August 31- September 2 vs Detroit (3)
Game 1: Tyler Glasnow had a few hiccups early, allowing a 1st inning HR to DJ Peters (#29 for him, best Rule 5 pickup of the year) and a 2nd inning run when Jeimer Candelario doubled to lead off and came around to score on a sac fly. That gave Detroit an early 2-0 which the Rays emphatically wiped out in the bottom of the inning with 5 runs, highlighted by a bases-clearing double from Javy Baez and they chased young Detroit ace Matt Manning. Schwarber and Merrifield added solo HRs later while Glasnow went into Operation Shutdown, finishing with a 7 4 2 2 0 8 line in the Rays' 7-2 win. The Tigers, in first most of the season, continue to circle the drain and now have dropped to fourth place in the AL Central. The Rays remain 6 behind the Yankees (they come to town this weekend and a sweep is required to have a prayer) but the win brings their magic # for a wild card down to 15.
September 1: Recalled P Yonny Chirinos from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.
September roster expansion is upon us, so Yonny comes back to start tonight. I'm leaving the other spot open for now with no pressing need, Austin Adams probably takes the spot once he's ready in about 10 days after some rehab.
Game 2: Yonny took the mound and was excellent in his first game back after his second stint on the DL. Although after Kiermaier hit a massive 2-run blast to dead center, Yonny did yield a 2-run HR to Jacob Rogers to tie the game in the 3rd. But that was all he allowed for the night, turning in a 7 6 2 2 0 7 line. A Kyle Schwarber RBI triple (that had to be a sight) immediately restored the Rays' lead and then Kiermaier went deep again in the 7th with his career-high 17th HR of the season to make it 4-2 (he also stole a base for good measure as he went 3 for 4). The Rays tacked on two more in the eighth highlighted by doubles from Schwarber and Merrifield, and cruised to a 6-2 win. Yonny now goes to 7-2. Magic # at 14.
Game 3: The Rays get the sweep with a 5-3 win. Joe Ryan started and was dominant until he ran out of gas as usual in the 6th, allowing a couple of runs and having to leave with 2 out. Ryan left with the score tied at 2 (Sal Perez had a 2-run HR for the Rays' runs), having struck out 10. The Rays as they did yesterday immediately got the lead back in the bottom of the inning off a 2-run double from Merrifield. Alvarado, who got the win, got himself into some trouble in the 7th and Taylor Rogers walked in his run before closing out the inning. Then Rogers made a bit of mess of his own in the 8th before Nick Anderson ended the inning with a K, and Hand got save #27. Not thrilled about having to use so many relievers with the Yankees series coming up, but you gotta win the game in front of you first. Oakland keeps winning so the magic # is only going down one at a time, now at 13.
Team record: 84-58.
September 3-5 vs New York Yankees (3)
Game 1: Any thoughts of a miracle run to win the division were dispelled immediately at the Trop, as the Yankees got a 2-run double by Miguel Andujar and a 2-run HR from Aaron Hicks off Max Fried in the first inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead before the fans settled into their seats, and then for good measure Luke Voit added a 2-run shot in the 2nd as the Yankees rolled 7-1. Fried allowed all 7 runs in 3+ innings, putting an end to his effective run of late. The only bright spot was Lucas Sims, who came on in relief and went 4 2 0 0 0 8. Meadows had has 111st RBI to account for the lone Rays run in the 8th as they couldn't get anything going against reliever-turned-starter Chad Green. The wild card game with Toronto awaits, and should they prevail in that they get to face these Yankees (who have beaten them 11 of 14 since an April sweep at Yankee Stadium) in the best-of-5. Wheeee! Oakland won so the magic number remains 13.
September 4: Activated OF Yusniel Diaz from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.
