[Art Deco]

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow pitched a great game, but he wasn't perfect and that's what he would have had to be as the Rays fell to the Jays 3-1. Glasnow went 7 4 2 2 0 9 and the 2 runs against were a pair of loud and long HRs by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Meanwhile, the offense could do nothing against old friend Chris Archer, at home in the Trop. Archer went 6 3 0 0 2 0 in another game where the Rays made a lot of contact but most of it was weak or right at somebody. Jasseel De La Cruz made his Trop debut with a scoreless 8th which included a strikeout of Vlad Jr with a man on 3rd, but TJ McFarland gave up a run in the 9th. Cy Young-turned-closer Nate Pearson came on for the save in the 9th, which he got, but not until Keibert Ruiz took him deep for #15 to at least spare the Rays the embarrassment of a shutout. Ruiz and Meadows each had two hits, combining for 80% of the team total tonight.

Game 2: This game for all the world looked like it would be the Rays' 4th loss in 5 games, but a miraculous 9th inning comeback gave them a 10-9 win. Down 9-6 with two out and two on in the ninth, Keibert Ruiz took Nate Pearson deep for the second time in two games to tie the game and then Alec Bohm followed with his 28th HR of the season to win it. We got there in large part due a rare bad start from Noah Syndergaard, who was extremely hittable tonight, going 5 11 4 4 0 7. You know it's not your night when you give up a long HR to Austin Nola. He left down 4-2 and then Scott Barlow did Scott Barlow things again, allowing 3 runs in the 6th to make it 7-2 but the Rays got right back in it on a Vidal Brujan grand slam. However Shane McClanahan continued his recent struggles and allowed 2 runs of his own in the 7th to make it 9-6. Ty Buttrey continued to excel, pitching 1 1/3 scoreless in relief of McClanahan, and Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side in the 9th to pick up his first Rays win. Brujan and Rafael Devers each had 3 hits as everyone in the lineup had at least one.

August 9: Placed OF Alex Kirilloff on the 60-day IL with recurring back spasms.

Kirilloff is now out 45 days with recurring back spasms, an injury which cost him a couple of months in 2021. This time around he was coming back from a ruptured finger tendon, and last year he missed 2 1/2 months with a hamstring injury. This ends his season as even if Durham makes the IL Championship series it'll be over by September 23 so back on the 60-day DL he goes. It spares me from having to put Dany Jimenez through waivers when his rehab time was due to be up.

Game 3: The Rays can beat you any way, yesterday it was 10-9, today it was 1-0. Chris Paddack got the start and bounced back from his miserable outing in Boston by whiffing 9 Jays in 6 1/3 innings. It wasn't a totally dominant performance as he gave up 7 hits and walked 3, but it was enough to improve him to 11-6. The Rays only managed 3 hits off Sean Reid-Foley and Isaac Matson and two of them were Rafael Devers singles but the third was a solo HR by Triston Casas, subbing for Seth Beer today at DH. Casas' blast came in the 5th inning and was his 8th of the season in only 85 at-bats. Jose Alvarado got Paddack out of a jam in the 7th, striking out Vlad Jr. with a man on 3rd to end the inning, Nick Anderson had a perfect 2K inning and Will Smith made it 24-for-24, erasing the one-out single he allowed by getting Juan Lagares to hit into a game-ending double play and lowering his ERA to 0.92. The Rays have an off-day tomorrow before heading to the west coast to play 3 in Seattle (a team they haven't seen this season) and 3 in San Diego (who of course they also haven't seen but are one of the best teams in MLB this year, neck-and-neck with the Dodgers for the NL West lead).

Team record: 84-32. Magic number: 24.