June 18-19, 2024: at Toronto (2)
 

Game 1: After losing 5 of 7 on a mini-homestand the Rays were given the cure for what ails them: a chance to play Toronto, a team they've beaten 9 of 10 times already this season. In fact the last two times they played at Rogers Centre the Rays won by scores of 12-1 and 17-1. So it would not surprise in the least for me to tell you the Rays won tonight 16-3. After they manufactured a run in the first on a Brujan walk, steal, a throwing error, and a Wander groundout, all hell broke loose in the 3rd when the Rays put 7 on the board to make it 8-0, then added 3 in each of the next two innings. Keibert Ruiz had a career night, going 4-6 with a HR and 6 RBI as he's finally started heating up production-wise, Austin Meadows was 3-5 with 2 RBI, Wander drove in 3, Brujan scored 3 times, etc, etc. Only Seth Beer went hitless at 0-4. The beneficiary of all this support was Walker Buehler, who coasted through 6 despite giving up a couple of solo HRs and going 6 7 3 3 0 6. Asa Lacy pitched the final 3 innings, allowing 0 runs and whiffing 6 to pick up his first career save. Baltimore won while the Rays were idle yesterday but lost today so the lead is 9.

Game 2: I've come to the conclusion that if the Rays played all their games at Rogers Centre and got to hit against the current Jays staff they'd set every offensive record in the MLB record book. Today was their second consecutive 16-3 win and their fourth straight in this building with at least 12 runs. Spencer Torkelson had a night he'll never forget, going 5-5 with a HR, 4 RBI, and 4 runs scored. He's now hitting 310/367/606 with 10 HR and 31 RBI in 142 AB so he might need to get a look as the full-time DH. Sure he has 48 strikeouts in those 142 AB but when he makes contact the ball is getting hurt. The tone tonight was set when Vidal Brujan hit HR #2 of the season leading off the game and Austin Meadows hit the first of his two later in the inning, giving him 20 for the season, 2nd in MLB behind Kyle Tucker's 21 while his 54 RBI lead MLB. Wander also homered and drove in 3, Brujan ended up driving in 4, and Nick Schnell was 3-5 with 3 RBI. In fact all 9 starters had at least 2 hits as the team tallied 24 for the game. Matt Manning enjoyed the run support this time, going 7 5 3 1 2 5 with 2 of the runs coming after a Wander error and hence unearned. Scott Barlow and Sandy Gaston got some work in with a scoreless inning apiece. Baltimore won so the lead stays at 9.

Team record: 44-24. Next up: 4 games in the Motor City against the Tigers.

June 20-23, 2024: at Detroit (4)
 

Game 1: Yet another frustrating loss that followed the pattern of several of the ones on last week's homestand: come from behind to grab a late lead, and watch the bullpen blow it, losing 4-3 in 11 innings. Today you could also throw in an almost complete lack of clutch hitting as the Rays had 18 baserunners today but could only manage 3 runs, and two of those came on a homer. The Rays had their usual lefty troubles today with Eduardo Rodriguez as he had them shut out into the 8th inning with a 2-0 lead despite the baserunners. But with two out Keston Hiura beat out an infield hit, and the red-hot Spencer Torkelson went deep again to tie the game. Nick Schnell followed with a triple, and Vidal Brujan singled him home and the Rays were up 3-2. With a couple of lefties due up, Jose Alvarado got the call and as is his wont lately, he didn't get the job done. After a strikeout, he walked one, hit a batter and gave up a hit to load the bases. Nick Anderson did his best to escape the jam but they couldn't turn a DP behind him and the tying run scored. And then the Tigers scored off Mitch Keller in the bottom of the 11th and that was the game. Aside from the leaky bullpen, the big goat today was Rafael Devers, who was 0-6 and left 6 men on base, coming up in several key situations and failing. Austin Meadows wasn't much better, he was 1-6 with 6 LOB as well. Tyler Glasnow was the Rays' starter, and he was OK, going 6 6 2 2 3 7, although at 99 pitches he shouldn't have come out for the 7th as Yasmani Grandal, having a ridiculous year, hit HR #20 to lead off the inning and make it 2-0. The ineffectiveness of Alvarado has becoming very troubling, he's blown 5 saves, lost 2 games and because his run scored with Anderson on the mound, it counted as a hold rather than a blown save for him. He's now allowed 5 runs over 2 1/3 innings in his last 3 appearances. Baltimore lost so the lead remains 9.

Game 2: The script was beginning to become all too familiar, the Rays took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th, the starter got into trouble and the bullpen blew the lead. But the offense took care of things scoring 5 runs in the 9th and the Rays nabbed an 8-5 win over Detroit. It was also starting to resemble yesterday as the Rays put 5 runners on in the first 2 innings and couldn't score, so Wander Franco said enough of this and drove himself in with a homer to lead off the 3rd off Miguel Diaz. Detroit took the lead on a 2-run Jonathan India double in the 4th but the Rays got those 2 back in the 5th off RBI singles from Austin Meadows and Rafael Devers, last night's goats. And so we went to the bottom of the 7th when Daniel Lynch, who had been cruising, put two on with two out and went over 100 pitches. Sandy Gaston got a high-leverage opportunity, walked a man to load the bases and then gave up an infield single that tied it before striking out Victor Reyes to get out of the inning. Scott Barlow pitched a perfect 8th with Nick Anderson unavailable after going 1 2/3 yesterday, which brought us to the 9th. The Tigers brought on closer Kyle Crick and he ended up with a crick in his neck looking at the Rays baserunners behind him. Vidal Brujan (out of his slump well and good) doubled to lead off, and after Wander flew out, Meadows was intentionally walked to face Devers, who ripped an RBI single to put the Rays on top. Alec Bohm followed his own RBI single and then Spencer Torkelson, who has probably won the full-time DH job, blasted his third homer in as many days to make it 8-3. With the 5-run lead I was hoping not to use Jasseel De La Cruz, so Barlow came out for the 9th and predictably he made a mess, giving up a couple of runs with one out so De La Cruz had to come in after all, picking up save #10 by retiring the two men he faced. Nevertheless Barlow picked up the win, and Lynch had a quality start, going 6.2 5 3 3 1 5. Baltimore lost so the lead grows to 10 games.

Some other news: Our good buddy Max Fried, who has pitched very well for the Dodgers since the trade (of course), got a 4/74 extension from the Dodgers, while the Orioles released Max Scherzer, who's probably done now as he had lost his stuff after a series of injuries the last couple of years. Also this year's supplemental first-round pick Billy Tacuri, who BNN has as the #61 prospect in baseball, made his professional debut for low-A Hudson Valley and was terrific, going 8 3 0 0 0 4 on 91 pitches. Would have liked to see a few more Ks, but the lack of walks was impressive. Speaking of first round picks, our 2022 1st rounder Mack Anglin has been progressing quickly through the system and is currently in the Durham rotation. After a few rough starts, he's been very effective lately and has an 11/61 BB/K ratio in 61 innings with a 3.98 ERA overall. At this rate there's a real chance he's helping the big club next year, with the two things working against him being the depth of the MLB roster and the fact that he isn't yet required to be on the 40-man.

Game 3: Dustin May was dominant and the offense broke it open late to propel the Rays to a 7-0 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park. May was never really in trouble throughout his 7 innings, going 7 3 0 0 2 7 on 106 pitches. The offense struck for 2 in the 1st off Casey Mize on an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz and an RBI double from Alec Bohm, and 2-0 is where it stayed until the 7th inning when Hunter Bishop hit HR #9 and his first since being called back up from Durham to make it 3-0. Then in the 8th they went to town, with another Bohm RBI single and a 2-run double by Bishop to go with a Vidal Brujan RBI single and it was 7-0. Asa Lacy pitched the final two innings in fine style, whiffing 4 and only allowing a hit, giving him 10 Ks in 5 innings over his last two outings. May improves to 7-2, 2.87, not bad for a guy who started the year as the #5 starter. With another Baltimore loss, the lead grows to 11. And look who Detroit just activated off the DL to start tomorrow: some guy named Baz.

Game 4: Well it was the Shane Baz show as he pretty much shut down the league's top offense. Although his bullpen blew a 2-1 lead for him, the Rays bullpen obliged with a run of their own as the Tigers won in walk-off fashion 3-2. Baz was utterly dominant, going 6.2 2 1 1 2 10. The only run he gave up was in the 4th when he hit Vidal Brujan leading off (after he retired the first 9 in order), Brujan stole second, and then scored on an Austin Meadows single. Walker Buehler was not at his sharpest, although he limited the damage at 6 8 2 2 2 5 with the big hit against him a 4th inning Kody Clemens homer. Buehler gave up singles to put men at first and third with nobody out in the seventh, but Jose Alvarado in his best-looking outing perhaps all year, struck out the next three men to keep it 2-1. And that was enough to get the Rays to tie it in the 8th when Hunter Bishop singled off Willy Collado and Meadows eventually singled him home. Rafael Devers had a chance to give the Rays the lead with men on 2nd and 3rd and two out but couldn't get it done, and then Will Smith put the first two men on the 8th but got a double play to get out of it. After the Rays went 1-2-3 in the 9th, it was Nick Anderson's turn and he didn't have it, walking the leadoff man, giving up a single sending him to 3rd, and then a single to Isaac Parades to drive in the winning run without getting a single out and the Tigers split the series with the Rays and took the season series 4-3. Baz had missed 3 weeks with a sore elbow, but has been lights out for Detroit, starting the year as their closer and picking up 8 saves before moving into the rotation in mid-May. In 29 innings over 4 starts, he's only given up 8 runs while walking 5 and striking out 37. Wow. Making me regret the deal for Matt Manning even though Manning's been very good as well. Baltimore loses again, so the lead is still 11.

Team record: 46-26. Next up: We return home to face the Cincinnati Reds, struggling at 23-47, for 3 games.

