May 31-June 1 at St. Louis (2)
Game 1: This was truly the lowest point in the season to date as the Rays went up against old buddy Charlie Morton. Not only did Morton hold them to 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings in a 5-1 loss (Renfroe, the only one still hitting, had the RBI double), but Tyler Glasnow had to leave the game in the first inning after giving up an RBI single and was tagged with the dreaded "injured, diagnosis pending" label. Given his history, one can't but assume the worst.
Game 2: With the Glasnow cloud hanging over their heads the Rays came out firing on all cylinders for once in recent days, finally getting double digits in hits (11) in a 7-3 win against a normally tough customer in Jack Flaherty. Alec Bohm had his best game in a Rays uniform with a pair of RBI doubles, Renfroe did likewise, and Brendan McKay went 6 2/3 strong innings, walking none and striking out 8. Plus McKay got to hit and rapped an RBI single in the 2nd.
Team record: 39-23.
WanderWatch: .357-8-34-18
June 3: Placed P Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day DL, recalled P Jacob Nix from Durham.
The Glasnow diagnosis didn't come in until three days later, and fortunately the worst has been averted for now with the verdict being a strained shoulder with a 4-week timetable. For now this answers the question of whose rotation spot Joe Ryan will fill.
June 4: 2021 Amateur Draft
I don't consider myself a student of amateur baseball so with that and the fact the Rays picked 27th in the first round, I pretty much went with my fine head scout Rob Metzler's recommendations when it came to making picks (and after about the 15th round, I just auto-played it). Here are the top picks:
Round 1, 27th overall: 18-year-old HS C Joe Mack from NY. Has some decent power and good receiving skills, best case he ends up in the mid-level of starting MLB catchers.
Round 2, 65th overall: 17-year-old HS 3B Tucker Toman from SC. Big guy with potential 70 power, hopefully can stay at the position.
Round 3, 100th overall: 21-year old C Jack Alexander from Notre Dame. Fine defensive catcher with line-drive power and good strike zone recognition, could move quickly.
Round 4, 126th overall: 17-year old HS RHP Christian Little from St. Louis. Intriguing slider-changeup combo and the scouting report says "elite stuff" (potential 70). Excited about this pick.
Round 5, 155th overall: 18-year-old HS RHP and UF commit from NY Gage Ziehl. Potential 80 changeup and again the "elite stuff" phrase was thrown around.
Round 6, 185th overall: 18-year old HS 1B Marcus Franco from Miramar, FL. Good plate discipline and potential power.
Round 7, 215th overall: 18-year-old HS RHP Ethan Wood from KY. 6'6" with "frontline starter potential" per the scouting report but will need to cut back on the walks.
June 3-6 vs Los Angeles Angels (4)
Game 1: After Max Fried opened the game allowing double-single-sac fly it looked like it might be another of his long nights but instead he only allowed 2 hits after that through 7 2/3 (fanning 7), and the Rays finally got to Luiz Gohara down 1-0 in the 6th with a Wander RBI single followed by a Meadows 3-run shot. Wander and Meadows each drove in one more in the 7th and the Rays came away with a 6-2 win. Manuel Margot and Whit Merrifield both were 3-4 with 2 runs scored at the top of the lineup.
Game 2: Joe Ryan back on the bump. Can the sequel live up to the original? Apparently the Angels saw the Toronto game and came out swinging away early in the count as Ryan got 3 outs on 4 pitches in the 1st and he had only 1 K through 3 innings, allowing a run. But he dominated from there, striking out 6 in the middle innings and ending up with a 6.1 2 1 1 2 7 line. Which was more than enough for him to go 2-0 as Meadows homered leading off the 2nd and the Rays got their first Bohm bomb with a 2-run shot from Alec later in the inning off Ohtani as they coasted to a 5-1 win, with Alvarado, Anderson and Hand finishing with a combined 2 2/3 hitless relief innings.
Game 3: The Rays made it 6 straight against the Angels this season with an easy 9-3 win. They roughed up James Paxton with HRs from Jose Martinez (who added a 2-run double and had 4 RBI), Meadows again, Wander and Mike Zunino to back Blake Snell who had a typical day at the office (6 4 1 1 2 7) to get his 7th win. Chaz Roe crapped the bed in the 7th in relief of Snell to make it marginally interesting at 7-3, but Anthony Banda shut the Angels out for the last 2 1/3. Bohm had 2 more hits and an RBI as he's coming on after a rough first week. Meanwhile, the Yankees actually lost to Baltimore so the Rays gained ground for the first time in almost 2 weeks and are now 3 1/2 back.
