Let's start off July with some hardware for a couple of our players, even though June was an up-and-down month:
July 1, Game 3 of 3 vs White Sox:
Turnabout is fair play as it's said, and this time it was the Rays' turn to come back in the late innings. Trailing 3-1 into the 7th, Brendan McKay pitched well but got himself into a jam. Austin Adams came in and whiffed Nick Madrigal (who homered earlier off McKay, making it a rare day for Madrigal with a whiff and a longball) to end the threat. Renfroe had clubbed #31 to get the Rays on the board and Sal Perez hit his first Rays round-tripper in the bottom of the 7 to get within 3-2. And after Adams struck out 2 more in a clean 8th, the Rays went to work. Renfroe and Bohm singled to put runners on the corners, and then Whit Merrifield's ground ball was booted allowing Renfroe to score the tying run. After a Perez single loaded the bases (he went 3-3 with a HBP), former Ray Andrew Kitteredge then uncorked a wild pitch allowing Bohm to scamper home with the go-ahead run. Brad Hand then closed the Sox out 1-2-3 in the 9th for save #15 with Adams notching the win and the Rays took the series 2 out of 3 with the 4-3 win.
Team record: 54-33.
July 2: Traded 30-year-old right fielder Mitch Haniger and 24-year-old minor league reliever Trey Cumbie to the Arizona Diamondbacks, getting 24-year-old minor league left fielder Seth Beer and 18-year-old minor league center fielder Franyel Baez in return. Purchased the contract of OF Michael Brantley from AAA Durham.
Haniger had played so infrequently the last 4-5 weeks that his picture was on milk cartons around Tampa Bay. He was probably going to be non-tendered in the offseason, and I preferred a lefty bat off the bench as right now the team's best lefty pinch-hitter is Wendle (or maybe Brendan McKay). Brantley was hitting .330 at Durham and obviously didn't belong there. Meanwhile, for what I feel is an upgrade on the bench I also managed to add Beer, a noted slugger who is destined for DH-duty and who is currently 296/374/515 at AAA with 15 HR
and Baez, who's tearing up the DSL at 367/480/646 in 79 AB this year and whom the scouting report projects as a future .270 hitter with 40-HR power potential. Meanwhile, Cumbie is a mediocre reliever at Port Charlotte without much apparent future utility. So all in all, a nifty piece of business here.
July 2-4 vs Baltimore (3)
Game 1: The Rays jumped out to a 3-0 lead off a Margot RBI groundout and another HR from Bohm, a 2-run shot, and reigning AL pitcher of the month Max Fried was coasting with a 2-hitter 2 outs into the 7th. But 3 straight singles led to a Baltimore run and although Nick Anderson got a 2-pitch flyball out to get out of that jam, he loaded the bases in the top of the 8th. But Chaz Roe bailed Anderson out by getting Anthony Santander on a ground ball, and although Brad Hand gave up a 2-out to double to bring the tying run to the plate he got the final out for save #16 and the Rays managed a tenser-than-it-should-have-been 3-1 win. Fried goes to 9-6, 3.68. His early season struggles now seem like a distant memory and his recent performance has been a godsend for a rotation missing its #1 and #2 starters.
Game 2: Joe Ryan was on the hill and while his HR bugaboo hurt him, it was the six singles before that which got him into trouble as Baltimore got a series of hits in the 4th to score twice, and then he allowed 2 more baserunners with no outs in the 6th after being staked to a 3-2 lead. That was when Jose Rondon went deep for a 3-run shot, and that was the end of the scoring in a 5-3 Rays loss. Earlier, Meadows hit #23, Kiermaier had an RBI triple and debutant Michael Brantley had an RBI double off the top of the wall in right to account for the Rays' 3 runs. In a statistical oddity, the Rays had 9 hits for the game and each player in the starting lineup had exactly one. The only Ray not to hit safely was pinch-hitter Jose Martinez, who struck out to end the game against Rays oldboy Peter Fairbanks, now the Orioles' closer after they traded Tanner Scott to the Nationals. While he was on tonight, he still sports a 6.08 ERA and similar numbers with the Rays are why he was waived off the 40-man. But he's gotta feel good tonight.
Game 3: High drama at the Trop. Ryan Yarbrough got the start and wasn't that great, allowing 3 runs over the first 4 innings while the Rays were stymied by Matthew Boyd (recently acquired by the O's from Detroit). But Yarbrough hung in through 6 and the Rays were down 3-1. Chaz Roe bailed out Diego Castillo again in the 7th and then pitched a scoreless 8th and Baltimore went to veteran Darren O'Day to take over for Boyd. Cafecito drilled a single to right to start the inning and then Meadows took the sidearmer deep for #24 to tie the game and then two batters later Alec Bohm drilled an O'Day offering into the left-field stands (his 8th) to make it 4-3. Brad Hand had an easy 1-2-3 9th to lock down the come-from-behind win and nab save #17. Despite their poor record (32-58) the Orioles have played the Rays extremely tough this season with the Rays only on top 5-4 in the season series after today's win. Meanwhile, we know how hot Meadows has been, but give it up for Alec Bohm. Since bottoming out June 21 in Milwaukee at .173 and keeping me continuing to shop for 3B men, Bohm has gone 18 for 45 with 6 HR and 13 RBI and is now at 256/321/520 in 140 AB. His D has been pretty bad, with 7 errors already and limited range and his long-term future is at 1B but if he hits like this it can be tolerated. After all Yandy wasn't exactly Brooks Robinson at the hot corner himself.