June 24-26, 2024: vs Cincinnati (3)
 

Game 1: A bad loss against a bad team as the Rays fell to Cincinnati 8-4 at the Trop, making it 6 losses in the last 8 games at home. Matt Manning didn't have it tonight, going 5.1 10 5 4 0 3 and putting the team in an early hole. Not that it would have made a difference as the Rays couldn't get much going against Jared Solomon and his 5.89 ERA coming into the game. They only managed 2 runs and 5 hits off him in 6 2/3 innings, with a couple of sac flies bringing home the runs. Asa Lacy came on in relief of Manning and wasn't as sharp as his last 2 appearances, allowing 3 runs before Sandy Gaston had to get through the rest of the game, striking out 3 in 1 2/3 innings and lowering his ERA to 0.92 although he's 0-2 in high-leverage situations. Wander (#13) and Nick Schnell (#8) had late solo HRs for the Rays in the too little, too late department. Really not sure what to make of this year's team, it seems the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Luckily for them they're in a lousy division as Baltimore lost and Boston won so both are 3 games below .500 and 11 behind.

Game 2: This was more like what we expected with Cincinnati in town, an 8-2 win. Tyler Glasnow put in his day at the office, going 7 6 2 2 2 8 and only really in trouble in the 5th when he gave up a pair of RBI doubles to allow the Reds to tie it at 2 after Nick Schnell had hit a 2-run HR in the 2nd off Matt Shoemaker. But the Rays answered right back in the bottom of the 5th on doubles by Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco, and then Rafael Devers singled in Wander. And they added 2 more in the 6th on Schnell's 2nd HR of the game (#10) and 3rd in 2 days and a Wander RBI single, and then 2 more in the 7th on Rafael Devers' 8th HR of the season and a Spencer Torkelson RBI single. Scott Barlow pitched a scoreless 8th and Will Smith struck out the side in the 9th. Glasnow goes to 8-2, 3.49 with 120 Ks in 95 1/3 innings, which leads the AL as does his pitcher WAR of 2.7.

Special Wander update: Tonight Wander had yet another 3-hit game. On May 26 he went 0-4 to drop his average to .278. Since then he's gone 44-111 (.396) with 7 HR & 22 RBI to raise his average to .329. He's also had at least 2 hits in 10 of his last 11 games with the lone exception being an anomalous 4-strikeout 0-4 game the other day in Detroit when Shane Baz got him 3 times. Outside of that game, he's only struck out *5* times in that 111-AB stretch.

Game 3: Another series lost at home as the Rays put up a listless performance in a 6-0 loss to Cincinnati. Nick Lodolo, a good young pitcher but one who was off to a terrible start this year with an 8.08 ERA coming in, held them to 3 hits over 8 2/3 innings as the team's problems with lefties continue. Daniel Lynch was the starter for the Rays and technically met the definition of a quality start with 3 runs allowed in 6 innings but walked 6 as well and just wasn't sharp. Of course with the offense taking the night off it really didn't matter. Mitch Keller pitched a couple of scoreless innings but Sandy Gaston loaded the bases in the 9th and then gave up a bases-clearing double to new Reds signee Josh Donaldson to turn a 3-0 game into a 6-0 game. Baltimore won so the lead is down to 10 and they can cut into it in the next series when they come to St. Pete.

Team record: 47-28. Next up: an off-day followed by 3 games at home vs Baltimore.

June 28-30, 2024: vs Baltimore (3)
 

Game 1: The offense continued to look listless until they finally woke up in the late innings, coming back from 2-1 down to win 7-3 and take the first game of the series against their closest pursuer. Dustin May got the start and was OK, a bit hittable but mostly got out of it, going 6 8 2 2 1 6. But the offense struggled against rookie Bryar Johnson at first, only manufacturing a run in the 1st when Vidal Brujan walked, stole second and went to third on a bad throw, and scored on an Austin Meadows double. They tied it in the bottom of the 6th when Keibert Ruiz doubled in Meadows. Nick Anderson pitched the 7th and looked very good, striking out the side, and in the bottom of the 7th they finally wore Johnson down. A Hunter Bishop walk and a Brujan double put men on 2nd and 3rd, and Bishop scored on a wild pitch before Meadows delivered an RBI single to make it 4-2. Anderson stayed on to face Renato Nunez and struck him out too, and then Jose Alvarado got the last two outs of the 8th. And the Rays put it away for good with 3 more in the 8th on a Brujan single, a passed ball, and a Keibert infield single. Alvarado got the lefty leading off the 9th and Scott Barlow gave up a triple that scored but got the final two outs. Brujan reached 4 times on 2 hits and 2 walks and his OBP is up to .398, and Meadows was 3-4 with his 2 RBI as he continues to lead MLB in the category. The lead climbs back to 10 1/2.

Game 2: Walker Buehler, ladies and gentlemen. The big righthander had pitched decently for the Rays but hadn't shown the true dominance he's capable of - until tonight. Buehler went 8 2/3 innings striking out 15 Orioles, allowing only 5 hits, a walk and a run in a tense and exciting 2-1 win. Buehler was perfect through the first 4 innings before Austin Hays led off the 5th with a double and was singled home by Anthony Santander. This gave Baltimore a short-lived 1-0 lead before the Rays got their two runs in the bottom of the inning on Wander Franco's RBI infield single and a Rafael Devers sac fly. 2-1 is where it stood as we got to the 9th. Buehler struck out Ryan McKenna for K #15 but then walked Bryson Stott, his first and only walk of the game. He got the tough Adley Rutschman to fly out but Hays singled sending Stott to 3rd on his 115th pitch. Against the wishes of the Tropicana Field crowd, I brought in Jasseel De La Cruz to face Santander and De La Cruz made me look good with a strikeout to end the game and pick up save #11. Buehler improves to 5-1, 3.50 with the Rays and 8-3, 2.72 overall. One bit of bad news, though: Our Spinal Tap drummer position of CF claimed another victim as Hunter Bishop had to leave with back tightness. Although it's officially a DtD injury, it's 2 weeks and described as "moderate" so he'll probably go on the IL. With Spencer Torkelson DHing tonight and not wanting to lose it, we had to put Seth Beer in LF but with Buehler striking out everyone it didn't matter. Heston Kjerstad is next man up for center (although he's better in the corners, he's a 55 in CF) so look for him tomorrow.

June 30: Placed OF Hunter Bishop on the 10-day IL with back tightness, recalled OF Heston Kjerstad from AAA Durham.

Stockpiling all those high-end OF prospects suddenly doesn't look so foolish, does it? Kjerstad was 274/327/490 at Durham after being the Southern League MVP last season. He did get off to a slow start (613 OPS in April) but has come around. He's got 60 power and 60 gap power but his eye is 45 and he will strike out, a similar profile to Bishop.

Game 3: Another day, another win, another injury to an outfielder. The Rays took a 6-3 decision over Baltimore behind the strong pitching of Matt Manning and some actual clutch 2-out RBI hits, but lost Spencer Torkelson to a sprained ACL which will put him out seven weeks. Manning was rolling with 6 shutout innings until he ran into some trouble in the 7th, some of it his own doing and some of it due to Wander Franco dropping a popup, allowing the Orioles to score three times with the key hit a 2-run double by ex-Ray (and ex-everyone else the way the AI keeps trading him around the league) Mitch Haniger that brought Baltimore within 5-3. All 3 runs were unearned so Manning ended up 6.2 6 3 0 1 9, and improves to 4-3. Nick Anderson got him out of the 7th and then stayed and pitched the 8th getting a pair of Ks. Jasseel De La Cruz got three groundball outs on 5 pitches in the 9th to nail down save #12. On offense they got out to a first-inning lead on a 2-out 2-run RBI double from Keibert Ruiz, added 1 in the 3rd when Vidal Brujan tripled and scored when Wander struck out on a wild pitch, 1 more in the 5th on Austin Meadows' 21st HR, 1 more in the 6th on Tork's RBI double on which he sprained his ACL going into 2nd, and then 1 more in the 7th on a 2-out RBI double from Rafael Devers who ended up a HR short of the cycle. Gonna have to think about who comes up for Torkelson. It may be someone like Greg Jones, our 2019 first-round pick who's toiled away at Durham the last couple of seasons but can play the middle infield. I was also thisclose to trading Seth Beer a few days ago (had a deal lined up with the Dodgers, who just lost Josh Bell for the year, for some pitching) but now he's needed, and he, Keston Hiura and Triston Casas should be seeing more ABs. I may also investigate trading for a RH bat although with the sweep increasing the division lead to 12 1/2 games there isn't a lot of short-term urgency here.

Team record: 50-28. Next up: Another off-day (we had fewer of those early in the season than anyone) then a trip to Pittsburgh for 3 where Tyler Glasnow gets to start against his old team and Austin Meadows says hello, too (also Mitch Keller).

July 2-4, 2024: at Pittsburgh (3)
 

July 1: Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 10-day IL with a strained ACL, purchased the contract of IF/OF Wil Myers from AAA Durham.

Who says you can't go home again? Wil Myers is back with the Rays for the first time since the end of the 2014 season. I went with Myers for two main reasons: 1) his right-handed bat, and 2) his versatility. I primarily expect to use him in left against lefties, but it's good to have his ability to fill in at all 4 corners (he can even fake CF). He still has 60 power so even though his numbers at Durham were anemic, in the few at-bats he'll end up getting he could get lucky.

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow was not very impressive in his return to Pittsburgh but the Rays were still in it until Scott Barlow blew up in the 8th inning to turn a 4-4 game into a 9-4 loss. Despite the day off Nick Anderson wasn't available, and with Mitch Keller and Jose Alvarado having already pitched the 6th and 7th and righties due up, I figured I could get Barlow through it. Nope. He gave up an infield hit, a walk, then got a forceout to put runners on 1st and 3rd, hit Iso Kurokawa to load the bases, and then hit Kevin Newman to force in a run. That was enough for me and Will Smith came in, and he gave up a double, a single and sac fly to score the other 3 of Barlow's baserunners and one of his own. Those two are the worst. When Ian Hamilton comes back soon I was planning on sending Sandy Gaston down but I might just waive Barlow. Glasnow was wild and not overpowering, going 5 5 4 2 4 3 with the two unearned runs the result of his own error dropping a toss from Alec Bohm on a grounder. Speaking of Bohm, his 13th HR put the Rays on the board and Heston Kjerstad had his first MLB hit, a double off the RF scoreboard and also singled and walked. Bohm had a sac fly, Brujan a RBI single and Triston Casas came off the bench to hit for Glasnow and delivered an RBI double that tied the game at 4 in the 6th before the Barlow barf.

