[Art Deco]

Game 1: The pitching staff continued on its roll and tonight the hitters held up their end (well at least a couple of 'em) as the Rays ended up shellacking the Angels 8-1 to make it 7 straight wins. Alec Sachais keeps on keepin' on, going to 8-0 with a 7 8 1 1 0 5 performance and lowering his ERA to 2.59. Corbin Martin shook off the rust to close the game out with two scoreless innings. On the offensive side of things, Gabriel Moreno snapped out of a recent slump with a huge night, hitting a 2-run double in the 3rd to get them on the board and a solo homer in the 7th (#5) as part of a 3-3, 4-run, 3-RBI game. Ricky Widmar drove in 4 runs with an RBI groundout, RBI single and 2-RBI double. All of this despite the Rasy going down in order in the first 2 innings to extend their streak to 25 straight batters retired before breaking out in the 3rd. Elsewhere, Toronto continues to circle the drain with another loss so the lead is now 8 games. It's still early, but we might not have a race again this season.

May 17: Placed Bobby Witt Jr on the 10-day IL with a sore shoulder, retroactive to May 11, recalled 3B Mike Lammers from AAA Durham.

Witt had already been out 5 days, but he just had a setback which will keep him out 5 more, hence the move and barring another setback he can be activated as soon as he's healthy. Lammers you may recall contributed nicely down the stretch and in the playoffs in 2028 when Witt was hurt back then. He spent all of 2029 at Durham and wasn't happy, hitting barely over .200 with moderate power but has snapped back this year and was 308/343/562 with 8 HR and 23 RBI, including that 3 HR, 7 RBI game on Opening Day. We'll give him a start or two.

Game 2: After yesterday's 8-run interlude, we're back to our recent pattern of tight low-scoring games in which the Rays come out on top and today's 3-2 win over the Angels was another example. Jon Hayes continued his blistering-hot run going 7 5 2 2 1 9 with LA's two runs scoring on a bloop single and an infield single. He's 6-2, 2.65 having won six straight. Jordan Diaz had a scoreless 8th for a hold and Jose Alvarado grabbed save #6 with a 10-pitch 1-2-3 9th. The 3 runs they got off Shohei Ohtani were enough to win with Nate Clark singling with two out in the 1st, stealing second and scoring on Jasson Dominguez's RBI single. Then a lineup hunch paid off. I decided to give Dayle Jenkins a day off and give D'Andre Hodges a start and he came through with a 2-run HR in the 6th which turned out to be the game-winner. It was the 2nd HR of the year for the seldom-used OF after his first tied a game with the Yankees with 2 out in the 9th which the Rays went on to win in extras. While we've won 8 straight now, Toronto has lost its fourth in a row and the lead is 9 as they disappear further back in our rear-view mirror.

Game 3: The bats came back to life, slugging 4 homers in an 8-4 win over the Angels that wasn't really that close and which extended the win streak to 9. Three guys who drove in early runs later homered to extend the lead: Dane Ayers' RBI single in the 2nd put them on the board and he later hit HR #2, Gabriel Moreno's sac fly that same inning made it 2-0, and he came through in the 4th with HR #6, and Rodolfo Rivas' 3rd inning RBI single was followed by a 2-run HR in the 7th (#10). Ricky Widmar also homered (#6), going back-to-back with Moreno in the 4th. Jack Leiter pitched a solid game (7 7 1 1 0 4) to go to 4-3, 3.35, Mike Mooney got some work in with a scoreless 8th and then there was David Saldana in the 9th. It looked like he'd follow Mooney with a scoreless inning after getting the first two Angels, but then he allowed 5 straight to reach on 4 hits and a walk with 3 runs in and Mike Trout due. It fell to JDLC to come in and he whiffed Trout to end the game and get a fairly easy save #7.

Game 4: It looked like the win streak was over as the Rays trailed the Angels 4-1 after 7 and were being 4-hit by Keider Montero. But they're too good to be counted out and a 4-run rally in the 8th led the way to a 7-4 win as the winning streak reaches 10 (not the longest current streak in MLB though, St. Louis won its 15th straight today). In the 8th Carlos Perez doubled in Connor Kirkley, who had walked to lead off the inning, before scoring after 2 wild pitches to get within 4-3, and then with a man on Nate Clark went deep off Montero (whom the AI should have relieved) for #14 to give the Rays a 5-4 lead. And in the 9th Mike Lammers hit his first MLB HR of the season and then Kirkley went back-to-back with him for #5 to give the Rays some insurance. Before all that their only run was a first inning HR from D'Andre Hodges (#3). Blake Money started and wasn't very good, going 5 7 3 3 2 4 and fortunate not to have allowed more runs. Mike Mooney had a scoreless 6th but Corbin Martin got into 7th inning trouble by allowing 4 hits for a run after retiring the first two batters. He got the third out and ended up with his first Rays win as a result of the rally. Andy Aparicio had a 1-2-3 8th but gave up a leadoff 9th inning single to Mike Trout so Jose Alvarado came in with lefties due up and struck out a pair for save #7.

Team record: 34-11. Next up: An off-day then back home for 3 vs Oakland (you'll have to ask the schedule maker why we didn't just stay out west and play them there).