Also in the small miracles department, the Yankees were swept in Pittsburgh (with today's final amazingly a 1-0 Pirates win) meaning the Rays are within 6, the closest they've been in some time.
July 5-7 at Boston (3)
Yonny got the start at Fenway and was in his brilliant April form. His 7.1 5 1 1 0 5 earned him a 6-0 record as the Rays nipped the Red Sox 2-1. With a man on and a slate of lefties due for the Sox, Jose Alvarado came on and put out the fire and with Anderson and Hand tired he got to stay in for the 9th with a 2-0 lead. With two out he yielded a homer to Xander Bogaerts but struck out Brian Dozier to end the game and earn his first save of the season. The offense came early via a 2nd inning HR over the Monster by Whit Merrifield and and 3rd inning RBI double from Renfroe. The Rays had plenty of opportunities to score more getting 12 hits against Boston pitching but luckily did not need any more. They climbed with 5 1/2 of the idle Yankees, 5 back in the loss column. Meanwhile their wild card opponent at the moment would be the Blue Jays, who have won 9 straight and stand at 49-43.
Glasnow rehab update #2: This start went much better at Gwinnett, as he went 5 3 0 0 0 6 in 63 pitches. He'll get one more start this weekend to get him up to 80-90 pitches and then join the rotation after the All-Star break.
July 6: Traded 26-year-old minor league left fielder Clint Frazier and 24-year-old minor league left fielder Garrett Whitley to the Miami Marlins, getting 23-year-old minor league right fielder JJ Bleday in return.
Frazier was tearing it up at Durham but has no future with the club (although he can probably help Miami immediately) and wasn't on the 40-man. Whitley, our first round pick in 2015, never panned out after injuries, etc and was hitting about .200 at Durham. Meanwhile Bleday, although having a bit of a down year in AA after an excellent full debut season in the FSL, remains a quality prospect and as Miami's #1 pick in 2019 doesn't have to be on the 40-man and therefore not Rule 5 eligible.
July 6: Optioned P Ryan Yarbrough to AAA Durham, recalled C Ronaldo Hernandez from Durham.
Sal Perez tweaked something last night after he hit a double so he's going to be day-to-day for a couple. Rather than start Jason Castro against the lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, I've summoned Hernandez from Durham to make his MLB debut at Fenway Park. He'll be up for a couple of days and then go back down for Yarbrough to return for his start. OOTP doesn't enforce the 10-day recall rule and looking at the daily transactions from AI-controlled teams the same guys go back and forth on almost a daily basis on several teams so I'm not going to feel bad about this one.
Game 2: Brendan McKay wasn't his sharpest, giving up HRs to Bogaerts (over the Monster) and Ozuna (around the Pesky pole) but he hung in there in to go 6 6 3 3 2 5. But again the offense had some baserunners but couldn't get the runners home except for a 3-single sequence ending in a Cafecito RBI and a Freddy Galvis HR over the Monster one batter after it looked like Ronaldo Hernandez (0-3) hit one but it was caught at the wall. Boston added an insurance run off Banda in the 8th and the final was 4-2 Red Sox.
July 7: Optioned C Ronaldo Hernandez to AAA Durham, recalled P Jacob Nix from AAA Durham.
Ronaldo had his cup of coffee (Dunkin I guess since we were in Boston) with Perez now OK, and Nix is an arm until Yarbrough is needed back.
Game 3: Almost a carbon copy of Game 2, Max Fried looked like his April self with his first poor start in a couple of months, going 5.1 6 4 4 3 3 and allowing the Red Sox a 4-2 lead at that point. The Rays got within 4-3 on a Jose Martinez RBI single but the game stayed there until Austin Adams allowed Boston an insurance run in the 8th and somebody named Jamie Callahan came out of the Sox pen to strike out the side in the 9th for the save. The Boston offense was led by former Ray Logan Morrison, still kicking in MLB and having a decent season (.249-19-62), who drove in 3. For the Rays, Meadows hit #25 in the 1st inning and I knew I'd jinx Alec Bohm by going on about him before the series as he went 0-for-Fenway. On to KC to see old friends Brandon Lowe and Mike Zunino.
July 8-11 at Kansas City (4)
Game 1: Man that was frustrating. Joe Ryan and the Rays were coasting into the 6th up 4-0 on a HR and 3 RBI from Meadows and Ji-Man blast. Ryan ran into trouble in the 6th, loading the bases including a couple of walks in an uncharacteristically wild 4-walk performance (and a season-low 2 Ks). Chaz Roe allowed all 3 runs to score and after he was done came off with a sore elbow which will keep him out two weeks. In the 7th, Diego Castillo allowed the tying run (with a key Brandon Lowe double involved to add insult to injury), and in the 8th, Nick Anderson allowed an Adalberto Mondesi single, Mondesi's league-leading 27th steal and then a RBI single to put KC up 5-4 and although the Rays had runners and 1st and 3rd in the 9th, Renfroe grounded out to end the game for a painful loss.
