A rain out on Friday night against the Kansas City Royals has forced the Tampa Bay Rays to amend their timeline for bringing back ace pitcher Shane McClanahan.
He'll now start on Monday against the Texas Rangers.
The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:
McClanahan (back) is slated to return from the 15-day injured list to start Monday's game against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
After landing on the IL on July 1 with mid-back tightness, McClanahan initially appeared poised to return from the IL when first eligible to start Sunday's series finale in Kansas City, but a rainout Friday nixed those plans. With a doubleheader Saturday creating a stretch of six games in five days, the Rays will call up Cooper Criswell from Triple-A Durham to take the hill for the second game of the twin bill and serve as a temporary sixth starter. As a result, McClanahan and all the other Rays' starting pitchers will be pushed back a day in the schedule. The southpaw will thus miss out on a more favorable matchup versus the 26-65 Royals and will instead make his return on the road against one of the majors' top offenses.
McClanahan's return is big news for a Rays team that limped into the All-Star break, having lost seven of its last 10 games. As a result, the Rays lead over the Orioles in the American League East is down to just 1.5 games.
McClanahan is 11-1 this season with a 2.53 ERA.
The Rays and Royals will play Saturday at 2:10 p.m. ET and 7:10 p.m. ET.
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