July 3: Traded 25-year-old minor league center fielder Grant Richardson, 25-year-old minor league starting pitcher Kevin Holcomb and 31-year-old reliever Scott Barlow to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Hunter Barco and 26-year-old reliever Mitchell Verburg in return.

Never again will I be tempted to bring Scott Barlow into a game, especially a close one. And in return I get a reliever I coveted since last season in Verburg. Check out his ratings and stats here:

https://i.imgur.com/YVZLZnN.png

Good stuff and pinpoint control. Can't ask for more from a reliever to use in high-leverage spots. The price here was Richardson, a pretty decent OF prospect but one already 25 and a couple of years away. Of course Barlow could get it together in LA, it wouldn't shock me. Also glad to get Barco in the deal, he was LA's #1 pick in 2022 and a former Gator (always a key for me). He's not any kind of elite prospect but has potential 60 stuff and 55 movement which will need to offset his 45 control. Worth a flyer. Holcomb was a minor league free agent we signed earlier this year and isn't anything special but was enough to put the deal over the top. (By the way Verburg was the key to the possible Seth Beer trade I referenced earlier, with Barco in it as well although the other guy I was going to get was Joe Rose, a 70-stuff reliever. Now I get to keep Beer, get rid of Barlow and still get Verburg.)

Game 2: The Rays evened the series with a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh and the Pirates learned a valuable lesson: don't intentionally walk someone to pitch to Austin Meadows. With the game tied at 2 going to the top of the 5th, Vidal Brujan led off with a single and went to second on a passed ball. Instead of pitching to Wander Franco, the Pirates chose to intentionally walk him with the base open and pitch to Meadows as they had lefty Charlie Barnes on the mound. It was a mistake as Meadows ripped a double down the RF line scoring both runners and then came around to score on a double play grounder. That was enough for Daniel Lynch, who wasn't overpowering (1 strikeout in 6 1/3 innings) but didn't walk anyone, giving up 9 hits and 3 runs and barely meeting the definition of a quality start while picking up his 8th win. Mitchell Verburg made his Rays debut with Nick Anderson *still* tired (jeez, it's been 3 days now since he went 1 1/3 innings) and got 5 outs on 17 pitches to bridge the game to the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz got a 1-2-3 inning with a K for save #13. Earlier the Rays had picked up a pair of runs in the 3rd on an RBI double from Wander and an RBI single from Meadows, who continues to lead MLB with 63 RBI. Wil Myers saw his first Rays action since 2014 and went 0-2 with an intentional walk. Baltimore won to stay 11 1/2 games back.

Who says the AI doesn't have a sense of humor?

https://i.imgur.com/jMCRwH2.png

I had sniffed around Hader myself, Milwaukee was willing to eat 50% of his contract (which would mean 2 more years after this of $6.6M/year) in exchange for Brandon Dieter, an interesting MI prospect of ours, but as much as I love Hader's stuff he's been inconsistent and a bit homer-prone so I passed.

Game 3: The Rays gutted out a tough 4-3 win on Independence Day to take 2 of 3 from the Pirates. There weren't many fireworks, unless you count the ones in my stomach as a 4-0 lead going into the 7th became a nail-biter. One thing I have learned is that the Pirates are a tough team to strike out, much like the Rays. Glasnow had only 3 in 5 innings in the first game, Lynch had only 1 in 6 1/3 last night and Dustin May tonight only had 1 in his 6 innings. Like Lynch last night, though, he didn't walk anyone and left with a 6 7 0 0 0 1 line after being pinch-hit for in the 7th. But after getting hits in his previous 2 pinch-hit appearances, Triston Casas couldn't add to the Rays lead this time and whiffed, so Mitch Keller came on against his old team in the 7th and promptly got himself into trouble, walking the leadoff man, giving up a couple of hits and a run before Jose Alvarado bailed him out by getting the last two men of the inning. Nick Anderson was available for the 8th, but he gave up a single and then a 2-run HR to Danny Jansen with nobody out and suddenly it was 4-3. He recovered to get through the inning and then for some reason (which I didn't notice until it was time) Jasseel De La Cruz was tired when it came time for the 9th. With Verburg also unavailable, it was either Sandy Gaston or Will Smith and with a couple of lefties due up I went with Smith and held my breath. He did walk a guy but got the three outs for save #8 and his first in over a month. Alec Bohm's infield RBI single got them on the board in the 1st, and then in the 6th a Vidal Brujan single and Wander Franco sac fly made it 3-0, and the third of Nick Schnell's hits on the night made it 4-0 in the top of the 7th. May improved to 8-2 and lowered his AL-leading ERA to 2.71.

Team record: 52-29. Next up: We start the true second half of the season, having played 81 games, for a weekend series in Baltimore who are now 12 1/2 behind after a loss to Toronto. The next post will be a midseason review with stats and analysis galore.

2024 Midseason Report Card
 

We've reach the halfway mark of the season. Before getting into a look at the Rays, here's how the MLB standings and leaderboards shake out:

https://i.imgur.com/sZ4Wxq8.png

The Rays of course are in great shape as the AL East is not a great division these days. Remember when the Rays went into Minnesota and the Twins had the best record in the league and beat them in the first game to go to 32-15? They've gone 8-24 since and once again the AL Central has a bunch of teams bunched together around .500. The West, meanwhile, has 4 good teams and 3 of them at most can make the playoffs. The Diamondbacks are the big surprise in the NL, a few days ago they were ahead of the injury-decimated Dodgers, who are without Josh Bell and Cody Bellinger for either all or most of the rest of the season, without Clayton Kershaw and just got Corey Seager back after a long absence.

I "deadened" the ball this year even further from last year using the 2014 offensive environment and scoring and HRs are down as you can tell from these leaderboards. I probably pushed the pendulum too far and will go back to what I used for 2023.

State of the Rays: They're on pace for 104 wins and should win the division comfortably. While at first blush the team would appear to be down from last year's 115-win crew, they're pretty similarly situated in that last year's team overperformed their Pythagorean record while this year's team is underperforming it, and both of them are/were true 110-win teams. Obviously the problem this year has been the bullpen being much shakier than last year, as evidenced by the mediocre record in 1-run games. Also the team defense has reverted to its 2022 level after being above-average last year. I'm not sure why given we pretty much have the same personnel. With the multiple Brandon Marsh injuries, CF has been a bit of a revolving door so I know we've sacrificed some D there, and Meadows in RF to accommodate Schnell is a bit of a downgrade. And of course we continue to have our issues with lefty pitching; fortunately, there isn't a whole lot of it we have to face.

https://i.imgur.com/H67UNRt.png

Midseason grades:

C: This position has had our biggest drop-off. Keibert Ruiz (B-) is still hitting for average but I suppose he's one of the victims of the deader ball as he's only managed 3 HR to date when he was well into the 20s the past two seasons. And after putting up incredible numbers in his limited appearances, Ronaldo Hernandez (D) has been ghastly this year at the plate with -0.4 WAR and a .175 batting average with 1 HR, and he's had some bad defensive games as well. His morale is "angry" so this is a combination of regression of his 2022-23 performances combined with being stuck as a backup. I may explore trading him while his value is still high as barring a Keibert injury he's not going to play much.

1B: Alec Bohm (B-) is still hitting for power and playing good D but his OBP is still in the low .300s. Ultimately I can see Torkelson playing 1B, or Triston Casas if Devers exercises his player option at the end of the season.

2B: Vidal Brujan (A). He's having a monster season and that's despite a 3-week or so terrible slump he was in. He's an OBP machine, now over .400 and is among the AL WAR leaders. His late-season and playoff power surge of last year seems to be a victim of the ball this season, though.

SS: Wander Franco (A-). Wander's had his usual deep slump followed by his usual red-hot surge, and his numbers are about where we expect them.

3B: Rafael Devers (B+): He's getting it done, and with Abraham Toro reverting to his 2022 numbers with Boston, the deal looks better now.

IF: Triston Casas (B+). Along with Ronaldo, he's gotten the least playing time but has been somewhat productive. He'll have a bigger role next year, either at 3B replacing Devers or at 1B replacing Bohm. Keston Hiura (B-). He's hit decently, but his K/BB ratio is 43/8 which is disappointing. With the Torkelson injury, he'll get more run at DH once we stop visiting NL parks.

OF: Austin Meadows (A). He was good last year, of course, but he was kind of lost in the shuffle with some of the other breakout performances. Not this year, though - he's playing at an MVP level and doesn't seem to be affected by the ball. Brandon Marsh (INC): He's been limited to 27 games this year with multiple multi-week injuries. He's put up 1.7 WAR when he has played so he's an A+ on performance but can't stay on the field. Nick Schnell (A-): Nick can just rake, and rake he has. Spencer Torkelson (A-): His power is real, and he was hitting for average despite his propensity for whiffing, it's a shame he got the injury once he was taking over as full-time DH. Hunter Bishop (B+): filled in admirably for Marsh, especially with his ridiculous hot streak to start his MLB career.

DH: Seth Beer (D). Oof. Hitting .214 with 4 HR as the primary DH is not getting it done. Yeah, yeah, the ball, but that doesn't explain the lack of hitting overall from him. Another guy who probably gets traded while he still has some value, although with all the injuries it's probably in the offseason.

SP: Tyler Glasnow (A-). Leading the league again in Ks and among the leaders in WAR, although has struggled with his control recently. Walker Buehler (B): A bit more hittable and homer-prone that I hoped, but still getting it done and hopefully the masterpiece in his last outing bodes well going forward. Matt Manning (B+): He's been pretty good after missing the first 4-5 weeks with injury, looking for a big 2nd half from him. Dustin May (A-). Leading the league in ERA, so I can't complain. I wondered about him a bit going in but he's really gotten it done. Daniel Lynch (A-). A guy who was out of the rotation stepped in with the Paddack injury and has exceeded expectations after his rough 2nd half last year. Overall, the rotation has been excellent.

