Rays' Shane McClanahan: Called up for start

The Rays recalled McClanahan from their alternate site ahead of his start Thursday against the Athletics, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The 24-year-old will be making his MLB regular-season debut Thursday, but the Rays already got a glimpse of McClanahan during their run to the World Series in 2020, when he made four appearances out of the bullpen. He'll now get the chance to stake his claim to a rotation spot if he can turn in a quality outing Thursday against an Athletics squad that recently rattled off 13 straight wins. Rays manager Kevin Cash said Wednesday that McClanahan will be deployed in a traditional starting role while he's up with the big club, and the young lefty said that he'll be built up to cover about 4-to-5 innings against Oakland, per Steve Carney of Sports Radio 620 WDAE.