. 2B Brandon Lowe
• 4. LF Christopher Morel
• 5. C Danny Jansen
• 6. RF Josh Lowe
• 7. SS José Caballero
• 8. 1B Curtis Mead
• 9. CF Chandler Simpson

The top of the Blue Jays' lineup is mostly the same aside from the addition of Springer, who had yesterday off. Anthony Santander is also out of the lineup due to his nagging hip injury. It's great to see Addison Barger, Ernie Clement and Nathan Lukes continue to stay in the lineup as well since they've earned those spots with hot streaks.