RP: Collectively this has been a B-/C+ pen. Alvarado has had his worst year so far for me, although he's looked good his past few outings and should be OK. Nick Anderson has been up and down as well. Will Smith of course started losing his stuff and hence lost his closer gig but thankfully Jasseel De La Cruz has been excellent and really has been the MVP of the pen. Mitch Keller started strong but has been shaky lately so I'm not sure what I have there, while in long relief Asa Lacy has been OK to decent. Sandy Gaston has pitched in low-leverage situations but poorly in the few high-leverage shots he's gotten. He'll go back to Durham when Ian Hamilton comes off the IL soon. I'm hoping Hamilton and newly-acquired Mitchell Verburg will stabilize things.

International signing period update.
 

We got ourselves a good one here:

https://i.imgur.com/rTfrIC3.png

Look at all that blue under potential. The scouting report sees him as a future .310 hitter. Keibert 2.0 maybe? Anyway he's either a star in 5-6 years or he's great trade bait (more likely with my proclivities) with that 5-star potential.

Meanwhile just in time for our weekend series with them the Orioles acquired Jo Adell from the Angels for Chance Sisco. Adell in my save has been up and down (literally) over the past few years with the Angels but has lived up to his potential this year filling in for an injured Mike Trout so I'm not thrilled about having to face him 18-19 teams a year now.

July 5-7, 2024: at Baltimore (3)
 

Game 1: The offense showed up, but the pitching didn't as the Rays fell 11-8 in the series opener. Walker Buehler, who dominated this same Orioles lineup six days earlier to the tune of 1 run and 15 Ks, was a human pinata, battered for 8 runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings as it seemed every ball put into play was hit hard. The Rays had an early 3-0 which included the first MLB HR from Heston Kjerstad and one from Keston Hiura (the old Heston & Keston combo) but Buehler gave 4 right back in the bottom of the 2nd. The Rays tied it at 4 in the top of the 3rd, then Buehler gave up 2 more in the bottom, and after they tied it at 6 in the 5th, well you guessed it, he gave up 2 more in the bottom of the 5th before being pulled. Asa Lacy wasn't sharp at all in relief, giving up a run in 2 innings and walking 4, and Sandy Gaston whiffed 4 in his 1 2/3 but gave up a 2-run HR to Renato Nunez, who had 5 RBI on the night. Alec Bohm hit a 2-run shot in the 9th to get it closer but that was it. Vidal Brujan was on base 3 times in 5 plate appearances again and stole 3 more bases, while Ronaldo Hernandez played for a tired Keibert and went 0-4 with a sac fly as he continues to have a miserable 2024. Oh and Wander had to come out with a sore ankle that will keep him out for the remaining 2 games of the series, so not a great start to the second half of the season.

Game 2: On the heels of Walker Buehler's blowup yesterday, when Matt Manning gave up HRs to the first 2 batters he faced today "here we go again" was definitely on everyone's minds. But that was all Baltimore would get against Manning over 7 innings and the Rays themselves bashed 4 homers, including from two 2024 disappointments in the HR department, as they picked up a 6-2 win over the Orioles. Manning turned in an excellent 7 6 2 2 1 6 line, unthinkable after the 1st inning, and Mitchell Verburg pitched the final two innings which included a 3-pitch 8th inning that featured a double play. The offense was led by the forgotten Seth Beer, starting at DH only because Keston Hiura was filling in for Wander Franco today. While Hiura was going 0-5, Beer drilled a 2-run HR off Vladimir Gutierrez (#5) to put the Rays on top to stay at 3-2 in the 2nd, on the heels of a gargantuan blast earlier in the inning from Rafael Devers. And in the 4th after Keibert Ruiz hit only his 4th HR of the season to make it 4-2, Beer singled in a run to give him a 3-RBI day. Austin Meadows added #22 in the 5th to cap the scoring.

Game 3: More problems for Rays starting pitching in the Coors Field of the AL as Tyler Glasnow gave up a pair of 3-run HRs to Renato Nunez to put the Rays in a 7-0 hole from which they nearly climbed out, getting within 7-6 by the 6th before losing 8-6 in the end. Glasnow was 5 9 7 7 1 7, so he had his stuff but it was just a bit too hittable. The 4 runs he allowed in the first were particularly frustrating as he got the first two out before three singles loaded the bases for Nunez. Meanwhile the Rays chipped away at the lead, with a Wander RBI triple, 2-run HR by Rafael Devers (his second in as many days), and a solo shot from Triston Casas (playing for Alec Bohm) the offensive highlights. Mitch Keller had his best outing in a while with 2 scoreless innings and 3 whiffs, but with lefties due up in the 8th I brought on Jose Alvarado with a day off tomorrow but shouldn't have left him in to face the righty Mitch Haniger, who singled in a run off him. Despite losing 2 of 3 to Baltimore this weekend, the lead remains 11 1/2.

Team record: 53-31. Next up: An off-day followed by 2 games at Wrigley Field against the woeful Cubs, who are 22-61. This means we'll probably get a split at best.

July 9-10, 2024: at Chicago Cubs (2)
 

Game 1: From the previous post I just knew they would struggle with the 22-61 Cubs, and they did today but not so much that they lost. However it came down to the last batter before the Rays escaped with a 4-3 win. It was Daniel Lynch against Dinelson Lamet, and Lamet kept the Rays in check for 7 innings with a 2-1 lead. But they broke through in the 8th against him, despite losing leadoff hitter Wander Franco, who had singled, to a caught stealing. Austin Meadows (who had an RBI double in the 3rd for the first Rays run) walked, Rafael Devers singled to chase Lamet then Keibert Ruiz ripped a double to the gap off Mychal Givens scoring them both, and Nick Schnell followed with a single to score Keibert to make it 4-2. Lynch went 6 6 2 2 1 7 and Mitchell Verburg followed with a perfect 7th, picking up the win. Nick Anderson breezed through the 8th with a pair of Ks, but Jasseel De La Cruz struggled mightily in the 9th. After striking out Ian Happ to start the inning, he gave up a walk, a single to put runners at 1st and 3rd, a wild pitch to score a run and put the tying run on 2nd, and then a single which led the runner to attempt to score but Nick Schnell threw him out at the plate and De La Cruz got a groundout to end the game and get a shaky save #14.

Game 2: The Rays have had a habit of playing down to their competition this year, and a 2-game sweep of a terrible Cubs team was too much to ask as they fell 9-6. Dustin May was due for a stinker, and a stinker is what he gave us, going 4 9 6 6 2 3 and allowing at least a run in each inning he pitched. He left down 6-0 but the Rays made a few attempts to come back, getting 3 in the 5th including a 2-run HR from Vidal Brujan, his 3rd of the year as part of a 3-5 game for him. 6-3 is where we stayed until the 8th, when Asa Lacy turned in a terrible performance, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs in his lone inning of pitching. The Rays did make it marginally interesting in the 9th off Cub reliever Ryan Jensen including a Rafael Devers RBI single, his 4th hit of the day, and a Keibert Ruiz double to cut it to 9-6 and they had the tying run at the plate but Alec Bohm and Nick Schnell both struck out to end the game.

Team record: 54-32. Up next: Back home to the Trop for the first time in almost 2 weeks starting tomorrow with a 4-game set against Boston. We won't see our old buddy Abraham Toro as he's currently on the IL.

July 11-14, 2024: vs Boston (4)
 

Game 1: The Rays' midseason malaise continues as they lose to Boston 3-2 in a strange game. Strange in that all the scoring came in the first inning as Walker Buehler picked up where left off in getting bombed by Baltimore last night out, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk before his teammates could come to bat. But the Rays struck right back in the bottom of the inning off Justin Dunn when Rafael Devers tripled in Vidal Brujan and then scored on a Keibert Ruiz single. And that was it. Buehler settled down and was basically unhittable the rest of the way, pitching a complete game, going 9 5 3 3 1 9 on 101 pitches. Dunn allowed 8 hits over his 7 innings but didn't walk anybody so the Rays usually only had one man on base at a time. Nick Schnell got a hit off Boston closer Durbin Feltman with two out but Keston Hiura grounded out to end the game. Baltimore lost so the lead remains 11 games.

Game 2: Well, nobody scored in the final 8 innings yesterday, and nobody scored in the first 6 innings today as Matt Manning and Domingo German hooked up in a duel. But Manning blinked first in the 7th, allowing a Ryan Mountcastle double and then a Xander Bogaerts RBI single and Boston took a 1-0 lead that German made stand up with a 4-hit shutout. German walked 1 and struck out 7 as the Rays mounted only one serious scoring threat when Wander Franco tripled with 1 out in the 3rd but couldn't be brought home. Rafael Devers singled with two out in the 9th to give a brief glimmer of hope but Alec Bohm couldn't get one of his famous walk-off homers, instead striking out to end the game. Manning was excellent, going 7 4 1 1 1 5 in taking the tough-luck loss. Mitchell Verburg pitched the final two innings, giving him 6 2/3 shutout innings over his first four Rays appearances. Baltimore won so the lead is down to 10.

3-game losing streak, so it's time to shake things up with a trade:

https://i.imgur.com/RCo8QY7.png

The situation with Ronaldo had become untenable. He was never going to get the full-time job over Keibert Ruiz, and as a result his anger has affected his play this season, as you can see from the numbers above. He does deserve to start elsewhere and I expect him to thrive in Kansas City, although they have another good young catcher of their own in MJ Melendez. So I made lemonade from lemons here, and got some decent value back. First of all, Meibrys Viloria is kind of the perfect backup catcher, he's 60 defense and hits for average, around .280-.300. He doesn't have Ronaldo's power but he will hit more consistently. Of course the real prize here is Leiter, the #3 overall pick in 2023, the #35 prospect in MLB and a future stud for the rotation. To get him in the deal, I needed to include Ian Lewis, a nice SS prospect who's ranked #67 himself but who I've always been less high on than BNN. And I also got KC to thrown in Barillas, who has some real power potential although he hasn't displayed it above rookie ball yet. I am sad to see Ronaldo go, he was so productive the previous two seasons in his limited playing time, but his patience ran out and then so did mine.

