[Art Deco]

September 22: Placed P TJ McFarland on the 15-day IL with a tired arm, activated OF Brandon Marsh from the 10-day IL.

Game 1: The late-season swoon continues as the Rays drop their fifth game in six, 5-2 to Boston despite a fine effort from Tyler Glasnow. Through 6 the Rays led 1-0 on a Seth Beer HR (#21) and Glasnow had 2-hit the Sox, striking out 9. But he got himself into trouble in the 7th by walking Alex Verdugo and Ryan Mountcastle, and Verdugo came around to score on a sac fly by Xander Bogaerts for the second out. That would have been manageable except he then gave up a 2-run HR to Willians Astudillo to make it 3-1 and that was the ballgame. Ty Buttrey gave up a HR to 20-power-rated Travis Jankowski to make it 4-1, and Scott Barlow of course gave up a run, a HR to Mountcastle. The Rays meanwhile were mostly shackled by Pablo Lopez. After he put a couple of runners on in the ninth, Boston closer Durbin Feltman came on and proceeded to walk Alec Bohm to load the bases and then he walked Beer to force in a run. But Nick Schnell hit a line drive to Bogaerts and he doubled up Bohm off 2nd base to end the game. Lopez held the Rays to 8.1 6 2 2 1 7 while Glasnow was 7 3 3 3 2 10. The loss means the Rays have to win their final 8 to set the MLB single-season wins record, an unlikely outcome.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls rolled in Game 1 of the best-of-5 International League Championship Series, 7-4 over Indianapolis. Veteran Jose Abreu had the big hit, a 2-run double which broke a 3-3 tie in the 5th inning. Chris Betts was 2-4 with his 1st HR of the postseason and another vet, Wil Myers, was 2-4 with 2 RBI. Clarke Schmidt got the win although he struggled at times, going 5 6 3 3 3 7 and allowing a pair of homers. But Austin Franklin and Tyler Zombro combined for 4 innings of quality relief as the Bulls remain undefeated this postseason.

Game 2: Dustin May stole the show today with 7 shutout innings as the Rays edged the Red Sox 3-2. May was in control from the start, retiring the first 12 Red Sox before Ryan Mountcastle singled off him to lead off the 5th. And when did give up some hits, he consistently got the ground ball (12 in total) to get out of it. He went 7 5 0 0 0 7 to go to 3-1 in a performance worthy of the man he's replacing in the rotation at the moment, Noah Syndergaard. Nick Anderson relieved him in the 8th and gave up a longball for the second straight outing. After allowing a one-out double to Niko Goodrum, Anderson served up a 2-run HR to our good friend Abraham Toro to make it a 1-run game but he struck out Randal Grichuk and a tough customer in Alex Verdugo to end the inning. Will Smith issued a one-out walk, but immediately got pinch-hitter Jeter Downs to ground into a twin killing to preserve the win and save #37. The Rays didn't generate that much offense against Matt Shoemaker; despite 10 hits against him they could manage only the 3 runs, which came on an Austin Meadows RBI double in the first, a Brandon Marsh RBI double in the 2nd, and a Wander infield single that brought home a run. Still it was enough for May and for win #110.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls have had a knack for digging themselves out of big holes, and fell behind 6-0 today when Shane Baz didn't have it today (4 5 5 5 4 6). They nearly pulled it out, losing 10-9 to Indianapolis with Jose Abreu being thrown out at the plate to end the game (really negligence on my part for not pinch-running for him in the 9th). Spencer Torkelson had 4 RBI, Tyler Frank was 4-5 with an RBI and Owen Miller was 3-4 with an RBI to pace the offense. The difference today was that the bullpen let them down - Grant Gambrell and Drew Strotman each allowed a pair of runs and Caleb Sampen allowed one, which meant as good as the offense was they were always playing from behind. The series now goes to Indy tied 1-1.

