[Art Deco]

Game 1: After going on a road trip and sweeping the Beasts of the East* as part of a 16-game win streak, surely they'd have no problem extending it at home against the mediocre Kansas City Royals. But they found themselves behind early when Chris Paddack walked old friend Brandon Lowe who came around to score on an Anthony Alford single. However in the bottom of the 2nd after another old friend, Lucas Sims, departed as the opener after walking Josh Bell, Nelson Cruz deposited Jacob Junis's first pitch into the LF stands for HR #31 and a 2-1 lead. Junis was hurt on the pitch and had to come out, leading to a parade of Royals relievers. But guess what? That parade of relievers held the Rays to 0 runs and 3 hits over the next 6 2/3 innings. This would be problematic except that Mr. Paddack was doing some dealing of his own, settling down after that 2nd inning and striking out a team season-high 13 Royals over 6 innings, allowing the one run and five hits (to go with 3 walks). Jose Alvarado and Nick Anderson got through the 7th and 8th with the Rays still clinging to the one-run lead and it was time for Mr. Perfect, Brad Hand, to nail down the save. Except this time he wasn't perfect and blew his first save of the season as Julio Pablo Martinez singled in Todd Frazier with the tying run. But in the bottom of the 9th another KC reliever was greeted rudely as closer Scott Barlow entered to face Joey Gallo leading off. The big slugger took him the opposite way into the left-field stands for a walk-off win, extending the win streak to 17. It was a fortunate win in a game where the high-flying offense only managed 5 hits, spread amongst 3 players (Gallo and Cruz of course, and Wander Franco singled). For Gallo, the walk-off HR was his 41st of the year and 13th since joining the Rays in only 98 AB, and ties him with Vlad Jr. and Gleyber Torres for the AL lead. Elsewhere the Jays won again so the magic # is 25.

*description may not apply to the Boston Red Sox

Game 2: The train keeps on a-rollin' and Blake Snell was the conductor for consecutive win #18. In far and away his best performance of the year, or by any other Rays pitcher, Snell threw a complete-game 3-hitter with 0 walks and 15 strikeouts in a 4-1 win and it only took him 103 pitches. The only flaw in the diamond was Greyson Jenista's 34th HR of the year in the 8th inning as the most impressive aspect of Snell's performance had to be the lack of walks. Snell got all the offense he needed early when Whit Merrifield led off the Rays 1st with a single and scored on Wander's 24th HR of the season. And in the 2nd, Max Kepler led off with HR #23 and Wander singled in Yusniel Diaz, who had walked. Once again the offense only mustered 5 hits as they took off the rest of the night to watch Snell do his thing; the only hit not mentioned here was Josh Bell's infield single. Snell goes to 9-5 with the win and after a nightmarish first half of the season he finally has his ERA under 5 at 4.80 and has 44 Ks in his last 4 starts, and Wander's 3 RBI give him 111, 2 behind Francisco Lindor for the AL lead. The Jays blasted Baltimore so the magic # is 24.

Game 3: It's Groundhog Day in a good way for the Rays as the winning streak reaches 19 games with an easy 8-1 win over the Royals. Max Fried took the hill today and while he wasn't as dominating as Paddack and Snell the nights before, his 7 6 1 1 3 7 line will do quite nicely as he goes to 13-6. Keibert Ruiz supplied all the offense needed with a 2-run shot in the first, and some wildness from KC starter DJ Myers did the rest in the first as he wild-pitched in a run, walked Marsh with the bases loaded, and allowed Brujan to reach on an RBI infield single. They added 3 more in the 7th on a 2-run single by Max Kepler and a Marsh sac fly. The only KC run came on a Todd Frazier homer in the 2nd, otherwise Fried had some baserunners here and there but no great threats. Dany Jimenez and Trevor Gott had scoreless innings in relief. The Blue Jays continue to win and enhance their Wild Card chances, so the magic number is 23.

Game 4: Well they left it late this time, but a 3-run 8th inning broke a 2-2 tie and the Rays made it 20 straight wins with a 5-2 decision. Tyler Glasnow got the start, and after a first-inning hiccup with two walks that led to a KC run, settled down and struck out 11 Royals over 6 2/3 innings. Unfortunately for him after KC had 1st and 3rd with nobody out in the 7th and he then got two strikeouts, Glasnow allowed a single by Khalil Lee to tie the game, costing him a shot at the win as Nick Anderson had to finish the inning. With it still 2-2 in the 8th Jose Alvarado got into a similar predicament with men on 1st and 3rd and 1 out, but struck his way out of the inning. This set the stage for the bottom of the 8th after Wander flied out to start the inning. Gallo walked, Josh Bell singled sending him to 3rd, and Nelson Cruz hit a groundball to SS which might have been a double play but former Ray Brandon Lowe dropped the toss, allowing Gallo to score. After Max Kepler flied out, Abraham Toro drilled a double down the LF line scoring Bell and Cruz and giving the Rays a 5-2 lead. Brad Hand decided to start a new save streak with a 2-K perfect inning for #27, and Alvarado picked up win #6. Blue Jays were idle, so the magic # drops to 22.

Team record: 86-42.