Game 1: Round 1 goes to the Rays and Rafael Devers (3-5, 2 RBI) over the Red Sox and Abraham Toro (0-3), although in Toro's defense he had to hit against Noah Syndergaard and Devers got Justin Dunn and Bryan Mata (more on Mata shortly). The final was 11-4 Rays and it was a very strange game in which the Rays scored 11 runs and had only one extra-base hit, a Devers double which led off an inning. Xander Bogaerts shocked the Trop crowd with a long and loud HR off Thor in the 2nd to put Boston up, but in the 3rd the Rays got 3 runs off Dunn when Kepler led off, Kirilloff and Marsh walked, Brujan and Devers delivered RBI singles and Meadows had an RBI fielder's choice. But Boston got 2 runs right back in the top of the 4th as Thor allowed a single and then walked two to load the bases, giving up a Posey sac fly then Jackie Bradley Jr. singled after 7 consecutive foul balls to tie the game. Then came the bottom of the fourth, which had to be seen to be believed. Beer singled, Kepler and Marsh walked to load the bases, Brujan singled in a pair and then Bryan Mata came on and was wild as anyone I've ever seen. He went walk, walk, bases loaded walk, bases loaded walk, wild pitch to score a run, wild pitch to score a run, RBI single by Keibert, HBP, walk to re-load, bases loaded walk, then mercifully a Marsh GIDP to end the inning with 8 runs scored. I was yelling at the computer to pull Mata but the AI left him in and he pitched another 1 2/3 (perhaps the Boston pen was tired). Syndergaard came out after 6 having thrown 112 pitches but he went to 5-0 in his 5 starts, Austin Franklin allowed an unearned run in the 8th and had to leave with an abdominal strain so Scott Barlow finished up with another 3 Ks in 4 batters outing. It was a truly bizarre game, and the lead grows to 6. Elsewhere, the Royals crushed the Yankees to make it 14 straight (KC is in town next). And the Pirates won! And how did they ever win! Luckily for them they played the awful Giants and scored a run in the bottom of the 9th to win 1-0. The 88 Orioles remain safe in history.
April 22: Activated P Tyler Glasnow from the 15-day IL, optioned IF Andrew Vaughn to AAA Durham.
Game 2: If you thought Devers made a statement against his old team in yesterday's game, just wait until you see the encore. The 3B was 5-for-5 today with a 3-run HR and 4 RBI in total in the Rays' 10-4 win. His RBI single in the 4th put the Rays in front to stay at 2-1 and then his 3-run HR in the 5th broke it open making it 7-1 as he improves to .362 with an AL-high 23 RBI. Austin Meadows drove in 3 with a RBI groundout and a 2-run double in the 6th, the same inning in which Vidal Brujan hit his 3rd HR this season. All of this run support was more than enough for the returning Tyler Glasnow, out 2 weeks with a tired arm. His arm didn't look tired as he whiffed two in the first, although he had a brief bout of wildness walking three straight batters to force in a run in the 2nd. But that was all he allowed as he went 6 2 1 1 3 8 in a brilliant outing. Shane McClanahan, who hadn't pitched in quite a well and was held in reserve to back up Glasnow in case he struggled, came on in the 7th and struck out a pair but then faltered in his second inning, allowing a 3-run HR to Marcell Ozuna and walking two batters after that. Aaron Ashby had to come on and bail him out which he did to the tune of 5 up, 5 down with 3 Ks to finish off the game. The lead is now 6 1/2 as Baltimore moves ahead of Boston into 2nd. Meanwhile, KC won yet again to make it 15 straight and they've called up none other than Xavier Edwards, who hit his first MLB HR today. Also having a big day for the Royals was former Ray Brandon Lowe, who also homered and drove in 3. So we'll be seeing these guys in a couple of days and we may have to defend our AL-record winning streak from last year. Also in the NL the Cubs improved to 16-4 but lost newly-signed closer Aroldis Chapman to a bone spur in his elbow, the surgery will knock him out until late August/early September.
Game 3: Chris Paddack was on his game and went to 4-1 with 7 shutout innings in a 5-1 Rays win over Boston to sweep the series and improve to 18-4. Paddack was 7 5 0 0 1 6 and was never really threatened, although Jose Alvarado had a rare rough outing in relief of him in the 8th, giving up a walk and 2 hits for a Boston run, the first run charged against him this season. Nick Anderson bailed him out with a strikeout and fly ball, and Will Smith pitched a perfect ninth although he lost the save opportunity when the Rays scored 2 in the 8th to go up by 4. With lefty Chris Sale on the mound for Boston and it being a Sunday afternoon, the irregulars got into the lineup, with Rylan Bannon doing his best Wander impersonation by going 2-4 with a double as Franco got his first game off and Brujan slid over to SS, Ronaldo Hernandez kept doing Ronaldo Hernandez things, homering off Sale in the 3rd to kick off the scoring, and Yusniel Diaz was the one who cost Smith a save with his 2-run double in the 8th giving the Rays a cushion. The Rays' other runs scored on an Alec Bohm sac fly and a Sale wild pitch after Brandon Marsh had tripled. Baltimore lost but the Yankees finally snapped KC's winning streak behind Gerrit Cole, so the lead is now 7 1/2 games.
(Sad) Durham update: Remember how they won 2 of their first 3 and were hitting HRs like they were going out of style and Baz and Lacy had pitched great games? Seems like 100 years ago as Durham is now 3-8, Tork is hiting .186 & still sitting on 3 HR, Casas is at .143 with the same 3 HR, and Baz was rocked in his last two starts (including 8 ER in 3 IP today) with his ERA now at 9.00 and Lacy was hit hard in his second start while Clarke Schmidt has had a couple of terrible outings since his demotion. The only one still hitting is Nick Schnell, who homered today in Durham's 12-3 loss and is 318/380/568 with 3 HR and 9 RBI.
Team record: 18-4.
This was not that surprising but good to see:
