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Celtics, Cassell Agree to Coaching Deal

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BOSTON – Former Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Sam Cassell who once played for the Celtics after a journeyman career as an NBA guard has agreed to join the Boston Celtics’ coaching staff under Joe Mazzulla, according to multiple media reports Sunday night.

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Cassell spent the last three seasons with the 76ers after also serving as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers (2014-15 to 2019-20) and Washington Wizards (2009-10 to 2013-14).

Following the Celtics’ loss to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last Monday, the Boston Globe reported that three assistant coaches on Boston’s staff were expected to head to Houston to work under disgraced coach Ime Udoka.

Udoka served as the Celtics’ head coach for the 2021-22 season and led Boston to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games. He was then suspended by the team during the offseason for “multiple violations of team policies” that centered around an inappropriate relationship with a woman within the organization.

Ben Sullivan, Mike Moser and Garrett Jackson are reportedly the three assistants that plan to join the Rockets, according to USA Today Sports. That report also indicated that Houston, along with a handful of other teams, is also interested in Aaron Miles, another Celtics assistant coach.

Cassell, 53, will be making his return to Boston, where he won a title in his lone season with the Celtics (2007-08). He averaged 7.6 points and 2.1 assists in 17 games (one start) for Boston after appearing in 38 games (33 starts) for the Los Angeles Clippers earlier that season.

Cassell was also a member of the 1994 NBA champion Houston Rockets.

In 15 NBA seasons, Cassell posted career averages of 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 993 games (690 starts) with eight teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks (1998-99 to 2002-03). He was an All-Star in 2003-04.

–Field Level Media

Errors Lead to Sox Weekend Woes

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After dropping the opener of a Saturday doubleheader to begin a four-game series in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays asserted their American League East dominance by following with a pair of wins over the Red Sox.

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The major-league-leading Rays will go for their third consecutive win to claim the series when they face host Boston in a rescheduled game on Monday afternoon. The game was originally set as Friday’s series opener before being postponed due to persistent rain and thunderstorms.

Tampa Bay was a 6-2 winner on Sunday while playing through several injuries. Wander Franco (hamstring), Jose Siri (shoulder) and Brandon Lowe (back) were all out of the lineup, leading Rays manager Kevin Cash to pencil down several possible lineup combinations prior to the game.

“There was a lot of stuff right there at the end that came down,” Cash said. “It was a little hectic.”

Without Siri available, Manuel Margot had to jump back into the outfield after a scary collision at the Green Monster during Saturday’s twin bill.

The series of injuries led to changes in planned days off, but it did not faze the unselfish Rays.

“We’re kind of a group of grinders,” Tampa Bay outfielder Luke Raley said. “We play for one another. Sometimes people are dinged up and you know you’ve got to go out there with no bench and you’ve got to play through it. So it is what it is.”

The Rays’ Shane McClanahan (8-1, 2.07 ERA) looks to bounce back from his first loss of the season, when he allowed two runs on six hits across 5 2/3 innings last Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. The southpaw had allowed just one run over back-to-back seven-inning outings prior to the setback.

McClanahan pitched an April 11 gem against the Red Sox, striking out nine over five innings of one-run ball. It was his fourth win in six career starts against Boston.

The Red Sox will turn to right-hander Brayan Bello (3-3, 3.89) in the series finale. Bello has taken back-to-back losses despite allowing just three combined runs against the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati Reds in his last two starts.

Bello is 0-1 and has a 10.13 ERA in two career starts against the Rays, both of which were last season. He surrendered nine runs in eight innings between those games.

While the Red Sox have scored no more than three runs in eight of their last 13 games, it is the defense that has ached Boston manager Alex Cora as of late.

“I’m the manager of this club and we’ve been sloppy,” Cora said. “It’s not about pointing fingers, right? The roster is the roster and we have to play better baseball.”

The Red Sox have committed seven errors in their last six games, including two costly ones on Sunday.

“We just gotta clean it up in all facets,” Boston outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “We’re all professionals, we’re all in the big leagues, we all know how to play.”

Verdugo, who hits in the leadoff spot, has done his part at the plate, recording three hits in two of his last three games. All three of his hits on Sunday were for extra bases, as he ripped two doubles and a triple.

–Field Level Media

Hovland Takes The Memorial

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Viktor Hovland defeated Denny McCarthy in a playoff to win the 2023 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, earning his fourth career PGA Tour title. Hovland has won on Tour in each of the last four seasons (only other players to do so are Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm)

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Runner-up Denny McCarthy earned the best finish of his Tour career, moving inside the Top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings (No. 26) and the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking (career-high No. 35).