Game 3: Another well-pitched game by a Rays starter, and this time the offense scratched out enough runs to get him the win. Tyler Glasnow bounced back from his Baltimore beating with a 7 6 1 1 1 9 outing and the Rays snapped their 3-game losing streak with a 4-1 win. Glasnow found himself behind in the 2nd when Niko Goodrum doubled in Xander Bogaerts, but that was all he gave up. And in the bottom of the inning the Rays rallied with two outs to get a pair on a bases-loaded Vidal Brujan single to take the lead for good and get their first runs in 18 innings. Wander Franco added a solo HR in the 5th, his 14th, to make it 3-1 and a Rafael Devers' fielder's choice RBI gave them some insurance in the 7th. Jose Alvarado had a scoreless 8th for his 18th hold and Jasseel De La Cruz made quick work of Boston in the 9th to get save #15. Glasnow heads into the all-star break (and presumably the all-star game) at 9-3, 3.77. Baltimore was shut out today so the lead is back to 11.

Game 4: The Rays head into the All-Star break on a high note, thrashing the Red Sox 10-1. Daniel Lynch made it 4 excellent starts out of 4 in the series (sadly they only won 2 of them), going 7 5 1 1 2 7 and improving to 9-3, 3.18. Keibert Ruiz led the attack, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and a HR, and they also got HRs from Keston and Heston as Hiura went deep in the 2nd to make it 2-0 and Kjerstad hit one in the 4th to make it 6-1. Wander was 3-4 with a pair of doubles (the team hit 8) and an RBI but injured himself on the last double, straining his back with a 6-day injury. This will keep him out of the ASG but he may end up missing only 1 game with the break. Sandy Gaston had a nice 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts (giving him 40 in 25 1/3) and Asa Lacy pitched around a couple of hits to get through the 9th. Baltimore won so the Rays go into the break up 11 games in the AL East.

Team record: 56-34. Up next: the All-Star break, we'll have a post with the rosters, the game result and a report on how the various Rays did, as well as the Rays prospects playing in the Futures Game.

All-Star Break 2024
 

https://i.imgur.com/tThWVLa.png
https://i.imgur.com/TvowJNK.png
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https://i.imgur.com/NAF3OE5.png

Gleyber Torres, who knocked out Austin Meadows in the first round 22-21, won the HR Derby over Yordan Alvarez 19-18.

All-Star Game: The AL beat the NL 5-3, and the winning run came in the 8th when Wander Franco tripled and scored on a Vlad Jr sac fly. Franco was 1-3, as was Vidal Brujan, Rafael Devers was 0-3, and Austin Meadows was 1-2 with an RBI single and a caught stealing. The pitchers were less successful as they allowed all 3 NL runs. Walker Buehler started, gave up 3 singles that yielded a run, and Jasseel De La Cruz allowed 2 runs in the 7th on a Gavin Lux double and a Didi Gregorious homer. As for former Rays, Blake Snell started for the NL and had a scoreless inning , and Shane Baz had a scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts for the AL.

July 19-21, 2024: at LA Angels (3)
 

Game 1: Who says lightning can't strike twice? Back on May 27 on Memorial Day at the Trop, Nick Schnell hit a 3-run HR off Ken Giles to give the Rays a 6-5 walk-off win. Today, Nick Schnell hit a 2-run HR off Ken Giles in the top of the 9th to give the Rays a 5-4 win on the first game of a quick west coast swing through LA and Oakland. The Rays faced nemesis Garrett Williams, one of those lefties who always shuts them down. So it was surprising to see them score twice after the first three batters of the game as Vidal Brujan singled, Keston Hiura (playing for Wander who will be back tomorrow) doubled, and Austin Meadows singled them both home before the fans could settle into their seats. It was a false dawn, though, as that was all they got off Williams, who went 7 5 2 2 0 9 for the game. Meanwhile the Rays had Matt Manning going and it wasn't his sharpest game as he gave up 3 runs on 5 hits (2 of the infield variety) in the 2nd. Miraculously, despite giving up 10 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings, those were the only runs he allowed as he was aided by a double play and a Meadows outfield assist at the plate. So 3-2 it went and fortunately for the Rays Williams exited and they tied it in the 8th off Jose Soriano when Rafael Devers singled in Brujan. But Mitchell Verburg had his first bad inning as a Ray, putting two on with two out and giving up an RBI single to Kyren Paris to put LA back on top. But that only set the stage for Schnell. After Alec Bohm led off with a single, Schnell drilled a no-doubt shot into the RCF stands for HR #11 and the game winner. Jasseel De La Cruz gave up a leadoff single to Mike Trout but nothing else in the 9th to get save #16, and Verburg somewhat undeservedly got his 2nd Rays win. Baltimore crushed the Cubs (something we couldn't do) to stay 11 back.

Game 2: Tyler Glasnow started and the Rays won 4-0. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well of course it wasn't. Glasnow had to leave after the 1st inning with what turned out after the game to be shoulder tendinitis that will keep him out 2-3 weeks. So this meant it was essentially a bullpen game for the Rays and boy did the bullpen come through. 7 pitchers ended up combining for the shutout, and to make that performance more impressive, all of them except Mitch Keller at the end came in with no margin for error as it was a 1-0 Rays lead until the top of the 9th inning. Here's the pitching line score from the game:

https://i.imgur.com/hjQNlcj.png

Only Mitchell Verburg, who was tired from last night, and Jasseel De La Cruz, who would have come in had the Rays not made it 4-0 in the top of the 9th, didn't pitch. The Rays had their usual lefty issues, this time with Patrick Sandoval, against whom they could only manage a run in the 3rd inning when Sandoval walked Brujan, Meadows and Devers and then uncorked a wild pitch to score Vidal. Meanwhile there were plenty of tense moments for the pen. Asa Lacy, who got the win, had to survive a leadoff Mike Trout double in the 4th, Will Smith and Sandy Gaston combined to walk the first two batters in the 6th before Gaston got Anthony Rendon to hit into a double play, in the 7th Gaston gave up a leadoff double who went to third on a groundout, and Jose Alvarado had to whiff Nelson Cruz and get a fly out to escape that, and in the 8th Nick Anderson walked and hit the first two batters before getting 2 whiffs and a popup. Finally the Rays got some breathing room in the 9th when Keston Hiura led off with a double, Nick Schnell struck out but reached on a wild pitch, Heston Kjerstad singled home Hiura, Schnell scored on a Brujan groundout, and Meadows singled in Kjerstad. So Mitch Keller had it easy when he came on and struck out the side to end the game in one of the more bizarre wins of the year. Shane McClanahan of course will be up for Glasnow's next scheduled turn but in the meantime look for Ian Hamilton to come back from his rehab assignment at Durham as the bullpen will need a fresh arm. Cubs beat the Orioles so the lead is up to 12.

July 21: Placed P Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day IL with shoulder tendinitis, recalled P Ian Hamilton from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.

Game 3: The good news is that the Rays swept the series from the Angels with a 5-3 win, taking 6 of 7 in the season series. The bad news is that another starting pitcher went down, as Dustin May had to leave in the 7th with a herniated disc and he'll be out a month and a half. This probably means Asa Lacy gets a shot at the rotation, as the best starters not named McClanahan at Durham are Mack Anglin and Emerson Hancock, both of whom aren't on the 40-man and neither of whom I'm interested in starting their service time clock (in case you were wondering about Joe Ryan, he's been dreadful at Durham as he still hasn't gotten his command back from TJS). With these two injuries, Sandy Gaston's roster spot remains safe. As for the game, the Rays jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a Meadows RBI single and solo HRs from Keston Hiura, Rafael Devers and Keibert Ruiz. Devers also had an RBI single of his own, while Vidal Brujan continued to hit, going 4-5 with his MLB-leading 36th steal and raising his average to .334 and OBP to .410. May pitched quite well before leaving, going 6.1 6 2 2 1 4, only giving up a run in the 5th before Nick Solak took him deep in the 7th one batter before his departure. Mitchell Verburg came in and as the PbP screen noted he'd only allowed 1 HR in 42 innings this year, Billy McKinney greeted him with a longball to cut it to 5-3, but Verburg got out of that, pitched the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz had a 1-2-3 9th with a pair of Ks for save #17. And for the first time in my 4 1/2 years of managing this Rays save, I had a bases-clearing brawl as Nick Schnell was hit in the 2nd by Jose Suarez and charged the mound. He's suspended for 5 games. Hunter Bishop is ready to come back from his rehab assignment so he may come up for May. Baltimore won so the lead remains 12, and in our first magic # update of the season it stands at 59.

Team record: 59-34. Up next: 3 games in Oakland with Buehler, Lynch and Manning the expected starters.

July 22-24, 2024: at Oakland (3)
 

July 22: Placed P Dustin May on the 15-day IL with a herniated disc, recalled OF Hunter Bishop from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.

Game 1: Another poor outing from Walker Buehler and a not much better performance from the offense led to a 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Oakland A's tonight. The game was 2-2 going into the bottom of the 6th after Alec Bohm had hit HR #15 in top of the inning off Huscar Ynoa but Matt Chapman, the first man Buehler faced, homered off the left-field foul pole to put Oakland up 3-2, and in the 7th Buehler yielded a 3-run HR to Franklin Barreto and the game was effectively over. His 7 8 6 6 2 7 line drops him to 5-4, 4.42 as a Ray, which was not what I was expecting after acquiring him from the Dodgers. The only other offense the Rays mustered was a Wander RBI single in the 3rd bringing in Meibrys Viloria, who had doubled in his first Rays at-bat. Ian Hamilton, off his rehab in Durham, pitched the 8th and was terrible (he didn't look too good in his Durham appearances either), allowing 3 runs before having to leave with a sore ankle which will have him DtD for 8 days so I might need to summon yet another pitcher. Baltimore won to cut the lead to 11.

July 23: Placed P Ian Hamilton on the 15-day IL with a sore ankle, recalled P Nick Frasso from AAA Durham.

Here's a new name for these pages. Frasso was last heard from when he was acquired during the 21-22 offseason from Cleveland in the trade which sent Diego Castillo the other way. He's worked his way up to become Durham's closer and has done quite well, with a 12/45 BB/K ratio in 33 2/3 innings, only 19 hits allowed and a 2.94 ERA with 18 saves. He has 70 stuff, 50 movement and 45 control and his best pitch is the curveball, which gets the max 80. He was already on the 40-man.

