Rays move into top five driven by an absolutely dominant pitching staff

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Rays move into top five driven by an absolutely dominant pitching staff originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Tampa Bay Rays are never a team you can fully count out, and that seems to be the case again this year. They have come out and put their right foot forward this season.

Going into Tuesday's matchups, they sit in second place in the AL East with their 22-12 record. They are just 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees, who sit atop the division.

The offense has been big this year, holding a team batting average of .253, which ranks them sixth across MLB. On the pitching side, the team also ranks sixth with its team ERA of 3.67.

MORE: ESPN bestows Rays with a high letter grade for performance in April

Rays move into the top five driven by an absolutely dominant pitching staff​

The pitching staff had to step up last week as the offense struggled to get much of anything going. And that is exactly what the staff did, helping the club win their series 2-1 against the Cleveland Guardians and a clean 3-0 sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

This has helped them jump up in the latest power rankings. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller moves them from No. 7 to No. 4 this week.

"Who needs offense when your pitching staff is lights out? The Rays averaged 2.5 runs per game [last] week, but they're now 9-1 in their last 10 games, allowing two runs or fewer in each of the victories. Steven Matz gave them a pair of quality starts this week, while the bullpen allowed just one earned run in 20.1 innings of work."

Matz gave the team a pair of quality starts, and the bullpen, even after losing Pete Fairbanks over the offseason, has been nails. They'll look to keep up this momentum in their series against the Toronto Blue Jays and then the Boston Red Sox over the weekend in two divisional series.

More MLB news:​

• Pirates slotted into top ten after a rollercoaster week of divisional results
• Athletics maintain their rank despite significant home pitching struggles
• Guardians rise in latest power rankings behind red-hot Chase DeLauter
• Cardinals turn heads after dominating the defending World Series champs
• Reds slide down the rankings after a dismal road trip against the Pirates

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