Astros: RHP Joe Smith

— Because he isn’t likely to play more than a series or two in Friday’s preseason opener Blake Martinez Jersey Youth , Detroit quarterback Matt Stafford has a few modest goals for the Lions offense.
“Just execute and communicate at a high level,” Stafford said Wednesday. “Get out there and communicate and make sure everybody’s on the same page. At the end of the day, on offense if everybody’s communicating on the same page you’re going to have a chance to be successful. That’s the biggest thing, go out there and make sure that we’re just playing good, sound football.”
The Lions spent the past two days conducting joint workouts with Oakland at the Raiders’ training camp facilities in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
Following Tuesday’s 2 1/2-hour practice, which was highlighted by a multi-player brawl that ended a team scrimmage session, the Lions packed up to travel to a hotel 75 miles south of Napa where they’ll stay until Friday’s game.
Detroit first-year coach Matt Patricia declined to say how much Stafford and the rest of the Lions starters will play.
“I’m just trying to get through today’s practice and make sure I get everybody going in the right direction,” Patricia said prior to Tuesday’s practice. “We’ll find out on Friday.”
The Lions’ first offense had an uneven day against the Raiders during the team scrimmage. They were flagged for three penalties and sputtered on their initial drive before Stafford found wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones Jr. for deep completions.
“I feel physically good,” Stafford said. “Obviously another year in the system is going to hopefully help me expand my ability within the system to get us into the best plays possible. I feel very comfortable at the line of scrimmage doing our thing, but I can always be better. I’m always trying to find ways to improve and to get the ball to those playmakers at a higher clip.”
Stafford passed for 4 www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-connor-williams-jersey ,446 yards with 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2017, his seventh consecutive season with 4,200 yards or more. The 30-year-old quarterback also had a career-best 99.3 passer rating.
Detroit, which hasn’t made it past the wild card round of the playoffs since 1991, won three of its final four games down the stretch but failed to advance to the postseason.
Although he won’t be on the field very long Friday, Stafford is relishing playing in a game after mostly practicing against Detroit’s defense before the two workouts with Oakland.
“It’s a good change-up,” Stafford said. “We have to go out and prepare for another defense a night before. You don’t have a ton of time to look at them. You just go out there and try to execute your stuff as well as you can. I’ve got players on this team that I’ve never played an NFL game with before so it’s going to be to see how they go about their business and how they react.”
Tuesday’s practice got chippy when Lions defensive end Anthony Zettel hit Raiders backup guard Jon Feliciano from the side, sparking a fracas involving multiple players before they were eventually pulled apart.
Justin Verlander’s worst start with the Houston Astros might have been OK if not for Wilson Ramos.
Ramos drove in four runs in the first two innings against Verlander and the Tampa Bay Rays went on to a 5-2 win over the Astros on Saturday.
”I wasn’t sharp, but also I didn’t have luck on my side,” Verlander said. ”I made an adjustment during the third inning that I thought was good Authentic Cliff Pennington Jersey , but it was too little too late.”
Verlander (9-4) gave up the most runs (5) and hits (9) of any of his 23 starts since his trade to Houston late last summer. He struck out eight in a season-low five innings after coming in with a major league-leading 1.82 ERA – though it was 4.34 in six June starts. The Astros have lost his last three starts.
Matt Duffy finished with three hits, including two in the first two innings, to help the Rays win for the seventh time in eight tames to move to .500 (41-41) for the first time since June 1.
”I gave up three hard-hit balls, all to the same guy. The rest of `em, nobody hit the ball hard,” Verlander said.
Ramos got the Rays on the scoreboard with a two-run double in the first, and made it 5-0 with a two-run single in the second. Those two at bats summarized Verlander’s day.
”The first at bat, I put him in a 3-1 situation where, bases loaded, he knows a heater’s coming Adidas Marc-Andre Fleury Jersey , and he hit it off the wall. So that’s my fault,” Verlander said. ”His next bat I got a ground ball up the middle on a slider, which is kind of what you’re looking for. But it found a hole.”
Tampa Bay has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games for only the second time in franchise history.
”The way these guys are throwing right now, we’re tough to beat,” said Kevin Kiermaier, who scored in each of the first two innings.
Alex Bregman got the Astros on the board with a two-run homer in the sixth off Vidal Nuno. It was Bregman’s 16th home run and his fifth in six games.
”They’ve been throwing the ball well over there, and we haven’t really been able to put anything together,” Bregman said. ”Verlander was a little unfortunate today with some of the weak contact that went for hits, but we’ve got to do a better job of putting up runs for him.
Nuno (2-0) got the win after pitching 4 2/3 innings of relief, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out four. Sergio Romo pitched ninth for his seventh save in 11 opportunities.
Ryne Stanek pitched the first inning for Tampa Bay Authentic Jason Castro Jersey , giving up a single to Jose Altuve, Houston’s only hit in the first four innings.
RARE ERROR
Adeiny Hechavarria made a fielding error on George Springer’s grounder in the top of the sixth just before Bregman’s homer. It ended a streak of 94 games and 319 chances in which the Rays’ shortstop had not committed a miscue. It was the longest errorless streak in franchise history for a shortstop. Hechavarria’s last error had come on July 30, 2017 at Yankee Stadium.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: RHP Joe Smith (sore right elbow) will make what the Astros expect to be a final rehab appearance at Double-A Corpus Christi before being activated. … 1B Yuli Gurriel (paternity leave) is expected to be back in the lineup Sunday.
Rays: RHP Wilmer Font was placed on the 10-day disabled and RHP Hunter Wood was recalled from Triple-A Durham. Manager Kevin Cash said an optimistic timeframe has Font missing eight weeks. … Cash didn’t completely rule out RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) from returning after his first rehab start Tuesday night锟?for Class A Charlotte.
UP NEXT
The series finale will be a matchup of two of baseball’s hottest pitchers. Houston RHP Charlie Morton (10-1, 2.54) has won three straight starts and has not given up an earned run in his last two. LHP Blake Snell (10-4, 2.31) did not give up a hit until the seventh inning of the Rays’ 11-0 win against Washington on Monday night.
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