Game 2: I'll start by saying that for the first time in four games we did not have a pitcher leave injured. So that was Job 1. Job 2 was getting the win, and the Rays did just that in eking out a 4-3 win over Oakland. It looked like it would be an easy day at the park after the Rays scored their 4 runs in the first 2 innings, but they were shut down the rest of the way. Vidal Brujan led off the game, stole second, and scored on a Wander single, two more singles loaded the bases, and then Alec Bohm delivered a 2-run single to make it 3-0. Rafael Devers, who had 4 hits on the night, singled home Brujan in the 2nd for the fourth run off Kyle Freeland. Daniel Lynch got the start and allowed Oakland to cut the lead in half in the 4th, and then allowed a Sean Murphy HR in the 6th to make it 4-3. He left with his typical bare minimum quality start, going 6 7 3 3 2 7 and then the troika took over and did its job. Nick Anderson got a clean 7th and went one batter into the 8th with a pair of Ks, Jose Alvarado got the last two in the 8th and then the leadoff lefty in the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz came on and whiffed Murphy but gave up a hit to David Fletcher. Anderson Tejada then lined one into the RF gap but Austin Meadows made a game-saving diving catch (his 3rd great catch of the game) and the win was secure. Lynch becomes the first starter to 10 wins, and De La Cruz nabbed save #18. Baltimore won so the lead remains 11.

Game 3: The Rays got some early runs and some fine pitching from Matt Manning to beat Oakland 7-3 and go 5-1 on this brief west coast road swing. Alec Bohm homered off Jose Quintana, his 2nd in 3 days, to start the scoring in the 2nd, and Keston Hiura and Wil Myers had consecutive RBI doubles in the 4th to make it 3-0. After Oakland got one back in the 4th, Rafael Devers and Keibert Ruiz hit back-to-back doubles to make it 4-1, and with the score 4-2 in the 7th they busted it open when Wander singled, stole second and scored on an Austin Meadows RBI single and later Hiura ripped a 2-run triple. This was all more than enough for Manning, who went 7 6 2 2 1 8 to go to 6-4, 3.19 on the season. Mitch Keller whiffed 4 over the final 2 innings, allowing only an unearned run after a stolen base, a throwing error and a sac fly. It was impressive that they managed the 7 runs without any help from their offensive catalyst Vidal Brujan, who went an uncharacteristic 0-5. Baltimore continues to win (it helps they've been playing the Cubs and Texas lately) so we're still up 11.

Team record: 61-35. Next up: Another off-day followed by a homestand beginning with 3 vs Texas.

July 26-28, 2024: vs Texas (3)
 

July 26: Optioned OF Hunter Bishop to AAA Durham, recalled P Shane McClanahan from Durham; sent OF Brandon Marsh to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment.

I sent Bishop down instead of Wil Myers as Texas is throwing 2 lefties at us this weekend and Nick Schnell remains suspended until Sunday, and also Kjerstad being a switch hitter gives us a RH bat. When Marsh comes back, Myers will go although I'm still not sure whether I'm going with Kjerstad or Bishop in the last OF spot.

Game 1: Now that was a comeback. Down 4-0 going to the bottom of the 9th the Rays rallied for 5 runs, capped by an Austin Meadows walk-off RBI single, to beat the Rangers 5-4. Juan Pablo Lopez was the latest lefty to bedevil the Rays' bats, shutting them out for 7 innings as the only threat the Rays had was loading the bases in the 5th with 0 out, only to hit a shallow fly ball, strike out and hit a grounder. Shane McClanahan got the start and matched Lopez 0 for 0 through 6, but started running out of gas in the 7th and left with one out and men on 1st and 3rd. Jose Alvarado came on and got Adam Frazier to hit one right at the drawn-in infield, but then gave up a 2-run double to Stephen Wrenn. And after Mitchell Verburg allowed 2 more runs in the 8th and Buck Farmer shut them out in the bottom of the inning, the Rays looked cooked. But Texas brought on closer Ricky Vanasco and the Rays went to work. Keibert Ruiz led off with a double, Alec Bohm walked, Keston Hiura singled to load the bases, pinch-hitter Triston Casas was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and then Heston Kjerstad delivered a double to score two and make it 4-3. Vidal Brujan then grounded out to score Casas and tie the game, and Wander Franco grounded out to send Kjerstad to 3rd, setting the stage for Meadows' 2-out RBI single that dropped just in front of Texas RF Danny Santana and set off pandemonium at the Trop. Will Smith had gotten Verburg out of the 8th and pitched the 9th to pick up his first win of the season. McClanahan, who will be in the rotation through early September at least, went 6.1 4 2 2 2 4 as he's pitched to a 2.86 ERA in his 5 starts with the big club this year. Baltimore keeps winning (they come to town next) to improve to 51-45, are 10 1/2 back after winning the night before and are holding down the 2nd wild card at the moment.

Game 2: Asa Lacy won his first Rays start and Wander Franco had a monster game to lead the Rays to a 6-3 win over Texas. Lacy got off to a rough start, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits in the first inning but settled down after that, going 6 7 3 3 2 7 to improve to 4-1 overall. Meanwhile Franco went 4-5 with 2 doubles and a 2-run HR in the 5th which put the Rays ahead to stay at 4-3. And Vidal Brujan snapped out of his mini-slump (0-5 each of the last 2 games) with 2 hits including a 2-run HR in the 8th to give the Rays some insurance. Rafael Devers also added 3 hits and a pair of RBI as the Rays banged out 12 hits. The back end of the bullpen was lights out, as Nick Anderson pitched a perfect 7th striking out a pair, Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a scoreless 9th for save #19 as Rays pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Baltimore lost so the lead is up to 11 1/2. Also with tonight's win, the team's 9th in 10 games, we now have the best record in baseball at 63-35, surpassing Atlanta.

Game 3: The Rays wasted an excellent outing from Walker Buehler and an excellent chance to win again with a rally in the bottom of the 9th as they fell 3-1 to the Rangers. Buehler had a dominating game, going 8 6 2 2 1 10, and was nursing a 1-0 lead into the 8th when with two out he allowed a 2-run HR to Texas rookie SS Jacob Gonzalez, playing in only his 6th MLB game. But the loss was really on the offense, which (repeat with me) was shut down by another lefty, Kolby Allard. Allard went 8 4 1 1 0 3 with the only Rays run coming in the 6th when Vidal Brujan was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an Austin Meadows single. For a moment it looked like they might repeat Friday night's miracle comeback when Texas once again brought in closer Ricky Vanasco, and they loaded the bases with nobody out on a Wander infield single and a couple of walks. But Keibert Ruiz hit an infield popup, and Alec Bohm grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, and that was that. Sandy Gaston gave up a leadoff triple in the 9th and looked like he might hold him there with a strikeout and a popup but had to leave with back tightness (a today-only injury) and Mitch Keller served up a single to Josh Jung to make it 3-1 but it didn't make a difference in the end.

Team record: 63-36. Next up: 3 games at home vs Baltimore, who won today to pull within 10 1/2.

August 29-31, 2024: vs Baltimore (3)
 

That should say July above, not August.

July 29: Activated OF Brandon Marsh from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, designated OF Wil Myers for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Unsurprisingly Myers didn't accept a demotion to Durham, so off to waivers he goes.

Game 1: A close game turned ugly as the Rays offense remains in the dumps, and Baltimore took an 8-1 decision to move within 9 1/2 games of the division lead. The Orioles need a sweep to give them a chance at making it a race, and they took the first game behind an excellent performance from Vladimir Gutierrez who went 8 2 1 1 2 5. Daniel Lynch was right there with him for 5 innings before allowing a leadoff Austin Hays HR in the 6th to give the O's the lead to stay. Mitch Keller pitched an excellent 1 2/3 innings in relief of Lynch (5.1 3 2 2 3 7) but Mitchell Verburg had another bad outing and throwing Nick Frasso in for his MLB debut didn't work out so well as the two combined to allow 6 runs in the 8th. Frasso snapped back after allowing hits to the first 3 batters he faced by striking out four of the next five, but by then it was too late. And it probably didn't matter as the offense had its second straight bad day with only Wander's 16th HR of the year in the 5th putting them on the board.

Game 2: The offense was largely absent again today, but one well-sequenced set of at-bats and Matt Manning's pitching were enough to get the Rays a 4-0 win over Baltimore which for the moment snuffs out hope the Orioles could make it a race as the lead is back to 10 1/2. Grayson Rodriguez kept the Rays in check until the 5th when Nick Schnell (who was 3-for-3) and Triston Casas singled, Vidal Brujan walked, and then with two out Wander Franco hit a grand slam, his 17th HR of the season and second in two games. That was all the Rays would need and all they would get, while Manning did his thing. He wasn't completely dominating as Baltimore managed 8 hits and a walk off him in 7 innings but his 8 strikeouts helped him get out of some mild jams with baserunners on. Nick Anderson got through the 8th despite putting a couple of men on, and Will Smith pitched the 9th to complete the team shutout. The Rays only managed 7 hits as a team but I'm sure they'll get the offense going a bit more consistently.

Game 3: It was another low-scoring affair at the Trop, and the Rays came out on top 3-2 in 12 innings. In doing so, they prevailed over their three bugaboos: left-handed pitching, one-run games and extra-inning games. Heston Kjerstad's 3rd hit of the game was a single which drove in Keibert Ruiz in the bottom of the 12th, giving Nick Frasso his first MLB win in his second appearance. With a few of the bullpen tired, Frasso came on in the 11th and pitched two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts. The only reason the game went to extras is that they tied it with two out in the bottom of the 9th when Vidal Brujan walked with the bases loaded, their first run since Wander Franco scored on a wild pitch in the 1st inning. Shane McClanahan started and had his usual 6-inning, 2-run outing, going 6 6 2 2 2 5, but was outdueled by DL Hall. Mitchell Verburg had 2 scoreless innings, bouncing back after a few bad outings, Sandy Gaston pitched a Sandy Gaston inning, walking 2 while striking out the side, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a perfect 10th, striking out the side as well. The win effectively ends any realistic hope of Baltimore taking the division as the lead now grows to 11 1/2 games.

Team record: 65-37. Next up: 4 games in Yankee Stadium.

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And in a classic case of "if you can't beat 'em, trade for 'em" we swung a deal after the game and right before the deadline with Baltimore to pick up DL Hall and his 70 starter/75 reliever stuff. It comes with 35 control but I think our coaching staff can help him. Casey has excellent numbers in the low minors and could be a sleeper. The cost was Brandon Dieter, who's a nice MI prospect with on-base skills but no power, but Baltimore kept making Hall in available in potential trades so I was glad to oblige them. Since Hall started tonight, I won't add him to the roster for several days, but obviously there will be moves to come.

