This season, Rays have taken a different approach to starting pitching. They’ve often sent out relievers Ryne Stanek, Hunter Wood, and Sergio Romo, among others, to “open” a game. The idea is that a team can get an advantage by selecting the matchup of a quality reliever to face the opposing team’s best hitters at the top of th lineup. Once the reliever spends himself at high effort to retire those dangerous hitters, he can hand the game over to a “headliner” (the pitcher who would normally be the starter), whose job it is to give length.
Ryne Stanek is a multi-inning opener
