[Art Deco]

Game 1: The saying goes "you can't predict baseball", or YCPB for short. Max Fried came into the game with a snowflake next to his name on the heels of 3 horrible starts with 16 runs allowed in 12 2/3 innings. So of course today he pitches a 2-hit shutout with 0 walks and 5 Ks. Fried retired the first 11 batters before hitting Mike Trout with a pitch and didn't give up a hit until the 5th when Marcus Semien singled off him. Semien had the other Angels hit in the 8th and those were the only three batters to reach safely. The offense did enough to support him in the 4-0 win with Alec Bohm's 2-run single in the first followed by Wander's 3rd HR in 2 days, a 2-run shot in the 7th as the Rays got the better of Patrick Sandoval. The shutout was Fried's 2nd of the year and the Rays' second in 4 games after the Lynch 1-hitter. One ominous bit of bad news, though: Austin Meadows had to leave beating out an infield hit with knee tendinitis and will be out 9 days, so he'll go on the IL and an OF will be brought up (not sure who at the moment). OOTP doesn't specify which knee but of course Meadows missed 4 months with a torn meniscus last year so hopefully it's not some kind of recurrence. In other games, Baltimore lost but Boston won as the two teams trade 2nd place but the exchange means the Rays' lead is a season-high 10 games.

June 16: Placed OF Austin Meadows on the 10-day IL with knee tendinitis, purchased the contract of OF Albert Almora Jr. from AAA Durham.

Meadows was officially diagnosed as day-to-day for 8 more days, with a 10-game lead I'm not going to fool around and risk getting him hurt worse, so up comes Almora to give us a right-handed bench off the bat with Yusniel Diaz getting more PT. Also, I'm considering playing Seth Beer in LF against some righties with Triston Casas (remember him? he's still on the team) DHing. Beer's a 35 in LF so it's a bit of a gamble.

Game 2: This was perhaps the most bizarre game of the year as the win probability chart looked like a Coney Island rollercoaster. Syndergaard got off to another rough start, falling behind 3-0 after 3 innings and allowing HRs to Anthony Rizzo and Mike Trout. He returned to his dominant self over the middle innings but the Rays couldn't get anything going despite getting hits against opener Brad Wieck and follower Andrew Heaney, with a runner thrown out at the plate and another picked off first. So to the bottom of the 6th it was still at 3-0 and the Rays finally turned hits into runs. Alec Bohm singled in a run, Yusniel Diaz doubled one in, and then Albert Almora Jr in his Rays debut took Heaney deep for a 3-run HR to suddenly put Tampa Bay up 5-3. The Rays then re-loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz knocked in a run to make it 6-3. Syndergaard whizzed through the 7th and in the bottom of the inning Diaz hit a 2-run HR, his 1st of the year to make it 8-3. So going into the 8th with Syndergaard and the might of our bullpen behind him there was no way they could blow this one, right? Well Thor gave up a leadoff triple and a single to make it 8-4 and with Trout due up, Nick Anderson came on. Anderson walked Trout, struck out Anthony Rendon but then gave up a single to Billy McKinney to load the bases. With lefty Rizzo due up and another lefty two batters behind him, Alvarado came on, walked Rizzo on 4 pitches to make it 8-5, struck out Marcus Semien for out #2, but then gave up a bases-clearing double to lefty hitter Austin Allen and improbably we were tied at 8. The Rays went down meekly in the bottom of the inning and then Will Smith came on for the 9th, put two men on and got out of it by striking out McKinney. In the bottom of the 9th the first two Rays dutifully went down but then Brandon Marsh hit a triple, and Vidal Brujan hit a liner to right that McKinney appeared to catch but trapped, and the Rays had a walk-off 9-8 win in a game that should have done and dusted earlier. Smith gets his first win as a Ray, and Almora had 3 hits and a walk in his first four trips as a Ray before making an out in the 9th. The Rays had 18 hits in total with everyone in the starting lineup getting at least one. As far as the division goes, Boston and Baltimore played just as ridiculous (if not moreso) a game as the Rays did. Boston led 10-4 going into the bottom of the 9th when they allowed the Orioles to score 6 and tie it, then got 2 in the top of the 10th to go back up 12-10 only to give up 3 in the bottom of the inning on a Renato Nunez walk-off shot and Baltimore won 13-12. So the Orioles nose back into second but Boston losing means the Rays are now up by a season-high 10 1/2 games.

