[Art Deco]

Game 1: All the goodwill from the sweep of Cleveland dissipated within a couple of innings at Rogers Centre as the Jays pounded the Rays 11-1. Lousy pitching, lousy hitting, they had it all. Andy Aparicio was bombed again, this time for 7 runs on 7 hits in 2 2/3 innings and his next start will be for the Durham Bulls. Blake Money relieved him and went 3.1 1 0 0 1 6 and will be taking his place in the rotation next turn. Money has struck out 29 in 17 innings with a 2.12 ERA in long relief this year (and he's had to appear too many times in that role) and even if he's mediocre like last year it will be an improvement over Aparicio, who never seemed to recover from that Collin Montez homer in his first start. Speaking of not ready for prime time, Jeremy Bienick made his MLB debut and gave up 4 runs in his first inning of work, although he did get Toronto 1-2-3 in his second. Of course these guys could have combined for 2 runs allowed and they'd still have lost, as the offense continued to be anemic with 1 run and 5 hits. Joe Barker's sac fly after Bobby Witt Jr doubled was the only run and it briefly made it interesting at 2-1 in the 2nd. Toronto is now 15-4, which shouldn't last (Greyson Jenista hit HR #10 tonight in game #19, so no) but 6 1/2 games back is 6 1/2 games back.

April 21: Optioned P Andy Aparicio to AAA Durham, recalled P Alec Sachais from AAA Durham.

Aparicio's combined line in his 4 starts was 16.2 29 22 22 6 11 with 7 HR allowed (-0.6 WAR). Oof. He just wasn't missing enough bats considering his stuff and we'll revisit him later this year and see how things go at Durham. Sachais might have been the real prize in the Patrick Bailey deal that saw us bring in Blake Money and Jack Filby as well. He had an impressive 21/142 BB/K ratio in 116 innings at Durham last year and was 7 4 1 1 1 8 in his lone start this season (0 HR). He has 65 stuff and 65 control as a starter with 5 above-average pitches including a forkball and screwball. His only flaw is a tendency to give up the longball, he allowed 16 of those in 116 innings last year and with the more juiced ball this year it could be a problem, although he's rated at 50 movement so it's not like he's a total gopher chucker. Making his Rays debut tomorrow (he was up briefly with the Mariners in late 2026) in Rogers Centre will be a challenge, though.

Game 2: The Rays snapped their 4-game losing streak to Toronto by hanging on for a 4-3 win primarily thanks to Shane McClanahan and a pair of 2-run homers. Gavin Lux's 4th HR of the year in the 6th broke a scoreless tie and after Mac gave Toronto a run back in the bottom of the inning, Julio Cedillo hit #3 with a man on to make it 4-1 in the 7th. McClanahan had to leave in the 8th after putting one on with one out and with Daniel Espino still tired (he takes longer to recover than any short reliever I've had), Jack Filby came in and nearly coughed up the lead, giving up a single to score Mac's run and then a double for one of his own. Jose Alvarado had to come in and strike out Greyson Jenista to end the inning. He stayed on and got Justin Ellison to start the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz then entered to retire the final 2 batters to preserve the win and get save #5. Mac went 7.1 8 2 2 0 4 to improve to 2-2, 3.86. Ricky Widmar had 3 hits including a triple and was aboard for Lux's blast in the 6th.

Game 3: Ladies and gentlemen, Alec Sachais. The rookie making his first MLB start was absolutely brilliant, dominant, whatever adjective you want to use. He went 8 3 0 0 1 10 on 102 pitches in a 5-0 Rays win to make it 5 wins out of 6 as the team may finally be coming out of its season-starting doldrums. They're now at .500 for the first time since starting the season 1-1. Nate Clark snapped out of a slump that saw his BA drop into the .220s by doubling in a run in the 1st and then smacking a 2-run HR (#4) in the 5th to make it 3-0 and Ricky Widmar continued to be a spark plug at the top of the order with 2 more hits, 2 steals and 2 runs scored. Gavin Lux's RBI triple in the 7th scored Widmar and Lux came in to score on a wild pitch to make the game comfortable. Aaron Ashby pitched a scoreless 9th to complete the shutout. Sachais' outing was very reminiscent of Joe Ryan's debut start back in 2021 in this same building when he whiffed 12 in 7 shutout innings. Here's hoping Sachais has more staying power than Ryan (and gives up many fewer homers).

MLB Note: Hunter Bishop homered twice and Triston Casas hit a walk-off shot in the 9th to lead Kansas City to a win over Cleveland as the two Rays traded for Bobby Witt Jr teamed up for 3x more HRs in one game than Witt has hit all season (1, to go with a .207 average). Bishop (.306-4-15) has been one the few players we dealt or lost in the offseason to be having a really good start (Wander is .236-2-7 with Texas).

Game 4: The Rays dropped a close one to Toronto, 4-3, with Christian Little being victimized by a pair of longballs and the bats largely quiet, striking out 16 times for the game. Little made the mistake of hitting Sheldon Neuse with 2 out in the 2nd and then giving up a single before Alejandro Kirk took him deep for a 3-run HR, and then yielded a Daniel Johnson solo shot in the 4th. He finished 5.2 4 4 4 2 8. Aaron Ashby, Hayden Johns and Evan Godwin got through the final 2 1/3 without incident, but it was too late at that point. Meanwhile with it being a Sunday I gave some of the regulars a day off like the struggling Bobby Witt Jr. as well as Gavin Lux and Jud Fabian. Their replacements were a mixed bag, mostly bad. Isaac DeLeon struck out all 3 times up before being pinch-hit for in the 9th by Lux, who struck out as well and Joe Barker was 0-4 with a whiff. But Connor Kirkley came through again as his RBI single to score Ricky Widmar in the 5th made it 4-3 but they could never get any closer. Widmar singled and scored on two wild pitches in the 1st, and Jhon Diaz hit HR #3 leading off the 5th for the other 2 runs, but 5 hits + 16 whiffs is not a recipe for many runs. Among the regulars, Yordan Alvarez struck out all 4 times up for the golden sombrero.

Team record: 11-12. Next up: An off-day, then the Yankees come to town for a 3-game midweek series.