Yusniel becomes the 28th man on the roster. In his 2nd rehab game at Durham the night before, he merely went 4 for 5 with 3 doubles, a homer and 5 RBI. I think he's ready. Diaz had only played 2 games for the Rays after coming over from Baltimore for Manuel Margot before injuring his hamstring. Speaking of rehabbers, Austin Adams threw another scoreless inning in his 2nd appearance, and I'll give him one more before bringing him back next week and sending Nix down in all likelihood. And while on the topic of Durham, the Bulls clinched a playoff spot in that 9-5 win featuring Diaz and are tied for the division lead with Gwinnett. Maybe they'll play long enough to get Snell a rehab start in a couple of weeks.
Game 2: The Rays jumped out to a 3-1 lead in this one behind McKay after 5, off HRs from Baez and Jason Castro, but he ran into trouble in the 6th, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Chaz Roe promptly allowed both runners to score, but Jose Alvarado got the Yankees 1-2-3 in the 7th to keep the game tied at 3. In the bottom of the inning the Rays then proceeded to put up a 5 spot capped by an Austin Meadows grand slam off Yankee trade deadline acquisition Corey Knebel. They needed all 8 of those runs as Diego Castillo gave up a run in the 8th, and then Taylor Rogers couldn't close down a 4-run game in the 9th, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and necessitating Brad Hand to come on and get the final out with the tying run on base for save #28 to nail down the 8-6 win. Alvarado picked up his fifth win, and Castro was 4 for 4 with a double, 2 singles and 3 runs scored to go with the homer. Magic # down to 12 as Oakland won't lose.
Game 3: Well it was Tyler Glasnow's turn in the dunk tank as he gave up a couple of runs in the third and then yielded a 2-run shot to Gio Urshela and a 3-run blast to Luke Voit and just like that it was 7-0 in the 4th on the way to a 9-0 Yankees win. The Rays' bats couldn't get anything going against Trevor Bauer, with only Wander acquitting himself well going 2 for 3 with a walk. The only highlight of sorts was Jacob Nix whiffing the first five Yankee hitters he faced in 2 perfect innings but it was garbage time. Oakland decided to lose so the magic # is down to 11, but Toronto didn't so the Rays drop back to 3rd and the 2nd WC.
Team record: 85-60.
WanderWatch: 326/396/535, 16-58-26
As we hit Labor Day, here's a look at where things stand in our MLB universe. The defending champion Dodgers are sick again, winning 13 straight and at 98-45. They should easily win 110. The NL East is similar to the AL East in that the two wild cards will come from the division, but the difference is that the race for the lead is wide open. The Reds were running away with NL Central through the first half of the season but have collapsed and allowed the Brewers to jump ahead. The Astros have been up big wire-to-wire in the AL while the poor sister Central at least has a leader over .500. As mentioned earlier the Tigers had led most of the season at a few games over or under .500 until their August collapse. Cleveland got Bieber back from injury and Mike Clevinger has started pitching like Mike Clevinger after seeing his ERA balloon to over 6 at mid-season, so I like them to win the division. And there's a chance someone hits 60 HRs looking at those leaderboards.
September 7-9 at Toronto (3).
Game 1: Well this one turned to be something of an epic. Yonny got the start and struggled early, allowing 4 runs on 7 singles in his first two innings, while the Rays had solo homers from Meadows and Ji-Man. Yonny settled down though and didn't allow anything else until he left in the sixth, by which time the Rays had tied the game on 5th inning solo homers from Sal Perez and Kiermaier. And then the Rays took the lead in the 7th on doubles from Schwarber and Kiermaier and Alvarado and Anderson shut down the Jays in the 7th and 8th. But the normally reliable Brad Hand allowed a one-out 9th inning HR to Shogo Akiyama and off to extras we went. And went and went and went until we reached the 15th when Schwarber and Choi (again) went deep to make it 7-5, and Diego Castillo in his 2nd inning of work closed it down from there. However, it was a costly win as Chaz Roe in all likelihood has thrown his last pitch for the Rays. In his 2nd inning of relief in the 13th he strained a biceps tendon and will be out 5 weeks, effectively ending his season. And as he's a free agent this offseason, his return was unlikely. Oakland lost at Houston so the magic number is 9. The Yankees lost, too, keeping the Rays' faint division hopes on life support at 6 behind.