Game 3: Daniel Lynch, ladies and gentlemen. When you pitch a 1-hit shutout in your team debut there's nowhere to go but down but Lynch did not drop very far, extending his shutout streak with the Rays to 15 1/3 innings before finally being touched for a Marcus Semien HR in the 7th inning. Lynch finished 7 7 1 1 1 6 in another outstanding performance to go 2-0 as a Ray in a 6-3 win. The Rays got a couple off Angel opener Jacob Barnes in the 1st on a Devers RBI single and an Alec Bohm RBI double then added 3 more in the third on a wild pitch and Bohm's 15th HR of the year, a 2-run blast. Vidal Brujan (2-3, walk, SB, 3 runs scored) hit his second double in the bottom of the 7th and scored on a Keibert Ruiz single to get the run back Lynch gave up. Lynch came out for the 8th at 99 pitches but gave up a leadoff single, so I tried to get through it without using Alvarado or Anderson (Will Smith was tired) and brought in (gulp) Scott Barlow. He immediately got a double play but gave up 2 more hits and with a lefty up Shane McClanahan got the call. Mac got a flyball to end the inning and came out for the ninth and struck out the righty Marcus Semien. He then walked lefty Anthony Rizzo but got Matt Thaiss to fly out. With one more out to go, lefty Austin Allen was up, the guy who tied last night's game off Alvarado despite the perceived platoon disadvantage. Well, we've established he can hit lefties now as he took McClanahan yard to make it 6-3. Still trying to get the final out he then gave up a double to Luis Renfigo so I had to call on Nick Anderson to face Nick Solak. Solak then singled off Anderson to put 2 on and bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Mike Trout (gulp). Fortunately Anderson got Trout to hit an infield pop and the game was finally over and he picked up save #3. The win was the sixth straight for the Rays on this homestand and they improve to a ridiculous 32-5 at the Trop. Baltimore defeated Boston again so the lead stays 10 1/2.

Game 4: With Meadows on the IL and Devers and Keibert fatigued, it was an interesting lineup today for the Rays with Almora hitting 2nd, Wander moved to 3rd in the order, Yusniel at DH, Bannon at 3B and Kepler playing against a lefty. No matter, they still put up 9 runs in a 9-0 thrashing of the Angels. Responsible for 6 innings of the "0" was Tyler Glasnow, who once again was wild (5 walks + plus a Mike Trout HBP that knocked Trout out of the game) but he offset that by only allowing 3 hits and whiffing 7 to go to 7-2, 2.70. Ronaldo Hernandez, productive as always playing every 4th-5th game, hit HR #6 in the 2nd to put the Rays on the board for the first of his three hits, and they added 2 more in the 3rd on a Bohm sac fly and a wild pitch. 3-0 is where we stood after 6, and with Nick Anderson tired Scott Barlow came on for the 7th and just when it looked like he'd pitch a rare 1-2-3 inning after getting two groundouts, he walked a batter and gave up a hit but still got out of it with a Billy McKinney strikeout. Then in the bottom of the 7th they bullpen-proofed the lead with something you don't see that often: two bases-clearing doubles in the same inning. The first was courtesy of Rylan Bannon, whose production has been disappointing this year but was 2-3 with a walk including that double. The second came from new boy Almora, who spent his first weekend as a Ray going 5-10 with a HR and 6 RBI. Austin Franklin pitched a nice 8th with 2 Ks, and Dany Jimenez looked in 21-22 form by striking out the side in a perfect 9th to finish it off. Baltimore beat Boston again so the lead remains 10 1/2.

Team record: 51-21.