Musgrove is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career appearances, including one start, against Arizona. That start was June 11 when the first five of his six-plus innings were scoreless in what became a no-decision. H

ST. PETERSBURG Khari Willis Jersey , Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays were beaten by the slimmest of margins in the series opener, and the Houston Astros‘ dominating starting pitching gets another chance to showcase itself at Tropicana Field on Friday night.

On Thursday, it was Lance McCullers pitching a gem close to his hometown of Tampa, and on Friday, the Rays will try to create some offense against Gerrit Cole, who has been stellar in his first season in Houston.

Cole is 9-1 with a 2.56 ERA, and his only start without a win in his last five appearances came against the Rays on June 18. He threw seven innings and gave up four earned runs on three hits and five walks, and the Astros still won in his only career outing against the Rays.

Houston (55-28) is 18-3 in its last 21 games, with pitching leading the way. The Astros got a solo home run in the seventh inning from Jake Marisnick on Thursday, and that’s all they needed in a 1-0 victory that handed the Rays their 20th one-run loss of the season.

“It stinks when you lose 1-0. We won a ballgame 1-0 two days ago, so everything has to go right. … That’s the way it goes sometimes. Very, very pleased with our pitching. It kept us in every inning to give us a chance to tie it or take the lead.”

On Friday Josh Allen Jersey , the Rays will again turn to a converted reliever as the starter, though Wilmer Font (1-3, 6.46) has had the best success of any Rays “opener” at stretching himself out into longer outings. He has managed to go a little longer than his previous start in each of his four starts in June. That includes going 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball against the Yankees last time out.

In those four June starts, his ERA is 1.80, allowing just three earned runs in his last 16 innings. That’s remarkable for a pitcher who came to the Rays four weeks ago with a 11.37 ERA.

Friday’s start will be his first appearance against the Astros as a member of the Rays, but he has appeared in two other games against Houston this season — one as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers and one as a member of the Oakland A’s.

With the Dodgers, he faced Houston in April, giving up three runs (on three solo home runs) in two innings. In May, Font faced the Astros while with Oakland, this time allowing seven hits and five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. His season ERA against Houston is a whopping 15.43.

The Astros are leading their division and the defending World Series champions may still be picking up momentum. Marisnick, for instance, hit .143 in April and .171 in May http://www.jaguarsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jawaan-taylor-jersey , but is hitting .286 in June and his on-base percentage is more than double what it was entering the month.

“He’s not carrying the negativity that came with the first part of the season with him, and it’s good to watch him play relaxed,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s a tremendous athlete when he’s relaxed, and it’s translating into some really good at-bats.”

Houston is already two games into the second half of its season, while the Rays will hit their midway point with Friday’s game, still trying to get back above .500 for the season.

Forget the anomaly that was Friday’s low-scoring game.

In May, the Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 2.9 runs per game, fewest in the major leagues. So far in June, however, they are averaging 6.5 runs, including 37 in five games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Diamondbacks (42-33) and Pirates (36-39) play the third game of a four-game series Saturday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh after Arizona’s 2-1, 13-inning win Friday.

The Diamondbacks this month have 178 hits Josh Oliver Jersey , nine triples, 81 walks and 32 homers.

A couple of players — leadoff batter Jon Jay and Paul Goldschmidt — seem to have sparked Arizona’s offense.

Jay has multiple hits in seven of his 14 games since he was acquired by trade June 6 from Kansas City. He has reached base in all but one game and reached base twice in eight games. He has scored 16 runs with eight RBIs.

“He’s come in and he’s been unbelievable for us at the top of the lineup,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic. “Almost every day he’s getting on base a couple of times and he’s just sparking us in so many different ways. He’s giving us professional at-bats. That’s something that we weren’t putting together consistently during that rut in May, which we’ve come around to doing now. It’s all sort of adding back up together again.”

Don’t look for Jay to cough up any secrets.

“I’m just trying to go out there and be myself,” he told MLB.com. “I just try to keep it simple. We’ve got a great core group of guys here. I’m just trying to be a complement to the group we have already.”

Goldschmidt is batting .475 with six doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 20 RBIs in his past 16 games.

The Diamondbacks got caught in a pitchers’ duel Friday but won their second straight game and third in their past four. They have won six of seven on the road.

Pittsburgh has lost three straight and four of five.

On Saturday, Pittsburgh right-hander Joe Musgrove (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke (6-5, 3.90).

Musgrove will be making is sixth start since beginning the season on the disabled list. He was dynamic out of the gate but was flat in his most recent outing, an 8-6 loss Sunday against Cincinnati when he gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.

“I felt OK. That’s my first day game in a while. Just trying to get my body alert http://www.jaguarsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-quincy-williams-ii-jersey ,” Musgrove said. “It was hot out there. I felt drained. But that’s something I’m aware of now, and that’s something I’ll try to prepare for.”

Saturday’s game also is a day game, although with a late-afternoon start.

“I don’t feel like I’m lost right now. I still feel really good,” Musgrove said.”

Musgrove is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career appearances, including one start, against Arizona. That start was June 11 when the first five of his six-plus innings were scoreless in what became a no-decision. He ended up allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings.

Greinke has won three of his past four starts. He is 7-4 with a 4.91 ERA in 12 career starts against Pittsburgh. In his one start against the Pirates this season, Greinke gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss in that June 13 game, which ended with a 5-4 Pirates victory.