September 8: Placed P Chaz Roe on the 60-day IL, recalled P Conner Menez from AAA Durham.
Sorry to hurt Durham's playoff fortunes by taking Menez out of their rotation (where he whiffed 40 in 24 innings), but the big club takes priority especially after a 15-inning game. I now have an open spot on the 40-man in case any interesting reliever goes on waivers.
The Rays catch a break here, as Vlad Jr will miss the wild card game:
Game 2: Joe Ryan returned to the mound where he made his season debut in spectacular fashion, 2-hitting the Jays over 7 and striking out 12. Well he essentially repeated the feat, going 7 3 0 0 1 10 as the Rays destroyed the Jays 11-0. Maybe Ryan should pitch the Wild Card game given how he's subdued Toronto. Ji-Man continued scorching hot, hitting 2 more HRs and giving him 4 over the last two days, Sal Perez got the Rays going with a 3-run blast in the 2nd, and Hunter Renfroe, dropped to 7th in the lineup due to a deep slump, responded with a 2-run shot of his own while Schwarber added another and it was an easy day at the ballpark. Conner Menez finally got to face someone other than the Yankees and finished with 2 hitless innings, fanning 3. Oakland fell again, reducing the magic # to 7.
Minors Playoff Update: I'm managing these games, and AA Montgomery opened its best-of-5 series at Biloxi and came away with a 6-3 win. JJ Bleday had a 3-run inside the park HR and Andrew Vaughn also homered and doubled. Tommy Romero struggled through 5 but got the win. Durham opens their playoff series tomorrow.
Game 3: The Rays completed the sweep with a 6-3 win, and while it doesn't mean they'll beat the Jays in the wild card game, it goes a long way to making it more likely that game will be at the Trop. The Rays got to Cy Young front-runner Nate Pearson for 4 runs in 5 2/3 although he did get his 9 strikeouts. Ji-Man remains unconscious, taking Pearson deep in the second and adding a double, and Javy Baez was 3 for 4 with a 2-run homer, RBI double and a steal. Wander also rapped out two doubles against Pearson and scored twice. Max Fried looked shaky early, giving up 3 runs in the second on a Grichuk HR and Biggio 2-run triple, but hung in there the rest of the way to go 6 2/3 and get win #16. Alvarado, Anderson and Hand (save #29) took care of business to finish it off. Oakland was idle, so magic # down to 6.
Team record: 88-60.
Minors playoff update: A mixed bag. Durham, the hottest team in the league over the last week weeks lost their opener to Gwinnett (a team they swept to won the division the previous weekend) 7-3 as Riley O'Brien was hit hard and early and to make matters worse Xavier Edwards was injured. Joey Wendle had a 2-run HR to highlight the offense. But Montgomery went up 2-0 in their best-of-5 with an 8-3 win over Biloxi in which Shane Baz might have had his best game of the year, a 6.2 2 0 0 2 5 line. Nolan Gorman homered, tripled and drove in 3 while Taylor Walls went 3 for 4 with an RBI.
September 10-12 at Baltimore (3).
Game 1: Brendan McKay came out without his best stuff, and yielded 3 solo HRs to put the Rays down 3-2 after 4 (Wander had a HR and Renfroe an RBI single). But the Rays exploded for 5 runs in the 5th, highlighted by a Meadows grand slam and still
another HR for Ji-Man, his sixth in four days (gotta be front-runner for AL Player of the Week). Meadows is now up to 43 HR and 121 RBI. And aside from a Rio Ruiz solo shot off Diego Castillo that was it for the scoring in the Rays' 7-4 win. McKay wound up going seven, only striking out 3 but got win #14. And Castillo's HR allowed meant Anderson and Hand had to finish with the latter picking up save #30. Merrifield had 3 more hits as he also remains hot. Good news elsewhere: the Yankees lost so the Rays longshot division hopes remain alive there at 4 1/2 back while Oakland lost as well, making the Wild Card magic # only 4. And at 89-60 their longshot hopes of winning 100 remain alive as well.