July 9: Placed Chaz Roe on the 15-day IL with elbow soreness, recalled P Ryan Yarbrough from AAA Durham.
Ha! It turns out I could have made this move after all in real-life MLB thanks to the Roe injury. Nix gets to stay up as the extra arm.
Game 2: Friday night's game was rained out so it was time for a Saturday doubleheader. With the All-Star break looming this won't have any effect on the rotation as Yarbrough is just bumped to game 1 of the DH. And once again the Rays jumped out to a healthy early lead but this time after Meadows went deep with a 3-run shot to make it 4-0, the Rays added 3 more in the next inning to make it 7-0 highlighted by a Michael Brantley 2-run single. This was more than enough for Yarbrough, who took a 4-hit shutout into the 9th with 0 walks and 11 Ks. After he gave up a 2-run HR to Mac Williamson and went past 110 pitches, Jacob Nix whiffed the last two Royals to finish the 7-2 win.
Game 3: The second game of the doubleheader looked bleak for Rays fans as Yonny just didn't have it tonight, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits (4 of which were longballs, including one from our good friend Brandon Lowe) in 3 2/3 and the Rays were down 6-3 despite another 3-run Meadows jack. But it was Tampa Bay's night to turn the tables on KC as a Margot RBI single got them with 6-4 and then Meadows did it *again*, his third 3-run homer of the day to make it 7-6. Two batters later, Ji-Man went deep with a solo shot. Meanwhile, Anthony Banda came on in relief of Chirinos in the 4th and allowed the Royals nothing the rest of the way, going 5.1 1 0 0 0 5 for the win. Kauffman as well was the site of Banda's finest moment last season for the Rays, a 2-hit "Maddux". Joey Wendle added an RBI double followed by a 2-run Freddy Galvis shot as the ball was flying out of Kauffman tonight to make the final score 11-6 and give the Rays a sweep.
Unsurprisingly, Meadows walked his last two times up, and here is his season line at the moment: 329/392/655 with 29 HR and 90 RBI in 95 games, good for 1st in the AL in OPS, second in RBIs, and second with 4.6 WAR as we approach the All-Star break. MVP anyone?
Game 4: It was pitcher's duel time as lefties Brendan McKay and Danny Duffy were dealing through 5 at 0-0. Unfortunately Duffy's elbow started barking and Kevin McCarthy came on for the 6th and the Rays broke through on a solo HR by guess who? I'll give you one hint, his initials are A.M. And 1-0 it stayed until the 9th inning as McKay went 7.2 5 0 0 1 8 and Nick Anderson got the last out in the 8th. The Rays got some insurance after they loaded the bases in the 9th. After Sal Perez barely beat the throw to keep KC from a 5-2-3 DP and getting out of the inning, Freddy Galvis delivered a single up the middle scoring a pair. And those insurance runs were needed when with two out in the 9th Brad Hand surrendered a HR to Lewis Brinson but still picked up save #18 in a 3-1 win. McKay goes to 10-5, 2.98 with the win as the Rays head into the all-star break.
Team record: 60-37.
Here's a look at the standings and offensive leaderboards around MLB as we hit the break with 60% of the schedule played.
Right now it's the Jays who have a 3-game lead on Seattle for the privilege of traveling to the Trop for the AL Wild Card game. And how about that AL Central? The Rays are 11 1/2 games better than the Tigers, who if the season ended today would get a full playoff series while the Rays flipped a coin. Over in the NL, the Braves got out to a great start and looked like the class of the division again, but the Mets have been great and swept the Braves this weekend to open up that 3-game lead. And how about the Reds? They backed into to the division last year with 85 or so wins but this year they're no fluke, led by a great year from P Tyler Mahle. Meanwhile one trend I've noticed this year is the emergence of the AAAA slugger thriving in MLB; Detroit has about 45 HR combined from Kennys Vargas and DJ Peters, I mentioned LoMo's big year for the Red Sox, and Eric Thames, while maybe a cut above these guys, is among the NL leaders in HR and RBI for Washington. And you can see what a year Meadows is having over on the far left.
As for the All-Star Game, the following Rays were selected (or elected): Snell (who's hurt and will miss the game), Meadows, and then the 2 KC acquisitions, Sal Perez and Whit Merrifield (who won the 2B balloting undeservedly). Although he's been out 3 weeks Wander could have been named, and Renfroe and McKay could be considered snubs as well. Oh well, the already meaningless All-Star Game means even less in a fictional universe.
Final Tyler Glasnow rehab update: I think he's ready. He went 6 3 1 1 2 10 on 90 pitches for Durham (and was backed by a Tsutsugo HR!). He'll rejoin the rotation at home again Minnesota after the break.