The Rays aim to power up the Brewers

THE Tampa Bay Rays They lead the majors in home runs with 90, and now their lineup is even more dangerous with the return of Yandy Diaz.

This is good news Rays as they go on a three-game sweep against it Milwaukee Brewers Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla

A tight left groin kept Diaz out of the lineup for four games, but the first baseman led Saturday’s game with a three-run homer in the second inning of Tampa Bay’s 8-4 victory.

“Yandy’s three-run homer kind of opened it up” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I’m glad he’s back in the squad. He can do some pretty good stuff.

Diaz leads the Rays At home with 11. Also on Saturday, Harold Ramirez and Christian Bethancourt went deep

With the three hits on Saturday, Diaz has hit safely in each of his last 13 games. Luke Raley pinch hit for Diaz in the seventh inning. Cash said he did this to prevent the leadoff hitter from possibly having to run hard on an extra base hit. Diaz is expected to pitch on Sunday.

THE Rays left-hander Jalen Beeks (1-2, 4.70 ERA) announced Sunday’s starter. Beeks faced the Brewers twice, starting once. Although he was not involved in the decision, he has a 3.00 ERA in three innings

THE Brewers On Sunday, they will counter with the right-hander Freddy Peralta (4-3, 4.11).

Peralta is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in one start against Rays

The 26-year-old has gone at least six innings in five of his eight starts, but allowed a season-high six runs in a loss on Monday at the St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee has patched up its rotation due to injuries. Left-hander Wade Miley will miss six to eight weeks with a shoulder strain. The staff is already without All-Star Brandon Woodruff (shoulder) until at least the end of June, and shortstop Aaron Ashby (shoulder) possibly until September.

“Expanding our depth” Brewers CEO Matt Arnold told reporters. “But I think a lot of guys have stepped up over the course of the season. And we’re still going to have to have guys in our system and guys that are on our team right now have to step up. We can move past that.

THE Brewers he got excellent starting pitching from Adrian Houser, who threw six shutout innings in the series opener at Tampa Bay on Friday night. But Eric Lauer lasted just three-plus innings Saturday, giving up six hits on six hits

“Injuries are part of the baseball season” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It doesn’t really do them any good to have a ‘oh, us’ reaction to them. Other guys have to step up and step up and we’re going to do everything we can to get them back as quickly and as safely as possible. It’s the same with every other team.

THE Rays they also dealt with injuries to their rotation. But Tampa Bay is usually content with six to seven innings from starters as the club trusts its bullpen.

“I think they did a good job under the circumstances,” Cash said. “Given how much the starters fell, they had to carry a bigger load, some of them we didn’t want ideally.”

— Field Level Media