Minor league update: Order restored in Durham as the Bulls blew out Gwinnett 9-0 to even their best-of-five series at 1. Jacob Nix started and went 5 1 0 0 0 4, Tristan Gray and Josh Lowe homered while Seth "Hold My" Beer had a key 2-run double.
September 11: Claimed P Dany Jimenez on waivers, optioned P Conner Menez to AAA Durham.
Jimenez is an intriguing arm with 70 stuff who for some reason the Giants waived despite two straight seasons in relief with ERAs under 2.50 and over a strikeout per inning. His command is a mixed bag, but we'll take the live arm since we had the 40-man roster spot open. Menez can now start Game 4 for Durham in their playoff series.
Game 2: Well that was kind of a dud, as the Rays only managed 3 hits on the day and fell 4-1 to the Orioles. After starter Matt Shoemaker had to leave with an injury after 3, the Rays only managed 1 hit over the final 6 innings against a parade of Baltimore relievers capped off by old friend Peter Fairbanks who got save #16 for the O's. Ji-Man, of course, had the lone RBI although it was on a groundout. Glasnow, coming off a beating by the Yankees, wasn't his best either today although he gutted out a 7 6 3 3 2 4 outing. Dany Jimenez made his debut in the 8th and promptly served up Renato Nunez's 51st HR of the season. In good news, Mike Trout had 2 HR and 5 RBI to lead the Angels to a 12-9 win over Oakland dropping the magic number to 3. The Yankees won though, so the division chances are about nil right now.
Meanwhile, check out this race in the AL Central with 14 games to go:
Minor League Playoff Update: Montgomery won a back-and-forth 6-5 game against Biloxi to sweep their first-round series. JJ Bleday had the big hit again, a 3-run HR after the Biscuits fell behind 3-1. The winning run scored on a wild pitch. They'll play the winner of Rocket City-Tennessee in the Southern League championship, with the Smokies up 2-1 in their series against the Trash Pandas.
Minor League Injury Update: Welp, Xavier Edwards got his diagnosis and it's bad. He'll be out 9 months with a broken bone in his elbow. Edwards had hit .300 with OBPs over .400 at every stop in the minors including Durham and was under consideration for making the big club next spring as a super-utility type. That's out the window now as he won't be back until June 2022. The other great middle infield prospect, Vidal Brujan is himself out until March, so he's got a shot at taking that role.
Game 3: For a team 30+ games below .500 and mired in last place, the Orioles gave the Rays fits all year and today was no exception as they beat Tampa Bay 5-1. Yonny was pitching well, and the Rays took a 1-0 lead on a Baez RBI single in the top of the 5th but in the bottom of the inning Chirinos had one bad sequence where he put two runners on and gave up a 3-run shot to Ryan Mountcastle. It stayed that way until the 8th when the struggling Diego Castillo served up a 2-run HR to Rio Ruiz in the 8th. Caleb Smith shackled the Rays offense again and Peter Fairbanks managed another save when the Rays got 2 on with 2 out in the 9th and he was brought in. Oakland lost again, so the magic number is 2. And now they have to win their final 11 games to win 100, although 6 will beat last year's 94.
Team record: 89-62
WanderWatch: 323/390/532, 17-60-27
Minor League Playoff Update: Durham lost the critical Game 3 to Gwinnett 5-4 in 10 innings after a Michael Perez 2-run single tied it for them in the 9th. Starter Clarke Schmidt left injured in the 3rd, and Shane McLanahan yielded 3 HRs to fall behind 4-2 despite striking out 6 in 3 1/3 innings. Yandy was the goat today as his error came around to score in the 10th and he went 0 for 5 and left 8 runners on base. Randy Arozarena had a HR to put Durham up early as the Bulls must now win the next two in the series.
