Tampa Bay Rays

Rays manager Joe Maddon updated the status of catcher Jose Molina Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Maddon said that Molina was feeling better, but his left hamstring may keep him out until Friday. 

Molina has missed the last two games with his hamstring injury and has been replaced by Jose Lobaton behind the plate. Molina is hitting .221/.265/.325 in 77 at-bats. 

Rays catcher Jose Molina is not in the team's starting lineup Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

Molina has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. He'll be replaced by Jose Lobaton, who will hit eighth. Molina is hitting .221/.265/.325 in 77 at-bats. 

Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson has not been especially good this year, with a 5.82 ERA and two wins over nine starts. His ownership percentage has dipped to 74 percent and he's only started in 33 percent of leagues.

But there is some silver lining. Hellickson's WHIP is still decent, at 1.29. He's sporting his highest K/9 rate (7.4) since his 36 1/3 inning debut in 2010 (8.2). And despite his poor performance, Hellickson is averaging over 100 pitches per game. In fact, he's gotten into most of his trouble in the first inning, giving up 12 total runs in the first frame this year, but has held a 3.91 ERA from innings two through seven.   

Hellickson is not a bad pitcher -- coming into this year, he had a 3.06 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. And while his velocity is slightly down, it's only about a mile per hour under his career rate. Can he turn his season around? Perhaps. He needs to get his home runs under control and work on not letting in runs early. But Hellickson has proven to be a very good pitcher before, and should be at least on the bench (for now) of most leagues. 

Rays outfielder Matt Joyce is starting to heat up in May.

Joyce's average is only .265 during the month, but he's been a strong on-base threat, and is showing improved power. Joyce has three home runs this month, but has also added four doubles, bringing his slugging percentage to .531 during the month. 

Joyce will continue to be platooned, and will only face righties. He's been a significantly better hitter against righties over his career, with a .266/.357/.501 slash line in 1,219 at-bats. 

Rays shortstop Yunel Escobar connected for his fourth home run Monday at Toronto -- a two-run shot off Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen in the ninth inning. It was his second home run in 11 games.

Escobar is batting .313 (15 for 48) with two home runs, five doubles, 10 RBI and 10 runs in his last 13 games. Escobar is batting .303 in his last 22 games, lifting his average from .119 to .222.