July 29: Activated P Alan Rutherford from his rehab assignment, designed P Jon Ward for assignment.
Ward wasn't terrible with a 3/12 BB/K ratio in 10 IP since coming over from Columbus, but someone had to go for Rutherford.
Game 1: The Rays' malaise continued as they were soundly beaten by the Brewers 7-2 in the series opener. Alec McInerney (7-8) was lousy again at 4 5 6 4 2 2 with a pair of homers allowed. Ruben Ramirez's solo homer (#18) was as exciting as it got today.
Game 2: The terrible road trip dragged on with a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee which saw them mount a 9th-inning rally that fell short. Rogelio Espinoza (9-9) continues to start since we don't have a better alternative and he put us in a 3-0 hole after going 3 7 3 3 1 5. Nesty de la Rosa had a 2-run double in the 9th putting men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out but despite that advantageous situation the bats which followed couldn't get the tying run home.
We made a trade at the deadline:
Steele is a rental 2B who can get on base (perennial .380 guy) and we need to get a little more offense going these days. He'll play against righties and push Juan de Oca to the bench when he plays. Kang-cheol Lee, who didn't impress that much after being called up, is sent to Durham to make room.
Game 3: As they did in the previous series the Rays salvaged the finale with a 7-4 win. They broke out the longball today, with Cesar Scroggins (#4, a 2-run shot), Ruben Ramirez (#19, solo) and Ezequiel Avalos (#25, solo) all going deep in a 4-run 4th which put them up 5-1. Luis Barela also went deep later with a solo shot (#27) and Avalos added an RBI double as part of a 4-4 day. Dave Rose (11-2) was sharp until running into trouble in the middle innings and finished 5.1 7 4 4 1 4. The bullpen was sharp though going 3 2/3 hitless with Mario Berumen earning save #14.
Team record: 72-38. The Yankees continue to chip away at the lead while we play mediocre baseball, reducing it to 4 games. And it could get a lot slimmer as after a day off we head to New York to play 3 against them.