X-rays taken Monday on Matt Moore's jaw turned up negative. Moore nearly took a line drive flush to the face in Sunday's Grapefruit League game, but he was able to deflect it at the last moment with his glove and only suffered a minor lip laceration. The talented left-hander is fully expected to make his next start and should be 100 percent when the regular season opens.

Matt Moore is not experiencing any jaw pain. Moore was struck with a line drive Sunday while making a start in the Grapefruit League. The ball nearly hit him flush in the face, but he was able to slightly deflect it with his glove and came away with only a lip laceration and a couple of stitches. He should be fine for his first start of the 2014 regular season. Precautionary X-rays will be taken on Monday morning.

Matt Moore is experiencing no concussion symptoms after he was struck by a line drive in the face on Sunday. Moore was given a few stitches for a laceration on his lip, but he appears to have escaped serious injury. Fortunately, he was able to get his glove up and deflect the ball slightly. Moore walked off field on his own power and was tended to by Rays' trainers. The brief scare shouldn't affect his availability on Tampa Bay's pitching staff.

Matt Moore struggled mightily against the Pirates on Saturday, allowing six runs -- four earned -- and five hits in two-thirds of an inning. A Brandon Guyer error hurt, but Moore really has no one to blame but himself. He also walked a batter, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch before being pulled. Moore entered the league as a huge talent and still looked like a Cy Young contender at times last season, but we suggest shying away from him this year. There's just too much risk given last year's arm woes and the decline in his velocity.

Matt Moore pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out two in the Rays' 6-1 victory over the Phillies on Monday. Moore said afterwards that he was happy with how he threw, particularly with the way the curve was coming out of his hand. It will be worth following his velocity as the spring progresses, considering that his average fastball dipped from 94.4 mph as a rookie to 92.4 mph last year, according to Fangraphs data. The radio broadcast today said he was throwing 91-93 mph, according to Jason Collette of Fangraphs.

Matt Moore came away from his first bullpen session of the spring feeling good on Sunday. The hard-throwing southpaw dealt with elbow soreness and velocity fluctuations during the 2013 season, which is why he worked hard over the winter to improve his strength and conditioning. Rays manager Joe Maddon also came away impressed after observing Moore's session, noting "There was definitely a lot of hop on the ball."

Matt Moore believes he's better-prepared for the start of the 2014 season than he was for 2013. Moore suffered from elbow soreness and a subsequent velocity dip last year, and he believes it was because of changes he made to his offseason program. "The plan was to go out there and make sure that this year there's as little chance as possible for something like what happened last year to my elbow happens again," Moore said Monday. "I went back to where I had success ... it was a very good winter for us."

Matt Moore was hammered in Friday's loss to the Red Sox in the opener of the ALDS, surrendering seven runs on eight hits in just 4 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old southpaw was brilliant during the regular season, but didn't bring his A-game against a hungry Red Sox lineup in this one. He was staked to an early 2-0 lead, but the Red Sox broke through for five runs in the fourth inning to jump on top, and added another pair in the fifth before chasing Moore from the ballgame. With as shaky of an outing as it was, it'll be interesting to see who Joe Maddon gives the ball to should there be a decisive Game 5 in the series.

Matt Moore will start for the Rays in Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday afternoon at Fenway Park. David Price was used in Monday's tiebreaker against the Rangers and Alex Cobb started Wednesday night's American League Wild Card Game in Cleveland. So it'll be Moore opening the Rays' best-of-five with Boston. The 24-year-old left-hander posted a 3.29 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings during the regular season.

Matt Moore surrendered three runs over 5 1/3 innings in Sunday's victory against the Blue Jays. The win improves Tampa Bay to 91-71, a half-game above Texas, which is currently playing the Angels. If the Rangers win, Tampa Bay will be forced to travel to Cleveland and play Monday as part of the opening game of a three-team tiebreaker to determine the two A.L. Wild Card slots. If the Rays won that game, they'd play in Texas on Tuesday; a win in that contest would potentially lead to the Rays hosting a playoff game on Wednesday and hitting the road again on Friday. Needless to say, the club is pulling hard for Los Angeles at the moment. Moore ends another stellar regular season 17-4 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.