Surgery to put Moore in rare Rays company

BALTIMORE -- Matt Moore will have season-ending Tommy John surgery next Tuesday to repair the ulnar-collateral ligament in his left elbow.

According to data from the Hardball Times website, of the 293 Tommy John surgeries performed on Major League players, only six have been on Rays: Moore, right-hander Jason Isringhausen (2009), right-hander Tyler Walker ('06), right-hander Seth McClung ('03) and right-hander Dave Eiland (2001 and '02).

Moore and McClung are the only homegrown Rays Major Leaguers to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Given Tampa Bay's success at avoiding pitching injuries, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was asked if he was surprised by the recent rash of injuries incurred by the club's starters.

"No, I think if you look over the history of the game, pitcher injuries are something that in a lot of ways are inevitable," Friedman said. "It's an unnatural motion. And I think we've been more fortunate than the industry because of, A, how hard our pitchers work, and B, the tremendous training staff we have and how much they care and how deligent they are.

"... You look around the game over the last 50, 100 years. Pitching injuries happen. And we do all we can to put our guys in the best position to stay as healthy as they can for as long as they can."