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler carded a 5-under (67), three strokes better than any other player in the final round, to finish solo third place. Scheffler’s Strokes Gained: Tee to Green total of 20.692 is the second-highest mark in a 72-hole event in the ShotLink era behind only Vijay Singh at the 2004 Deutsche Bank Championship (21.140).

Tournament 54-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy (T-7) carded a painful 3-over (75), his highest final-round score on Tour since the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Andrew Putnam (T-5), Adam Schenk (T-7) and Lee Hodges (T-12) qualify for the 2023 Open Championship as the top-three finishers at the Memorial Tournament not otherwise exempt.

The Memorial | Final Leaderboard

Viktor Hovland 71-71-69-70—281 (-7)*

Denny McCarthy 71-72-68-70—281 (-7)

Scottie Scheffler 74-73-68-67—282 (-6)

Si Woo Kim 71-68-71-73—283 (-5)

Andrew Putnam 71-72-71-70—284 (-4)

Jordan Spieth 69-72-72-71—284 (-4)

Playoff: Hovland def. McCarthy with a par-4 on the first extra hole (No. 18)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

Heat Look to Attack, Tie Up Nuggets

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DENVER – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Miami Heat find themselves in unfamiliar territory after a series opener in the playoffs, while the Denver Nuggets are all too comfortable with where they stand.

The Heat aim to level the NBA Finals against the Nuggets on Sunday when the teams reconvene in Denver for Game 2.

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Miami entered the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, thereby starting each series on the road. The Heat, however, set the tone for each previous series by recording a 13-point win over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and seven-point victories in each of the next two series openers.

Miami has lost four of its last five games overall and is facing a deficit for the first time in these playoffs. That’s foreign territory for the Heat, although now a reality after they dropped a 104-93 decision on Thursday in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

“That was one of my last messages to the group before our game,” Denver coach Michael Malone said after his team improved to 9-0 at home in the playoffs.

“I reminded our group, if they didn’t know, that Miami went into Milwaukee (in the first round) and won Game 1. They went into the Garden in New York City (in the second round) and won Game 1. They won Game 1 up in Boston (in the Eastern Conference finals). So, we did not want them coming in here taking control of the series on our court.”

Credit Nikola Jokic for making certain that didn’t happen. Jokic recorded his ninth triple-double of the playoffs — and sixth in his last seven games — after collecting 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds in Game 1.

“The most important thing is to win a game,” Jokic said. “I’m trying to win a game in any possible way.”

Jamal Murray added 26 points and 10 assists for the Nuggets, who shot a blistering 50.6 percent from the floor (40 of 79). Denver also made 16 of its 20 free-throw attempts, which was significantly better than Miami’s all-too-brief performance at the line.

The Heat went to the charity stripe on just two occasions to set an NBA postseason record for fewest free throw attempts in a game.

“Things have to be done with a lot more intention and a lot more pace, a lot more detail,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We are an aggressive, attacking team, and so if we are not getting those kind of opportunities at the rim or at the free throw line, we have to find different ways to be able to do it.”

Bam Adebayo collected 26 points, 13 rebounds and five assists and Jimmy Butler had 13, seven and seven, respectively. Neither player ventured to the foul line, however.

“You’ve got to attack and attack everybody, not just one individual,” Butler said. “I have to do a better job of creating the help, one, two guys, and getting to my shooter, otherwise finishing at the rim, making shots.

“But we missed a lot (Thursday), and we’ll be better in Game 2. At the end of the day, that’s what it is, and we’ll take this and we’ll learn from it.”

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | June 4th

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The 2015 NHL Draft had two gems right at the top. With the No. 1 pick, Connor McDavid was selected by the Edmonton Oilers. The No. 2 pick – Jack Eichel – was a no brainer and fell right into the lap of the Buffalo Sabres.

McDavid, out of Richmond Hill, Ontario, is often referred to as the best player in the NHL. There are rarely arguments, but McDavid has only advanced his team to the Conference Finals.

Eichel has taken a different path, call it the Scenic Route, to the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Final.

A native of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the Boston University product took home the prestigious Hobey Baker Award as a freshman. The award recognizes the best player in all of NCAA men’s ice hockey and Eichel was the second freshman to ever receive the award, following NHL legend Paul Kariya.

