[Art Deco]

May 25: Optioned P Malachi Benford to AAA Durham, activated P Jack Leiter from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.

Leiter had two great starts at Durham and will go back to long relief for the Rays.

Game 1: The Rays took a 3-2 lead into the 8th inning and with the way the bullpen has been going a win looked like a good bet. But the "Chicago boys", Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney (who were acquired from the Cubs this past offseason) turned the game into a 6-3 Yankees win. After Connor Kirkley homered in the 2nd (#4) and Isaac DeLeon hit a 2-run shot (#13) in the 6th to put the Rays ahead, Jose Alvarado relieved Christian Little with a 1-2-3 7th. Little had gone 6 5 2 2 2 12 in a typical Christian Little outing and was in line for win #9 before things went bad. And went bad they did with Diaz in the 8th as he saw the tough threesome of Robles-Joe Allen-Vlad Jr ding him for double-double-single to make it 4-3 Yankees. And after Evan Godwin got the next three to keep it a 1-run game, Mooney served up a 2-run blast to Robles in 9th to put it away for the Yankees. As usual, the Rays managed to get the tying run to the plate on 2-out singles from Kirkley and Keibert Ruiz (his 3rd hit of the game) but Jhon Diaz grounded out to end the game. Baltimore won but had lost the night before so the lead is 7 1/2.

Game 2: The Rays continue to be unable to get Victor Robles out and it cost them dearly in a 7-2 loss to the Yankees. Robles' 2-run HR in the 3rd gave New York the lead to stay, his RBI double in the 5th made it 3-1, and he doubled again in the 7th inning. And long-time former Ray Vidal Brujan's 2-run triple off Andy Aparicio in the 8th turned a 3-1 game into a 5-1 affair. Blake Money started and wasn't great but wasn't terrible either, going 6 8 3 3 2 5. Aparicio struck out the side around a couple of runners in the 7th but gave up 3 runs in the 8th, and Evan Godwin gave up a solo HR in the 9th. Meanwhile the offense couldn't really solve Chris Paige, with only Jasson Dominguez's 9th HR in the 2nd (which gave the Rays a brief lead), and Nate Clark's 8th inning RBI double the sum total of the offense. Baltimore won so they shave the lead to 6 1/2.

Game 3: After dropping the first two games of the series to the Yankees, the (new) empire struck back with a 16-3 bludgeoning of the Bronx Bombers. Joe Barker's 3-run HR (#12) highlighted a 5-run 1st inning which represented all the runs the Rays would need today, but they added 11 more for good measure. Everyone in the lineup had at least 2 hits except Judson Fabian who had to settle for one. Carlos Perez had a big 3-run shot in the 4th (#3) when the Yankees had climbed within 6-3 and Jasson Dominguez added a 2-run blast (#10) against his old team. Nate Clark also had a big day against his old organization, going 3-6 with a pair of RBI doubles. Shane McClanahan struggled some early, allowing 3 runs in his first 4 innings, but settled down with the big lead to go 7 6 3 3 3 5 and win his second straight start. Jack Leiter got back into MLB action with a couple of scoreless innings to close the game out. Baltimore fell to Toronto so the lead is back up to 7 1/2.

Team record: 34-14. Next up: 4 straight games against our former in-state rival now known as the Columbus Lightning. The first two will be here, and if you recall I raised an eyebrow at the fact the preseason predictions had the Bolts taking 1st in the NL East. That doesn't look so far-fetched now as Columbus is right there with the Rays for the best record in baseball at 35-15 with a wealth of young talent. Going to be an interesting four days.