August 1-4, 2024: at NY Yankees (4)
 

Game 1: All it took for the Rays to break out of their offensive doldrums was an escape from Tropicana Field, as they bashed 4 homers in drubbing the Yankees 8-1 in the opener of a 4-game set at Yankee Stadium. Austin Meadows led the attack by going deep twice, including a solo shot off Miguel Yajure to start the attack, Vidal Brujan had a 2-run single in the 2nd to make it 3-0, Nick Schnell hit #12 in the 4th to make it 4-1, and Seth Beer rediscovered his power stroke with HR #6 in the 6th, a 2-run blast, before Meadows went deep again in the 7th. Enjoying all this run support and pitching his best game as a big leaguer was Asa Lacy, who went 8 4 1 1 1 7 on 101 pitches and improves to 5-1. Will Smith struck out the side around 2 hits in the 9th.

Game 2: A wild back-and-forth game saw the Rays prevail again at Yankee Stadium, 8-6. Rafael Devers' single off David Bednar with the bases loaded brought home 2 runs and broke a 6-6 tie in the top of the 9th. It capped a big game for the Rays' 3B, who launched a 2-run HR in the 6th which put them up 4-2 at that point. But until the 9th every time the Rays grabbed the lead the Yankees tied it or took it back, as Walker Buehler allowed 2 more HRs (both to Aaron Judge), giving him 16 allowed in 101 innings with the Rays. He got the first two out in the bottom of the 7th before allowing a hit, leaving the game up 5-3. Nick Anderson came on and walked Gleyber Torres and then served up a 3-run HR to Giancarlo Stanton to make it 6-5 Yankees. But Alec Bohm tied it in the 8th with HR #17 off Antoine Kelly, setting the stage for Devers' game-winning hit. Jose Alvarado picked up the win by pitching a scoreless 8th and striking out the side again although he allowed a hit and a walk. Jasseel De La Cruz gave up a single with one out in the 9th ahead of Stanton and Judge, but he whiffed both of them to end the game and grab save #20. The Rays' other runs scored on Seth Beer's second HR in as many nights (#7), a bases-loaded walk to Vidal Brujan and a sac fly from Wander.

Game 3: A costly error and the inability of the offense to get key hits with runners on base doomed the Rays to a 3-1 loss, only their second in 12 games this season to the Yankees. With a man on and two out in the bottom of the 1st, Wander Franco made a bad throw to first on Giancarlo Stanton's grounder allowing him to reach, and Aaron Judge made the Rays pay with a 3-run homer off Daniel Lynch. That would be all the scoring for the Yankees but it was enough for the win as newly acquired Antonio Senzatela scattered 10 hits over 7 1/3 innings but allowed only one run. That run came in the 8th when Wander led off with a triple and scored on Rafael Devers' single but they could do no more for the night. Lynch pitched well, going 6 5 3 0 3 3, and the lack of earned runs dropped his ERA to 3.10. Will Smith had a scoreless 7th and Sandy Gaston came on and blew the 3 Yankees he faced in the 8th away on strikes. Seth Beer continued to snap out of his season-long slump with 3 hits tonight, while Vidal Brujan seems to be in one of his own, going 0-5.

Game 4: The Rays broke it open with 4 two-out runs in the 5th on the way to an easy-in-the-end 9-2 win over the Yankees behind the strong pitching of Matt Manning. The righty was nearly unhittable, going 8 3 1 0 1 7 with the only run scoring when a Keston Hiura error allowed Skyler Messinger to score in the 2nd and Manning improved to 8-4, 2.73. The offense took awhile to come alive against Deivi Garcia but come alive they did in the 5th when with two out Seth Beer and Heston Kjerstad singled, Brandon Marsh doubled them both home, Wander Franco singled home Marsh and went to second on the throw, and Hiura singled Wander home. They added a run on a double play grounder in the 6th and then Alec Bohm (#18) and Marsh (#3) hit 2-run HRs in the 8th and 9th respectively. Nick Frasso pitched the 9th and gave up a HR to Giancarlo Stanton around a pair of strikeouts as he's headed back to Durham to make way for DL Hall.

Team record: 68-38. Next up: 4 games in Houston.

August 5-8, 2024: at Houston (4)
 

Game 1: Shane McClanahan was brilliant today and the Rays broke open a 2-2 tie with 5 runs in the 9th to win at Houston 7-2. McClanahan retired the first 13 Astros and had a no-hitter through 5 before George Springer led off the 6th with a HR to deep center. Mac left up 2-1 after walking the leadoff man in the 7th (finishing with a 6 1 1 1 3 7 line) and Nick Anderson had a pair of Ks to get through the inning. In the 8th, with righties due up at the bottom of the order and lefties like Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker likely to bat in the 9th, I went with Jasseel De La Cruz figuring Jose Alvarado could pitch the 9th. De La Cruz whiffed the first two he faced, but of all people former Ray Taylor Walls took him deep to tie the game. Alvarado ended up pitching to those lefties after Jose Altuve singled off De La Cruz and he got the job done. Then the Rays went to work on Matt Barnes in the 9th. Alec Bohm walked and Nick Schnell singled, but Barnes struck out Seth Beer and Brandon Marsh. The runners moved up on a wild pitch and Vidal Brujan walked to load the bases for Wander Franco, who ripped a double to the LF corner to clear them. Then Austin Meadows stepped up and hit HR #25 to the Crawford boxes in left and it was 7-2. Mitch Keller loaded the bases on singles in the 9th but got a double play to end the game. The Rays' earlier 2 runs came in the 2nd on a Schnell RBI single and a Marsh RBI groundout. McClanahan continues to excel in the rotation as in 7 starts he has a 2.68 ERA in 40 innings with an equal # of Ks.

Game 2: The Rays came back from a 6-0 deficit to tie the Astros, but couldn't come back a second time as they dropped a 9-6 decision. Asa Lacy breezed through the first and looked like he'd continue where he left off against the Yankees, but things unraveled quickly in the 2nd and the Astros scored 6 times against him, as he lasted only 1 2/3 innings. DL Hall made his Rays debut and bought them some time to come back with 2 scoreless innings before he had to leave with a finger blister. Rafael Devers hit HR #13 with a man on to make it 6-2 in the 3rd, and then the Rays loaded the bases off Jose Urquidy in the 4th and Wander Franco went deep for a slam to tie things up. Mitchell Verburg came on for Hall and struggled in the 5th but would have been out of it if not for an Alec Bohm fielding error as Jose Altuve's sac fly would have been the third out of the inning but instead it gave Houston the lead and Yordan Alvarez followed with a 2-run double. The scoring stopped there as Sandy Gaston threw a couple of scoreless innings with his typical 2 walks and 3 strikeouts and Will Smith pitched a scoreless 8th.

August 6: Sent Ps Tyler Glasnow and Ian Hamilton to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.

Glasnow needs only one rehab start since he was only out about 3-4 weeks, and he went 6 2 2 2 0 8 on 81 pitches, allowing a couple of homers but otherwise untouched, so he should be back within a week to start. Hamilton's only missed a couple of weeks but I want him to get one or two outings at Durham just to be safe.

Game 3: The Rays clubbed 5 solo HRs off Jimmy Nelson (making his first Astros start) and got 7 shutout innings from Walker Buehler to dump the Astros 6-1. Keibert Ruiz went deep twice, putting them on the board in the 2nd with his 7th of the year and adding the third of a back-to-back-to-back with Austin Meadows (#26) and Rafael Devers (#14) in the fifth. Alec Bohm had the other homer (#19) in the 4th, and their only non-HR score came when Brandon Marsh had an RBI single in the 8th. Meanwhile Buehler had one of his better games as a Ray, keeping the hits and HRs in check by going 7 4 0 0 1 5. Mitch Keller pitched the final two innings and lost the team shutout in the 9th when Kyle Tucker drove in Jose Altuve with a sac fly.

Game 4: The Rays exploded for 7 runs in the final 3 innings to come from behind and take 3 of 4 at Minute Maid Park with a 10-5 win. Trailing 5-3 going into the 7th, the Rays put runners on and Wander Franco's sac fly made it 5-4 before Austin Meadows ripped a 2-run double to put the Rays in the lead 6-5. Rafael Devers doubled in Meadows to add a run, and then the Rays added 3 in the 9th on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly, a Seth Beer RBI single and a Vidal Brujan RBI single. Brujan was 3-5 with 2 steals, giving him an MLB-leading 43. Alec Bohm provided the early offense with a solo HR (#20) and an RBI double. Daniel Lynch got the start, and was nursing a 3-2 lead in the 6th before giving up a 3-run shot to George Springer, and Mitch Keller had to finish the inning for him. That was enough for Keller to pick up the win, as Jose Alvarado and Nick Anderson pitched scoreless innings with it 7-5. After the Rays took away the save situation in the 9th, DL Hall came on and whiffed all 3 Astros he faced to finish it off.

Team record: 71-39. Next up: Keston Hiura welcomes his old teammates as Milwaukee visits the Trop for the weekend.

August 9-11, 2024: vs Milwaukee (3)
 

Game 1: Interleague baseball at the Trop, and the Rays took care of business with a 7-0 win. Matt Manning continued red-hot, going 7.2 4 0 0 3 9 on 108 pitches as he's now 9-4, 2.54, and he had little margin for error with the Rays only up 2-0 while he pitched. Brandon Marsh hit HR #4 off Kenta Maeda to start things off in the 4th, and after Vidal Brujan walked Wander Franco executed a hit-and-run, lacing a double into the gap to easily score the Rays' speedy 2B man. That's where things stood in the 8th, where Manning walked the leadoff man who went to 3rd on a Christian Yelich single with two out. Jose Alvarado was summoned to get Francisco Mejia, and he did with a fly ball. Then the Rays busted it open in the 8th off Sean Doolittle with the big hits being a 2-run Alec Bohm double and a bases-clearing double from Meibrys Viloria, his first big hit as a Ray after Keston Hiura was intentionally walked ahead of him. Sandy Gaston then finished it out with a typical 1-walk, 2-strikeout inning.