For BU, Eichel was the Most Valuable Player in Hockey East. He led the Conference in scoring, was voted Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, First Team All Conference, First Team All-Rookie. Eichel scored 26 goals and had 45 assists for 71 points for BU, all while playing for the USA Hockey Developmental team. In 2015, he turned pro and signed a three-year entry contract with the Sabres.

All was not sunny in Buffalo.

Eichel was the top goal scorer for the Sabres and No. 2 on the team in points, quickly rising to accept the team’s captaincy, an honor usually reserved for the most NHL-tested veterans.

Despite an NHL All-Star appearance and an eight-year $80 million contract extension, Eichel fought through two severe ankle sprains and played 67 of 82 games in 2018. He hit the 100-goal mark and 300 points mark as the NHL plowed its way through a COVID-19 season. By late April 2021, Eichel required surgery for a spinal disc herniation.

The scenic route was getting pretty ugly and he sparred with the front office and direction of the Sabres. By September of 2021, Eichel had failed his team physical, was stripped of the team captaincy and placed on the Sabres’ long-term injury list. The division was enough to force the Sabres to trade him and his $10m a year contract to the Vegas Golden Knights.

After the six-year sojourn in Buffalo, Eichel turned the page and started anew in 2022-23 as the Golden Knights were doing the same with their new coach, former Boston Bruins man, Bruce Cassidy. The stars began to align and Vegas qualified for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, defeating Winnipeg, Edmonton (bye-bye Connor McDavid) and the Dallas Stars to earn their place in the Stanley Cup Final. (Game 1: Saturday, June 3).

While Vegas played its Jack, the Denver Nuggets played a Joker, as in center and former NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

Born in the north of Serbia, Jokic played 2012-2014 out of Belgrade with Mega Basket, the Clip Show of Belgrade to the more Lake Show Partizan club. Jokic played in Serbian League games and Adriatic League games and caught the eye of Denver Nuggets Assistant GM/scout Arturas Karnisovas, a former Seton Hall star and Lithuanian national team player, now the president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls.

Denver spent its first-round pick (No. 11 overall) on guard/forward Doug McDermott, the sharpshooter out of Creighton. As the draft progressed, Chicago took Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkic with the 16th pick and Michigan State guard Gary Harris at No. 19. Both players were shipped to Denver as part of the deal.

Karnisovas pressed the brass at his post in Denver to select Jokic with the club’s second-round pick which came along at No. 41. They grabbed him after Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant and Glenn Robinson III went ahead of Jokic with picks No. 38-40. No. 41 should’ve come gift-wrapped.

Interestingly, Dario Šarić (Orlando at No. 12), Jusuf Nurkić (Chicago at No. 16) and Bogdan Bogdanović (Phoenix at No. 17) were all drafted ahead of their European counterpart, much to Denver’s delight.

After being voted to the All-Rookie team in 2016, Jokic has five All-NBA selections, three on the first team, five NBA All-Star appearances, and two NBA Most Valuable Player awards. He fell to second in the MVP voting this season behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.

Eichel took the scenic route to the NHL Stanley Cup Final from his No. 2 selection while Jokic took a non-stop, direct flight to stardom with the Denver Nuggets and is playing in the 2023 NBA Finals. Jokic started his Finals experience, becoming only the second player in NBA history to record a triple-double (27, 10 and 14 assists) in his first Finals game. The other was guard Jason Kidd with the NJ Nets.

Anyone in the NBA care to re-draft?

BY THE WAY: Why is it the NHL Stanley Cup Final but the 2023 NBA Finals?

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: USA Basketball will have two teams in the FIBA 3×3 World Cup semifinals for the second time in event history (2016). In their quarterfinal matchups Saturday evening in Vienna, Austria, the men defeated France 21-19 followed an hour later by the women overtaking Austria 21-17.

Kareem Maddox, Dylan Travis, Jimmer Fredette and Canyon Barry make up the USA Basketball men’s team.

On Sunday, the women will take on China, who defeated Germany in the quarterfinals, at 8:30am (ET). The men will face Brazil, who stunned Poland on a last-second two-pointer in the quarterfinals at 10:05am (ET).

The 3×3 World Cup is streaming live on FIBA’s 3×3 YouTube. Game times are subject to change.

FIBA HALL of FAME: This week, USA Basketball legend Katrina McClain was been selected to the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2023. McClain is one of 12 members of a class that also includes NBA great Yao Ming (CHN), and former WNBA’s star Penny Taylor (AUS).

