ST. PETERSBURG -- As the Rays continue their push to secure one of the two American League Wild Card spots, they are closer to getting a boost from a couple of their top pitchers.

Tyler Glasnow completed his second rehab outing with Triple-A Durham on Monday, going 1 1/3 innings and throwing 33 pitches, the most he has thrown since he went down with a mild right forearm strain on May 10.

Glasnow was in the Rays' clubhouse before Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Orioles at Tropicana Field, but he was still unsure if his next start would come with the Rays or in another rehab game with Durham or Double-A Montgomery.

“Health feels really good,” the right-hander said. “I’m definitely excited to get back into big league games and get that adrenaline and come back and contribute.”

Rays manager Kevin Cash said the team still has to talk things through before deciding what’s next for Glasnow. But the club has been encouraged by what it has heard regarding Glasnow’s rehab outings.

“Really encouraged by his performance,” Cash said. “We haven’t decided yet, we’re still talking through it. We were just thrilled Glas got in the two innings or whatever it was [Monday]. [He] felt good. Everybody said the stuff looked good.”

Glasnow isn’t the only Tampa Bay pitcher who continues to make progress. Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell is scheduled for his third, and final, bullpen session on Wednesday. If that’s successful, Snell, who is recovering from arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his left elbow, will either throw a live bullpen session or pitch in a rehab game for Durham or Montgomery on Saturday.

Whenever Glasnow returns to the big league level, the expectation is that it will be in a starter's role instead of as a natural reliever, which was originally an option. That will allow him to know when he’s pitching, which would allow the Rays to be more cautious with one of their cornerstone pieces.

Adding Snell and Glasnow to the rotation would certainly give the Rays a much-needed boost over the last three weeks of the regular season.

“I feel ready,” Glasnow said. “So whatever they want to do, I’m ready.”

Rays recall Heredia, McKay
Before Tuesday’s doubleheader, the Rays recalled outfielder Guillermo Heredia and left-handed pitcher Brendan McKay from Durham. The additions give Tampa Bay 34 players on the active roster, with 18 of them being pitchers.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to it, I really am,” Cash said when asked how it’ll be managing so many players. “I think this is going to give us our best chance to win. We have to be creative because we don’t have Blake, we don’t have Tyler, we don’t have Yonny [Chirinos].

“You can’t just pencil in and bank six- or seven-inning performances out of the starters, so we’re going to ask a lot out of them, but ... the buy-in that they’ve shown has just been off the charts. We can put ourselves to where we’re winning a bunch of games.”

McKay will give the Rays another starter, and he's scheduled to pitch on Friday against Toronto. The 23-year-old will remain in a six-day rotation. He has been shut down from hitting, at least until his next start, after spending time on the Minor League seven-day injured list last month with shoulder fatigue.

With McKay in the mix and Glasnow and Snell nearing their return, the Rays could employ a six-man rotation. Austin Pruitt, Jalen Beeks and Trevor Richards could also shift over to long-relief roles if the team gets fully healthy.

“We’ll see. With the off-days coming up, we have a bunch, which is unique with the West Coast trip [starting Sept. 13] and all the off-days, but we’re just going to kind of piece it together and go with workload,” Cash said. “I will say, with Richards, Beeks and Pruitt, we’re probably going to shave their in-between-outing bullpen work to keep them more available for that three-, four-inning clump that they can provide.”