Game 2: The Rays were held to 3 hits on the night as they lost 4-2 to Milwaukee. Shane McClanahan ended up having one of his rougher starts this year, although he did whiff 8 in 5 2/3 innings. The problem was he also walked 4 and allowed 6 hits, leading to 4 Milwaukee runs. The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Vidal Brujan walked and was singled home by Keibert Ruiz, but Luis Urias homered for the Brewers in the 2nd to tie it, and then they added 2 in the 4th and 1 in the 5th. A Wander groundout scored Brandon Marsh to make it 4-2, but that was as close as they got as brief former Ray Tony Gonsolin got the win in middle relief for the Brewers. The Rays did draw 7 walks on the night but couldn't turn that to their advantage. DL Hall went 1 1/3 of scoreless relief and Mitchell Verburg and Will Smith threw scoreless innings as well.

Game 3: The Rays got back in the win column with a 6-1 decision over Milwaukee behind some strong pitching led by Asa Lacy. With Tyler Glasnow coming off the IL this will be Lacy's last start until and unless another injury occurs, and he made the most of it although he didn't pick up the win. He went 5.2 4 1 1 2 7 and left at 102 pitches and with two men on. Sandy Gaston, whom I'm trusting more and more, came into the 1-1 game and got Harrison Bader to fly out. The Rays then erupted for 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th off Madison Bumgarner. Austin Meadows doubled with one out, and Rafael Devers singled him to third before Keibert Ruiz doubled Meadows home, Alec Bohm singled in Devers and Ruiz, and Keston Hiura took vengeance on his old team with a 2-run homer, his 7th of the season. Gaston, who picked up his 3rd win, had a perfect 7th with a couple of whiffs. Will Smith pitched the 8th and gave up a run on 3 hits but caught a break when a Brewer was caught and tagged out in a rundown, and Mitch Keller whiffed a pair in the 9th to close it out. Gaston has been getting better and better, now with a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings with an eye-popping 55 Ks. Of course he's walked 20 but he's only allowed 20 hits, and of course he has 80 stuff. Thanks to injuries to Ian Hamilton he's kept his spot and now Hamilton is almost due back from his latest rehab assignment. My options now are to either leave Hamilton down or send down Mitchell Verburg who hasn't quite lived up to billing since being acquired.

Team record: 73-40. Next up: An off-day, followed by 2 home games again Boston.

August 13-14, 2024: vs Boston (2)
 

August 13: Activated P Tyler Glasnow from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, sent P Shane McClanahan to AAA Durham.

Well this was the path of least resistance, as none of the relievers warranted demotion and while McClanahan has outpitched Asa Lacy, McClanahan has options and Lacy doesn't.

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow made his return from the IL, and wasn't quite himself though he did manage to limit the damage. He went 6 7 2 2 4 1 (only 1 strikeout is a bit concerning) but had 2 double plays turned behind him and a 3rd which erased his leadoff walk in the 7th after being pulled. As a result the Rays were able to stay in the game and a pair of runs in the 7th and a pair of runs in the 8th were enough to give them a 4-2 win. Nick Schnell walked and Brandon Marsh singled ahead of Vidal Brujan, who ripped a 2-run double off the CF wall to tie the game, and then after an Austin Meadows single, Rafael Devers took it out on his old team with HR #15 off Boston starter Pablo Lopez, who went the entire 8 innings. Mitchell Verburg was the reliever who got the double play for Meadows, and Jose Alvarado continued his renaissance with a 2-strikeout 8th to pick up the win. Jasseel De La Cruz had no issues with a 1-2-3 9th to get save #21.

Game 2: It's not every day you lose your starter in the 3rd inning to injury yet still end up with a 3-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts but that's what the Rays did today in a 3-0 win at the offensively-suffocating Trop. Walker Buehler had to depart with one out in the third with back spasms but he should still be able to make his next start. DL Hall picked up his first Rays win by going the next 2 2/3 with 2 walks and 4 Ks, Mitch Keller pitched the 6th and 7th, allowing only one hit and whiffing 3, Jose Alvarado was lights out again with 2 Ks in the 8th and rather than go to Jasseel De La Cruz for the second straight day I used Nick Anderson, who hadn't pitched in 6 days to close it out and he had a perfect 2K inning as well for save #3. The offense came from Wander Franco, who doubled in Vidal Brujan in the first, and Rafael Devers, who hit a 2-run HR in the 6th off Tyler Ivey as he homered for the second straight day.

Team record: 75-40. Next up: 4 home games with Cleveland, a team that gave us fits at Progressive Field.

August 15-18, 2024: vs Cleveland (4)
 

Game 1: A game which through the first 7 innings looked like a typical low-scoring affair at the Trop became Coors Field over the final 2 innings with four HRs being hit and the lead going back and forth as Wander Franco's 3-run blast, his second of the game, gave the Rays an 8-5 walk-off win. Before the madness began, it was Matt Manning against Luis Castillo and the Rays had a 3-2 lead after 7. Alec Bohm blasted a 2-run HR in the second (#21), Cleveland strung some hits and a walk together off Manning to get 2 runs and tie in the 6th, and in the bottom of the inning Wander went deep for the first time today. With Jose Alvarado unavailable after working the last two days and some lefties up, Will Smith got a high-leverage chance. He struck out the tough Nolan Jones but hit Gary Sanchez, and Cleveland pinch-hit Tyreque Reed for lefty Bobby Bradley and Reed took Smith deep to make it 4-3. Smith stayed in against the righty Lewis Brinson and he too homered to make it 5-3. But the Rays rallied right back against James Karinchak in the bottom of the frame as Wander walked, was wild-pitched to 2nd, went to third on a fly ball and scored on a passed ball. That passed ball came with Keibert Ruiz at the plate and it must have rattled Karinchak as he then served up a homer to Ruiz (#9) to tie the game. The homer was Keibert's 4th hit of the game. Mitchell Verburg came in for Smith and retired all 5 men he faced with a pair of Ks, and then in the bottom of ninth Daniel Espino gave up singles to Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan, setting the stage for Wander's walk-off blast, his 20th of the season. Manning went 7 7 2 2 2 6 and he's now thrown enough innings that his 2.54 ERA qualifies for the league lead.

Game 2: It was the Heston, Keston and Gaston show as Kjerstad's 2-run triple in the 4th and Hiura's 2-run single in the 7th provided the offense and Sandy brought the heat in a 4-2 Rays win. The two were filling in for Nick Schnell and Vidal Brujan and showed off the team's depth. Daniel Lynch got the start for the Rays and did his usual 6-inning, 2-run thing although he did not factor into the decision. He had a 2-1 lead in the 5th but gave up Nolan Jones' 30th HR of the season to tie it, so he gave way to Gaston in the 7th. And once again Gaston was filthy. He struck out the side in order in the 7th and looked so good doing it he pitched the 8th as well, striking out 2 more and allowing a hit. Hiura's heroics enabled him to pick the up the win, his 4th. Jasseel De La Cruz needed 25 pitches to get through the 9th, walking a couple of men, but still picked up save #22 as the Rays rolled to their 5th straight win and 21st in 27 games since the All-Star break.

Game 3: Asa Lacy was the controversial choice to stay in the rotation when Tyler Glasnow came back as Shane McClanahan had been more consistent, but because Lacy was out of options and McClanahan wasn't Lacy stayed up. Well Lacy did his best to quell the controversy by taking a no-hitter into the 6th inning and going 7 2 1 1 2 3 to beat Cleveland 3-1 and improve his record to 6-1. The Rays got on the board quickly in the 1st when Wander Franco tripled and scored on an Austin Meadows sac fly, and they tacked on a run in the 4th when Alec Bohm singled, stole his first base of the year, went to third on the throw into the outfield, and scored on Nick Schnell's sac fly. Meanwhile, Lacy held Cleveland without a hit for 5 2/3 innings before Anthony Alford doubled to deep center. In the bottom of the 6th, Rafael Devers hit his 3rd HR of the week, #17 for the season, off Triston McKenzie to make it 3-0. Lacy lost his shutout bid in the 7th when Gary Sanchez took him deep, and he finished the inning and his outing on 87 pitches. Nick Anderson made quick work of Cleveland with 2 Ks in the 8th, and pitched to the first batter in the 9th and allowed an infield single. Jose Alvarado came on for the save with Jasseel De La Cruz tired from his lengthy 9th inning the night before, and Alvarado made things interesting with a couple of walks to load the bases. But he got one of this year's top hitters, former Ray Jake Bauers, to ground out to third to end the game, grabbing his 2nd save of the season.

Injury update:

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Not what I wanted to see, but not a huge problem for the team with how well McClanahan and Lacy have pitched in his absence. Of course I'm thinking about who's going to be the 4th starter come playoff time behind Glasnow, Buehler and Manning (and that's not necessarily the order of the top 3 either). Daniel Lynch is probably the front-runner as though he's not as overpowering as May, McClanahan or Lacy, he just keeps getting the job done and he pitched well in last year's championship run. Having 7 capable starters is a good problem to have but does make for some tough decisions.

Game 4: Any worries about Tyler Glasnow only having 1 strikeout in his first start off the IL were put to rest by his performance today as he whiffed 12 Cleveland batters in 7 innings as the Rays swept the series and extended their win streak to 7 with a 3-1 victory. Glasnow was 7 5 1 1 1 12 as he took a shutout into the 8th inning before allowing the first two batters to reach. With four straight lefties due up and Jose Alvarado unavailable, DL Hall came in and made things...interesting. He got two outs but also walked two, the second of which forced in a run. With the bases loaded and two out, Nick Anderson came in and struck out Tyreque Reed to end the inning, and then Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side in a perfect 9th for save #23 as Rays pitchers tallied another 17 strikeouts. The offense came via the longball, with a 2-run Alec Bohm blast in the 4th (#22) and Rafael Devers' 4th HR of the week (#18), a solo shot in the 6th. Those were half of the Rays' 4 hits on the day and the teams combined for 9 hits in the entire game. Glasnow goes to 10-3, 3.56.

Team record: 79-40. Next up: 4 games in Toronto, for which I'm setting the over/under of total Rays runs at 50 based on their two previous visits to Rogers Centre this season.