SALE OUT: The Boston Red Sox placed oft-injured, left-handed pitcher Chris Sale on the 15-Day Injured List due to left shoulder inflammation. Sale, 34, has made 11 starts for the Red Sox this season, going 5-2 with a 4.58 ERA (30 ER/59.0 IP). In Friday’s start against the Cincinnati Reds, he allowed one run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts in 3.2 innings, before exiting the game in the fourth inning due to left shoulder soreness.

The left-hander is 45-27 with a 3.23 ERA (225 ER/627.0 IP) in 106 career games with the Red Sox, and is 119-77 with a 3.08 ERA (370 ER/1,737.0 IP) in 334 career games (254 starts) with the Chicago White Sox (2010-16) and Boston (2017-23).

TIDBITS: Former Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Kansas City Kings Public relations Director Julie Fie will receive the 2023 Bell Tower of Fame at opening ceremonies of the annual Bell Tower Festival, Friday, June 9.

Tower of Fame recipients are chosen for their international, national or statewide personal or professional efforts that bring awareness and pride to Greene County. Awardees must have lived in Greene County sometime in their lives. Julie is being recognized for her outstanding NBA public relations career.

STADIUM SERIES: Just prior to the face-off of Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, the National Hockey League said the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ will take place Feb. 17-18 at MetLife Stadium, the home of the NFL’s New York Jets and New York Football Giants. The event will feature four teams – the Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and New York Islanders – in two NHL regular-season outdoor games. On Saturday, Feb. 17, the Devils will play host to the Flyers, and on Sunday, Feb. 18 the Rangers will face off against the Islanders.

ROCKPORT = ROCK BOTTOM: The Rockport Company LLC has submitted a state notice that it is shutting down its Newton, Massachusetts headquarters and could layoff nearly 150 employees.

In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) notice filed on May 9, the shoe company indicated it plans on laying off 148 employees sometime between July 8 and July 22.

Rockport was founded in Marlborough, Massachusetts in 1971 by Saul L. Katz and his son, Bruce R. Katz. The business was acquired by Reebok in 1986 and then sold thirty years later in 2015. The Rockport Company moved to its Newton home in 2017, before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018.

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: It’s Game 2 of The 2023 NBA Finals and tonight, it’s all about the Joker – Nikola Jokić – He’s a Joker, a picker, a grinner, a roller. He gets his love in on the run. No one calls him Maurice.

 

TL

PGA Tour: McIlroy Tied for Lead

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DUBLIN, Ohio – World No. 3 Rory McIlroy, bidding for his 24th career PGA Tour win and second win of the 2022-23 season (The CJ CUP in South Carolina) made 8-foot, 9-inch putt to save par on No. 18 and earn a share of the 54-hole lead. He shot a (70).

Four-time PGA Tour winner Si Woo Kim (T-1), who joins McIlroy in Sunday’s final pairing, is seeking his second win of the 2022-23 season (Sony Open in Hawaii) and his first multi-win season on the Tour.

Both players in Sunday’s final pairing (McIlroy, Kim) have won on Tour this season and are previous winners of THE PLAYERS Championship (2019/McIlroy, 2017/Kim).

At No. 160 in the Official World Golf Ranking, David Lipsky could become the first player from outside the Top 50 to win the Memorial Tournament since 2017 (No. 65 Jason Dufner).

Five of the 13 players standing T-9 or higher are seeking their first PGA Tour win – David Lipsky (T-1), Denny McCarthy (T-4), Lee Hodges (T-4), Mark Hubbard (T-4), Patrick Rodgers (T9).

There are 22 players within three strokes of the lead.

The 36-hole leader Justin Suh fell to T-14 and is three strokes off the lead after third-round (77), his highest score since a final round (78) earlier this season at The RBC Heritage.

The Memorial | Leaderboard After 54 Holes

Rory McIlroy 72-68-70—210 (-6)

Si Woo Kim 71-68-71—210 (-6)

David Lipsky 69-69-72—210 (-6)

Denny McCarthy 71-72-68—211 (-5)

Viktor Hovland 71-71-69—211 (-5)

Wyndham Clark 70-71-70—211 (-5)

Lee Hodges 72-69-70—211 (-5)

Mark Hubbard 69-70-72—211 (-5)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

Split City

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Harold Ramirez hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to finish a 3-for-5 performance and lift the Tampa Bay Rays past the host Boston Red Sox, 4-2, on Saturday in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

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Francisco Mejia added two hits and a run to help the Rays split the twin bill and the first half of the four-game series.

With Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen (1-3) on for the second straight game, Mejia and Yandy Diaz opened the ninth with back-to-back singles before advancing into scoring position on Brandon Lowe’s deep flyout into the right field corner.

Ramirez’s line-drive double to right plated both runners, giving Tampa a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

In the bottom half of the ninth, Jose Siri made a game-ending diving catch in center field to rob a potential extra-base hit from Jarren Duran. Boston had two on when Siri made the grab.

Calvin Faucher (1-1) and Jason Adam each pitched a scoreless inning for the win and save, respectively.

Triston Casas had a double and a triple for two of Boston’s five hits.

Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford set down six of the first seven batters he faced, but Manuel Margot’s leadoff double to left in the third inning helped the Rays push across the go-ahead run.

Mejia and Diaz followed Margot’s two-bagger with groundouts, with the latter putting Tampa ahead 1-0.

The visitors were held to one run in the inning as Crawford recorded the final out, and then reliever Justin Garza retired the side in order an inning later.

Masataka Yoshida helped get the Red Sox get going in the last of the fourth, driving a leadoff double to left and scoring when Casas ripped a two-out triple to deep center.

After Boston reliever Ryan Sherriff worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth, the Rays bounced back to jump ahead in the sixth, as Siri ripped a pinch-hit RBI double past diving third baseman Rafael Devers.

Siri’s hit kept the Rays in front 2-1 until Connor Wong scored in the seventh on a Devers popup that second baseman Brandon Lowe dropped.

Tyler Glasnow worked 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball as the Rays starter. He struck out six.

–Field Level Media

Stanley Cup Finals: Florida at Vegas

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LAS VEGAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – During a gathering of about 5,000 fans to reveal his new team’s nickname and logo outside T-Mobile Arena in November of 2016, Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley made a rather bold prediction.

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When asked by the emcee how long it would take his expansion franchise to lift the Stanley Cup, Foley replied, “I did say seven years, but it should be six years now. Six years.”

Vegas, which made a storybook run to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season in 2018 before losing in five games to the Washington Capitals, has one last chance to make Foley look like a prophet.

The Golden Knights face this year’s Cinderella team of the playoffs, the Eastern Conference winning Florida Panthers, in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final beginning tonight in Las Vegas.

Vegas, which missed making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history a year ago, rebounded to post a Western Conference-best 111 points while winning the Pacific Division title. The Golden Knights then disposed of the Winnipeg Jets in five games in Round 1, took down Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in six games in Round 2 and defeated the Dallas Stars in six games in the Western Conference finals.

Florida, which finished tied for just 17th overall in the NHL in points with 92, has won 11 of its last 12 games, including seven in a row by one goal, behind the play of Conn Smythe Trophy frontrunners Matthew Tkachuk (21 points, nine goals, four game-winners) and Sergei Bobrovsky (11-2, .935 save percentage).

The Panthers — back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996 when they were swept in four games by the Joe Sakic-led Colorado Avalanche — rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to stun the record-setting and top-seeded Boston Bruins in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Florida followed that up with a 4-1 series win over Toronto in Round 2 and swept the Carolina Hurricanes in four games in the Eastern final.

Florida will have had nine days off since their series-clinching 4-3 win over Carolina on May 24 while Vegas has had just a four-day break since their 6-0 clincher at Dallas on Monday. Could the long break cause the Panthers to lose their momentum and be a little rusty heading into Game 1?

“None of the things that you would have normally wanted to have happen has happened to us and they all turned out good, so be careful what you wish for,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “So we’ve just decided not to wish for anything, just take what it is. … It’s a big block of time off and how do you stay sharp, but I would take the rest over worrying about how sharp we’re going to be in Game 1.”

Vegas has relied on a strong defense led by past Stanley Cup winners Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis) and Alec Martinez (two with Los Angeles). It also has a solid group of veteran forwards that includes William Karlsson (team-high 10 goals), ex-Panther Jonathan Marchessault (nine goals in the last 10 games) and Jack Eichel (18 points, six goals).

Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, is taking part in the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. He brings a seven-game goal drought into the Final but has impressed with his all-around play.

“It’s a great opportunity for our group,” Eichel said. “Everybody wants a chance to play in a Stanley Cup Final and to compete for the ultimate goal.”

The Golden Knights, who used five different goaltenders because of injuries during the season, have also gotten surprisingly good play from Adin Hill in net. Hill, who took over for injured Laurent Brossoit in Game 3 of the second round against Edmonton, is 7-3 with a .937 save percentage and two shutouts.

