The Rays are doing something weird on Saturday

Sergio Romo has been in the majors since 2008. He’s pitched in 588 games, but he’s never started a single one.

On Saturday, that changes. The Rays are trying something different to start their game against the Angels. Romo is taking the first inning, during which he’ll most likely face Mike Trout, and maybe even the second inning, during which he’ll face Albert Pujols. That’s as far as he’s expected to go, though. After that, Ryan Yarbrough will come in and pitch most of the innings. The theory is, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, that Romo’s right-handed arsenal of slow breaking stuff will stifle the right-handed bats at the top of the Angels lineup. So technically, Romo is the starter and Yarbrough is the reliever. Sort of.

Will this work? It’s hard to know. It could work, because this is how you organize your pitching in the late innings. Managers match up relievers to the batters. It works at the end of games, so why not the beginning? The key here is that the Rays are trying to get Yarbrough deeper into the game. They want to inoculate him from facing the Angels order a third time, and having Romo start and face a bunch of right-handed batters at the top of the order could do that.

At the very least, the Rays have to be given credit for trying something different. It’s a daring thing to do, but it makes more sense than a four-man rotation or just bullpenning every game. They’re not trying to get rid of starters, or even make them less important. They’re trying to maximize the advantage a starter gives a team.

Will it work? Will it become a trend? We’ll just have to wait and see.