Game 3: The Rays managed to win a game they trailed for almost its entire length when Brandon Marsh drilled a 3-run HR into the RF stands off Jamie Callahan in bottom of the 8th, prevailing 5-4 and dealing a crippling blow to Boston's wild card hopes. Daniel Lynch got the start and it seemed like he was in trouble the entire time. The first two batters of the game scored when Jeter Downs took him deep in the 1st, and after the Rays tied it at 2 in the 2nd he loaded the bases with nobody out in the 3rd and walked Marcell Ozuna to force in a run. But he managed to get out of that jam with just the one run and he kept doing so until he left in the 6th, when Shane McClanahan got him out of his last jam. He went 5 6 3 3 4 6 but it could have been so much worse. It did get worse when Ty Buttrey allowed one of McClanahan's runners to score in the 7th to make it 4-2, although Buttrey got through the 8th, setting the stage for Marsh's heroics. After Triston Casas, getting a start at 1B today, singled off Alex Claudio, Callahan came on and got Ronaldo Hernandez to pop out, but he then walked Nick Schnell which brought up Marsh and the HR. Will Smith had a 1-2-3 9th to nail down save #38 while Buttrey got his 3rd Rays win. Earlier the Rays had scored in the first on Wander's 35th HR and a Brujan RBI single. Schnell meanwhile has reasserted himself as the frontrunner in the OF competition by reaching base 10 of his last 19 times up over his last 5 starts, going 7-16 with 3 walks and a pair of steals.

Also, the Minnesota Twins lost game #81 today to drop to 75-81. The significance of this is that as they lead the AL Central they (or somewhat less likely the Royals who are 2 1/2 behind them) will be the first MLB team to win a division with a record of .500 or (almost assuredly in this case) worse. The 2005 Padres won the NL West at 82-80 for the previous worst division-winning record. The Angels, who have almost wrapped up the West, will get quite the break getting to play the Twins or Royals. Meanwhile it's looking like a Seattle-Houston wild card game with the Rays of course playing the winner in the ALDS, although Boston is still hanging in there 1 1/2 behind Houston.

Game 4: It was another tight win for the Rays and another nail in Boston's postseason coffin as Chris Paddack did enough through 6 innings and the bullpen did enough over the last 3 to hang on to a 5-4 decision. Like Daniel Lynch yesterday Paddack gave up a HR to the second batter of the game but this time there was nobody on and Randal Grichuk's blast was all he allowed through 5. Meanwhile the offense built a 4-run lead on a Meadows RBI single in the third and a 4-run 4th that saw a tie-breaking 2-run shot by the hot Nick Schnell, a Wander RBI double and another Meadows RBI single. Paddack ran into trouble in the 6th allowing 2 runs and put the leadoff man on in the 7th. Jose Alvarado came in and got Xander Bogaerts to hit into a double play but then made a mess of his own, allowing another run on a walk and 2 hits. Nick Anderson struck out 2 around a walk in the 8th, and then with Will Smith having pitched in the last 2 games, Jasseel De La Cruz pitched the 9th and got his 2nd Rays save with a pair of strikeouts of his own. Paddack improves to 16-6 this season, and 27-6 as a Ray including last year's playoffs. The faint hopes of setting the MLB win record remain alive: they'll have to beat the Yankees the next two nights and sweep the final series of the season in Toronto over the weekend.

Team record: 112-45.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls are one win away from back-to-back International League titles as they edged Indianapolis 4-3 on the road in Game 3. Spencer Torkelson had a big night, on base all 5 times with a pair of RBI doubles and 3 walks, and Chris Betts had the big hit in the fifth breaking a 2-2 tie with his 2nd HR of the finals. Asa Lacy, who had a shutout in the first round, was excellent again today going 6 4 2 2 1 4 to pick up the win, and Sandy Gaston blew away Indy in the 9th striking out the side on 12 pitches for the save. Jimmy Lewis will get the Game 4 start tomorrow to hopefully wrap it up.