ARLINGTON -- Rookie outfielder Austin Meadows is among the Rays' four additional callups from Triple-A Durham the club plans to make on Thursday, after which he will make his debut with Tampa Bay.
Meadows was the key piece, along with right-hander Tyler Glasnow, acquired in the non-waiver Trade Deadline deal that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates. Right-handers Chih-Wei Hu and Austin Pruitt and left-hander Hoby Milner will also be recalled.
Durham's season concluded after Tuesday night's 14-4 loss to Memphis in the Triple-A National Championship Game, a rematch of last season's contest.
Meadows batted .302 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs in 36 games for Durham this season. He played in 49 games for the Pirates earlier this year, hitting .292/.327/.468 with five home runs and 13 RBIs during his first stint in the Majors.
"Very excited to see him," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I know what our staff feels about him, and the impact that he had down there in Durham for the month and a half that he was there. Excited to get him up here."
With a crowded outfield that includes Mallex Smith, Tommy Pham, Carlos Gomez and Kevin Kiermaier, Cash said Meadows likely won't see much regular playing time, but he will receive some opportunities down the stretch.
"It'll be challenging, there's no doubt," Cash said. "We'll just see how these next couple games shake out and go from there."
Rays beat
• Tampa Bay is 22-5 since Aug. 19, the best record in the Majors over that stretch. The club also has an MLB-best 2.65 ERA in that span. The Rays, however, still remain 5 1/2 games out of the second Wild Card spot in the American League.
"We need help, there's no doubt about that," Cash said. "But I like the way the guys have continued to go about their business day to day. That's very cliche, but sometimes you just have to go with that. Control what we can control. We've got a chance to do something special, and that's find a way to win three games in a row on the road."
• Kiermaier received a regular day off and was not in the starting lineup for Wednesday's series finale. Kiermaier is batting .396 (19-for-48) with nine extra-base hits and 11 runs scored in his last 13 games.