“He’s been great,” Marchessault said. “He’s given us a chance to win every night. At (this) time of the year, if you don’t have a good goalie, I don’t think you go through.”

Marchessault was asked about Foley’s prediction of winning a Stanley Cup in six years.

“Bill’s a smart man, right?” Marchessault said with a smile. “He’s done a lot of good things in his life. We’ll see how it turns out.”

–Field Level Media

Sox vs Rays: Rain Forces Strange Schedule; Two Today & 4pm Monday

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – An untraditional four-game series between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Ray is due to begin in an untraditional way on Saturday afternoon.

After the scheduled Friday night game was postponed due to persistent rain and thunderstorms, the American League East foes will begin their four-game series with a previously scheduled day-night doubleheader today.

“A lot of baseball getting played,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said entering the series.

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The set is now slated to conclude with a rescheduled Monday afternoon game, taking away what had originally been a travel day for both teams.

Both teams’ pitching plans for the doubleheader were not finalized entering what was set to be series opener, and Boston’s plans were potentially complicated after losing left-hander Chris Sale to the 15-day injured list on Friday due to left shoulder inflammation.

“You cannot predict what happens before the doubleheader, but at the moment (we made the decision to schedule one) we felt really good,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “I’m not saying it feels worse now, but obviously the circumstances have changed. That’s the beauty of 162 (games).”

After being set to start Friday, Garrett Whitlock (2-2, 5.14 ERA) will throw in the series opener today for the Red Sox, who have lost seven of their past 10 games.

It will be Whitlock’s second start since being reinstated from the 15-day disabled list after recovering from right elbow ulnar neuritis. He allowed just one run on three hits in a five-inning victory at Arizona on May 27.

Whitlock started against the Rays on April 11, and he allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings in a 7-2 road loss. In seven career appearances (two starts) vs. Tampa Bay, he is 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA.

Boston’s starting pitchers have allowed four or fewer earned runs in 12 of the past 14 games.

Cora had been excited about the rotation’s makeup before Sale went down.

“He’s really good, and this is where we’re at,” Cora said after Whitlock’s latest start. “The three kids (Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello) and the two veterans (Sale and James Paxton) … and there’s two kids in the bullpen that are really good, too. Structure-wise, this feels good.”

The Red Sox’s starting pitcher for the second game was to be determined.

Tampa Bay is slated to go with Trevor Kelley (0-1, 4.91 ERA) as the Game 1 opener, while Taylor Glasnow (0-0, 6.23) is lined up for a start in the nightcap.

Glasnow pitched 4 1/3 innings of three-run ball against the Dodgers on May 27, which marked his return from a left oblique strain that sidelined him since February.

“I was glad to be back out there,” Glasnow said. “Just to feel the emotions and, like, the adrenaline again was nice and kind of just got me back into that in-season routine.”

As the 27th man added for the doubleheader, Cooper Criswell likely will work the bulk of the first game after Kelley.

The Rays went 17-12 in May and have seen 19 of their past 27 games decided by two runs or fewer. Jose Siri’s two-run, eighth-inning homer was the difference on Wednesday in a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, as Tampa Bay avoided being swept for the first time all season.

Red Sox: Sale Back to IL

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox placed oft-injured left-handed pitcher Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list due to left shoulder inflammation on Friday.

Sale left his start Thursday night against the Cincinnati Reds after 3 2/3 innings due to soreness in his pitching shoulder. He had allowed one run on five hits while walking one and striking out six.

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Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Sale had an MRI Friday morning and the results were not back yet.

Since making at least 25 starts in each of his first three seasons with Boston, Sale’s career has been riddled with injuries. Thursday marked just his 22nd start since the beginning of the 2021 season, after he missed the entirety of the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Last season was also a disaster, as Sale began 2022 on the 60-day injured list due to a rib stress fracture. He returned in July, only to fully get through one start. In his second outing, Sale took a come-backer on the mound and fractured the pinkie finger on his pitching hand.

The Red Sox then announced in August that Sale had surgery on his right wrist after a biking accident.

“It sucks,” Sale told reporters in Boston Friday. “I was actually kind of getting used to sitting in front of you guys talking about good stuff. It’s been a rocky road. I felt like I was over the hump. I really did. I felt like I was back to being myself. And for something like this to happen, it’s obviously deflating.”

Sale is 5-2 with a 4.58 ERA in 11 starts this season. He’s thrown 71 strikeouts to just 15 walks in 59 innings.

In a corresponding move, Boston reinstated right-handed starter Corey Kluber from the paternity list.

–Field Level Media