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Tampa Bay Rays catcher Mike Zunino, right, crosses the plate after hitting a solo home run and before greeting the Rays Austin Meadows, left, during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, in New York. Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (24) stands with his hands on his hips.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays added All-Star outfielder Austin Meadows to the roster Monday for the start of their AL Division Series against the New York Yankees but did not include him in the lineup for Game 1.
Meadows has been out since Sept. 18 with a left oblique strain. The left-handed hitter batted .291 with 33 homers and a .922 OPS in 2019 but had a .205 average with four homers and a .667 OPS in 36 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 regular season.
The 25-year-old Meadows worked out with the team through the weekend and has been facing live pitching. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash went with Randy Arozarena, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot in the outfield for the opener against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, leaving Meadows on the bench.
First baseman Nate Lowe was removed from Tampa Bay’s roster to make room for Meadows.
The Yankees made just one change from their wild-card round roster, removing third catcher Erik Kratz and adding right-hander Michael King.
New York is carrying 14 pitchers on its 28-man roster, while Tampa Bay went with 13 for the best-of-five series set to be played on five consecutive days.
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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