Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros Starting Lineup — Saturday, Jul 4, 2026

Tampa Bay has only a few hitters with any track record against Hunter Brown. Jonathan Aranda is 1-for-7 with a .286 OPS, Cedric Mullins is 1-for-4 in 6 PA with a .750 OPS, and Junior Caminero is hitless in his limited look, going 0-for-1 in 2 PA with a .500 OPS. Taylor Walls is also hitless, with a 0-for-3 summary and .000 OPS, while Ryan Vilade, Victor Mesa Jr., Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, and Hunter Feduccia have no MLB history versus Brown.

Houston’s familiarity with Drew Rasmussen is also fairly limited, but there are a few established matchups at the top. Jose Altuve is 2-for-9 with a .778 OPS, while Yordan Alvarez is 2-for-9 with a .555 OPS. Yainer Diaz has the best result in the sample at 1-for-1 with a 2.000 OPS, and Nick Allen is 1-for-2 with a 1.000 OPS; Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, LaMonte Wade Jr., Cam Smith, and Taylor Trammell have no MLB history versus Rasmussen.

The Astros appear to have slightly more useful prior exposure to the opposing starter, with four hitters owning at least one hit off Rasmussen. Tampa Bay has seen Brown less often overall, and most of this lineup is either hitless in small samples or facing him for the first time.