September 13 Minor League Update: Durham stayed alive with a 8-5 win in Gwinnett to force a deciding Game 5 in two nights. Nolan Gorman (who was called up from Montgomery after X.Edwards went down) was 3 for 4 with a HR and 2 RBI, Arozarena was 3-4 with a run scored and a steal and the bullpen came through after Conner Menez had a shaky 4-inning start in which he allowed 3 runs, walked 6 and fanned 7. The Bulls will need a better effort than they received in Game 1 from Riley O'Brien in Game 5. Meanwhile Montgomery opens the SL championship series tomorrow against Tennessee.
Meanwhile, around MLB Phillies legend Cole Hamels retired from baseball, as did longtime middle reliever extraordinaire Yusmiero Petit.
September 14-15 vs Washington (2)
Game 1: The Rays faced old friend Jalen Beeks, pitching for a Nationals team which has been without Scherzer and Strasburg due to injury but still holding down the 2nd NL wild card. Joe Ryan was on the bump for the Rays, and it was the full Joe Ryan experience (although without a HR allowed) as he went 5 5 2 1 3 11, but left with a 3-2 lead after Sal Perez's 2-run HR in the bottom of the 5th after the still red-hot Ji-Man went deep earlier. But Austin Adams was greeted by a sky bolt off the bat of Skye Bolt to tie it in the top of the 6th. After Jose Alvarado shut things down in the 7th, the Rays went to work against Beeks in the bottom of the inning with the key hit a 2-out, 2-run double from White Merrifield, which was followed by RBI hits from Wander and Meadows and the Rays went on to a 7-3 win closed out by Dany Jimenez and Taylor Rogers. The win makes them 3-0 against the Nationals and Max Fried tries for the season sweep tomorrow, but of more important note the Rays clinched the wild card as both the Angels and Oakland, who were tied in the standings, lost.
Minor League Playoff Update: Montgomery opened its series with Tennessee at home and dropped Game 1 6-3. Taylor Walls was the Montgomery offense with a 3-run HR among his 3 hits on the night while Shane Baz was nowhere near as effective as he was in the previous round, getting tagged for 4 runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Game 2: A pitcher's duel between Max Fried and another Nationals ex-Ray, Garrett Richards went the Rays favor for most of the game with a 2-run HR from Renfroe in the 2nd giving them a 2-0 lead which held until the 9th, when Brad Hand uncharacteristically melted down. He gave up two hits, two walks and hit Victor Robles with the bases loaded to force in the tying run with two out before Austin Adams cleaned up his mess. I left Adams in a bit too long, though, as Carter Kieboom lowered the boom with an 11th inning solo shot off him and the Nationals salvaged a game against the Rays in the season series with the 3-2 win. The Rays only managed 7 hits on the night after clinching the wild card. Renfroe reached the 100 RBI mark for the second straight season with the HR, his 43rd. Toronto lost, so the Rays' magic # for clinching home field for the wild card game is 6.
Team record: 90-63.
Minor League Playoff Update: What a game! What a comeback! The Bulls were down 7-2 in the 6th inning and looking dead to the world before they came all the way back to beat Gwinnett 8-7 in Game 5 to win the series 3-2 and advance to the championship round. They were down 7-3 going into the bottom of the 7th when they picked up 3 runs to close the gap to 7-6, the big hit being a 2-run HR by Seth Beer. Then with two out in the bottom of the 8th, Yandy Diaz (who was 4 for 4) singled, Beer walked and then Randy Arozarena singled in Diaz to tie the game and then Tristan Gray singled, scoring Beer and the lead was 8-7. With regular closer Sam Wolff tired, Michael Pineda (a free agent signing about a month ago), slammed the door in the 9th and Durham will play the Columbus Clippers in the IL championship. Significantly for the Rays, this will give Blake Snell a rehab start.
Minor League Playoff Update 2: Montgomery took a 3-0 lead in the 1st after the first 2 reached and Andrew Vaughn went deep, and those 3 runs stood up in a 3-2 win to even their SL championship series with Tennessee at 1 despite only getting 4 hits on the night. Tommy Romero was great, going 7 4 2 2 0 6, and SL saves leader Alexander Guillen got the final out to preserve the win.