FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Rays high-leverage reliever Edwin Uceta won’t be ready for Opening Day, but he is making progress in his recovery from a right shoulder injury.
Uceta threw a bullpen session at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday, manager Kevin Cash said. It was his first time pitching on the mound since he was shut down less than a week into Spring Training.
“Very encouraged by that,” Cash said. “He seemed happy, which was good.”
Uceta will need to throw a few more bullpens before he can advance to the next step of his progression: facing hitters in live batting practice. Cash said he expects that will take place around the time the Rays break camp ahead of their opening series against the Cardinals, which begins March 26 in St. Louis.
That would put Uceta on track to join Triple-A Durham for a Minor League rehab assignment around the end of the month. If that goes well, it seems likely Uceta could join Tampa Bay’s bullpen in early April.
The best-case scenario for Uceta would have been a healthy spring, of course, especially since the injury forced him to remove himself from the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic roster. But getting Uceta back so quickly would be a good outcome for the Rays, who are counting on a number of relievers to fill high-leverage roles in the bullpen this season.
With Uceta on the injured list to begin the season, the Rays will need to fill five spots in their Opening Day bullpen behind the late-inning trio of Griffin Jax, Garrett Cleavinger and Bryan Baker. Candidates for those spots include right-handers Hunter Bigge, Cole Sulser and Kevin Kelly, non-roster left-hander Cam Booser and multi-inning options Mason Englert, Yoendrys Gómez, Ian Seymour, Joe Boyle and non-roster right-hander Jake Woodford.
Five of those pitchers took the mound Saturday in the Rays’ 9-6 win over the Twins at the Lee Health Sports Complex.
Woodford threw 40 pitches (24 strikes) over two scoreless innings. Sulser allowed one run on two hits, struck out two and got five outs. Kelly followed a walk with a two-run homer while recording four outs. Bigge breezed through two innings on 23 pitches (12 strikes), with two strikeouts. And Gómez struck out two in a 19-pitch, 11-strike inning.
The Rays expect to have multiple relievers capable of working more than one inning.
“I like it,” Bigge said. “It's like more time to figure stuff out while I'm pitching.”
Asked what the Rays are looking for from their prospective relievers, Cash kept it simple.
“If you throw the ball over the plate, you're here because you do some stuff that we already know will get hitters to get out or swing and miss,” Cash said. “So it's just about filling up the strike zone and holding runners.”
Aranda returns to lineup
Jonathan Aranda wasted no time getting back in the Rays’ lineup after returning from his time with Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.
Aranda returned to Port Charlotte on Thursday night, took Friday off then started at first base, batting third, on Saturday afternoon. Aranda went 0-for-2 with a walk and played five innings in the field.
“He was adamant. He said, 'I'm coming in tomorrow. Can I please play?'” Cash said. “I was like, 'You want to drive to Fort Myers?' He told [bench coach Rodney Linares], 'Yes, I want to play.’ So, happy he's back.”
While acknowledging Mexico’s early exit was not what the team had in mind, Aranda said representing his country was “a beautiful thing” and he was proud to wear the uniform.
Aranda had his moment in the spotlight, too, swatting a tiebreaking eighth-inning home run against Great Britain at Houston’s Daikin Park on March 6. The usually mild-mannered first baseman roared as he rounded the bases, a reaction that he said was partially because he didn’t actually know the ball had cleared the left-field fence until he heard the ballpark’s train horn blaring.
“It was such a magnificent moment, right? It was something I was super proud of, and obviously a lot of emotions came out during that moment,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “It's something I can't really even explain. It was just a great moment, and I was super proud of it.”
Game notes
• Non-roster catcher Kenny Piper had a strong game off the bench, hitting an opposite-field three-run homer in the ninth and throwing out a runner at second in the sixth after a leadoff walk by Bigge.
• Outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and made a nice play in the left-field corner. First base prospect Xavier Isaac went 2-for-2 with a steal, and outfield prospect Brailer Guerrero had an RBI single, a walk and a stolen base.
• After the game, the significant others of the Rays and Twins took the field for the annual Rays Families vs. Twins Families Charity Softball Game.