Game 4: Well it's tough to beat a team 7 times in a row and the Angels were due this one, an 8-1 laugher. The Rays solved Ohtani the pitcher two days before but couldn't solve Ohtani the hitter as he went 5-for-5, and Anthony Rizzo was 3-5 with a HR and 5 RBI. Meanwhile, the offense could only muster 3 hits against Tyler Chatwood - and two of them were of the infield variety. Trevor Richards got the start (I could have gone with McKay on normal rest but chose to give him an extra day) and was fair: two runs, 1 earned in 4 innings but had to throw 87 pitches to get that far, and Jacob Nix & Chaz Roe let things balloon from there. Meanwhile the Yankees won so the Rays are 4 1/2 back again.
Team record: 42-24.
WanderWatch: .350-9-38-20 (second to Alberto Mondesi's 22 SB for the league lead and that's after having missed 10 days)
June 8-10 vs Texas (3)
Game 1: Renfroe to the rescue as Home Run Hunter's 3-run blast in the bottom of the 8th (#23) off DeMarcus Evans gave the Rays a 4-2 win. McKay was dazzling as usual, going 7.1 5 2 2 0 9, but he was looking like a hard-luck loser until Hunter's heroics. Nick Anderson got win #3 in relief, and Wander was 3-4 with a triple and a pair of runs scored. Hand locked it down in the 9th for save #12. Unfortunately Ji-Man's massive slump continues, 0-4 tonight to bring him down to .227 and he's been on 13 HR for over a month.
June 9: Traded 18-year-old minor league right fielder Sergio Pagan, 24-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jake Woodford and 21-year-old minor league reliever Daiveyon Whittle to the Chicago White Sox, getting 23-year-old minor league right fielder Alex Kirilloff, 23-year-old minor league third baseman Andrew Vaughn and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Cooper Bradford in return.
I feel a bit funny when I make what I term an OOTP Trade vs a Real Life Trade and perhaps that's what this is here. Pagan was my big $5M July international signing last year and OOTP gives him 4 1/2 star potential (IRL I'm not even sure he exists, I tried Googling him). From what I've read on the forums, the game tends to overrate these guys and the suggested move is to trade them for something more tangible. Well, Kiriloff and Vaughn as of May 2020 IRL are considered top-50 (if not top-30) prospects. Vaughn in my sim hasn't hit for the power he was projected but is a huge doubles/OBP machine, and Kirilloff was just acquired by Chicago from Minnesota as one of the pieces in a deal for a now-healthy and somewhat resurgent Carlos Rodon. Pagan could turn out to be Mike Trout or he could flame out in A ball. Big-time solid bats are a must for a budget-challenged team like the Rays so I couldn't pass this up. I liked Woodford after getting him last month but he's already DTD with a sore elbow and I needed him and Whittle to get the deal done and got Bradford (who has a live arm) thrown in. Vaughn could be my full-time DH by 2023 (he's a butcher at 1B and 3B), and Kirilloff could take over for Renfroe when he becomes priced out of the Rays' range. Plus I now have a 40-man spot open for when the trade deadline approaches.
Game 2: Max Fried was strong again, but trailing 1-0 heading to the bottom of the 5th. Enter Ji-Man Choi who took Brett Kennedy deep for his first HR in over a month to tie it, and then two batters later Whit Merrifield launched his 2nd Rays longball to make it 2-1 and Kiermaier singled home Jason Castro who had doubled. The 3-1 score would stand up the rest of the game, as Fried was extremely efficient going 7.2 7 1 1 0 8 on only 86 pitches. Alvarado got the tough lefties out next, and with righties stacked for Texas in the 9th Anderson got the nod over Hand and nabbed his 4th save. Still 4 1/2 behind the Yanks as they never seem to lose, even with Aaron Judge out for an extended time.
Game 3: There was a distinct Odor to the Rays' 5-3 loss in 10 innings, and it was courtesy of Rougned Odor who went deep twice including a 3-run shot in the 10th off Nick Anderson which won the game for Texas. Joe Ryan was great again, going 6 4 2 2 2 9 but the two runs came on back-to-back 2nd inning HRs from Odor and Trey Mancini. Once again the Rays' bats struggled against a SP who came in with a terrible record, but Cafecito went deep in the 7th to tie the game at 2. Diego Castillo put a couple of runners on in the 10th and was at 27 pitches so I made the decision to go to Anderson (Hand had pitched the 8th and 1 batter into the 9th with lefties stacked) hoping for a quick K despite his name in yellow as tired, and it backfired. The Rays loaded the bases against Jose LeClerc in the bottom of the 10th but could only push across one run. Another Yankees win drops them 5 1/2 back.
Team record: 44-25.
WanderWatch: .348-9-38-20
After the 31-12 start this team has gone 13-13 and the #1 reason is the moribund offense. At one point the Rays ranked in top 5-6 of a lot of these offensive categories but look at the dichotomy with the pitching now:
Not sure what to do other than adhere to the famous saying "when you're going through hell, keep going" and just hope this bunch gets out of its collective slump.