No changes imminent for Rays' bullpen

The Rays' bullpen is what it is, and there aren't going to be any substantive changes to it in the season's final weeks, according to Manager Joe Maddon.

Speaking before Lance Cormier and Chad Bradford combined to allow three runs to cross the plate for the final margin in a 4-1 Rays loss in Monday's doubleheader opener, Maddon said he'll continue to deploy his relievers as usual despite a horrible run of performance for the entire group lately.

"I don't want to do anything differently, because it's been so successful," Maddon said. "Just because we've had a little bit of a hard time, that doesn't mean you blow everything up. And quite frankly, we can't. That's who we are. That's how we do business.

"I want to show our guys support, I want to keep putting them out there when they're supposed to be out there - as long as they've had adequate rest and I'm not abusing them. Otherwise, it's just going to be business as normal."

The Rays have built a bullpen heavy on matchup guys like Bradford, Randy Choate and Brian Shouse who are best suited to face only certain kinds of hitters. When they don't get them out, as has been the case lately, everything looks ugly.

Though the entire corps' collective track record has been abysmal the past several days, Cormier put the blame solely on himself for what happened Monday.

"I didn't to my job," he said. "I don't think we look at it as a domino effect. I think it's just guys are going out there and they're running into some bad timing right now."

The new guy

1B Chris Richard waited a long time for the call that finally came Monday afternoon.

For the first time since 2003, the 35-year-old put on a big-league uniform in a regular-season game after flying in from North Carolina to replace Carlos Pena on the active roster.

Richard appeared in 19 games for the Rockies six seasons ago, the most recent of the 267 major-league games on his resume entering Monday. He had been relegated to Triple-A until the seventh inning of the nightcap, when he came on to play first base for the Rays and drew a walk in his first plate appearance since April 30, 2003.

Richard has been a mainstay in Durham since 2007, posting a team-high 24 homers this year after hitting 26 last season. He hit .263 and posted a .364 on-base percentage in 100 games while also contributing 22 doubles.

A non-roster invitee to major-league camp with the Rays the past three seasons, he is a familiar figure to the team's coaching staff and players. They just haven't had a chance to see what he can do in a game that counts.

"Chris Richard is certainly deserving," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "It's nice to reward him for what he's done for us, but it's merit-based as well."

Farm facts

There will be playoff baseball in Port Charlotte tonight as the Stone Crabs open their Florida State League semifinal series against Fort Myers at 7:05 p.m. at Charlotte Sports Park. The winner of the best-of-three series will face either Tampa or Brevard County for the FSL championship.

Odds and ends

CF B.J. Upton returned to the lineup Monday night after missing the previous four games with an ankle injury suffered Thursday. ... The Rays will announce their upcoming rotation today, but given the outings turned in by Wade Davis and Andy Sonnanstine the past two days, Davis certainly will be the one in line to get another start. If so, Sonnanstine would work out of the bullpen. ... Maddon said the Rays have "talked about" adding another reliever from Durham in the wake of Monday's doubleheader.

Marc Lancaster