Rays shuffle pitching staff, recall Chase Solesky from Durham
Cole Sulser hit the IL, Chase Solesky came back, and Joe Boyle went back to Durham, tightening the Rays’ innings race behind a battered staff.
Tampa Bay’s latest pitching shuffle pushed Chase Solesky back into the spotlight and sent Joe Boyle back to Durham, a clear sign the Rays are still using the Bulls as their first stop when the rotation or bullpen starts to crack. Cole Sulser went on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain, and with innings at a premium, Solesky was recalled to absorb the next turn of the roster wheel.
Solesky, 28, has already been in this cycle once before. The Rays selected his contract on May 5, when Steven Matz landed on the 15-day IL with left elbow inflammation, and he has stayed active with Durham in 2026. In three Triple-A starts, he posted a 4.50 ERA with 15 strikeouts and a 1.25 WHIP across 12.0 innings. That profile does not scream finished product, but it does explain why Tampa Bay keeps circling back to him: he is throwing strikes, missing bats, and can cover meaningful innings when the major league staff is stretched thin.
Boyle’s move tells the other half of the story. The Rays reinstated the 26-year-old from the injured list and optioned him to Durham after a rehab assignment that covered 6.2 minor league innings in 2026. He had been sent to Durham on May 6, and the Rays now have him back in the same place they have repeatedly used as a holding pattern for pitching depth. Boyle’s previous run with Tampa Bay included a five-inning no-hit debut against Atlanta in April 2025, a reminder of both his ceiling and the reason the organization keeps him close.
Sulser’s absence matters because he has been part of this shuttle before. The 36-year-old has moved between Tampa Bay and Durham over the past year, and he was part of one of the Bulls’ cleanest nights in recent memory on April 19, 2025, when Sulser, Boyle and Jacob Waguespack combined on Durham’s seventh Triple-A no-hitter in a 4-0 win. That kind of turnover is now baked into the Rays’ pitching plan, but it also shows how much stress is on the staff: one arm goes down, another gets recalled, and Durham immediately becomes the place where the next emergency innings are lined up.
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