Game 1: On a night the offense largely took off, a brilliant outing from Chris Paddack and an electric relief Rays debut from Asa Lacy helped the Rays to a 4-1 win and a 4-0 start to the season. Paddack was dealing early, with 8 Ks through 4 innings, and a Cavan Biggio RBI single was the only mark against his record. After he departed with a 6 5 1 1 0 8 line, Lacy took over with the idea of getting through the 7th but he was so good he pitched the 8th as well, ending with 2 hitless innings and 4 strikeouts. Will Smith picked up save #3, getting Bo Bichette to hit into a double play and striking out Ryan Noda to end the game. The offense only managed 5 hits on the night but did draw 5 walks, mostly off Toronto starter Simeon Woods Richardson who was also hurt by a pair of Blue Jay errors. Keibert Ruiz had 3 of the team's 5 hits, including an RBI, Nick Schnell drew a bases-loaded walk, and the big hit was Vidal Brujan's 2-run single in the 3-run 2nd inning.
Game 2: Another day at the office for the Rays, who cruised to a 5-1 win behind the excellent pitching of Dustin May, who went 6 5 1 1 1 8 in his first start as a regular member of the Rays rotation. Meanwhile the offense had more success against another Toronto pitcher with 3 names, tonight battering Sean Reid-Foley for 4 runs and 7 hits in the first 2 innings before Reid-Foley had to leave with forearm stiffness. He probably also developed neck stiffness from turning to watch the Rays circle the bases. In the first, Wander singled, stole second and scored on a Rafael Devers double, and then they hit for 3 in the 2nd that started with a leadoff homer from Seth Beer (only the team's 3rd in 5 games, with Wander getting the other 2), followed by a Nick Schnell double, Keston Hiura (giving Brujan a night off) single, a Wander RBI single, and an Austin Meadows sac fly. Reid-Foley was followed by rookie Yennsy Diaz (just how many Y.Diazes are there in the league now?) who pitched 5 2/3 innings of great relief, whiffing 5 Rays before they finally got to him in the 8th for a run which scored on a Brandon Marsh infield single. In that rally Beer was hit by yet another pitch and has a 4-day thigh bruise injury so Tork and/or Casas should be getting some at-bats. May was relieved by Jose Alvarado, who struck out all 3 Jays he faced in the 7th, then Jasseel De La Cruz had a scoreless 8th. Nick Anderson was in line for the save with Will Smith in need of a rest after 3 saves in 4 games but with the extra run in the 8th Dany Jimenez was given the ball. He allowed singles to the first two batters but got a deep fly out and then a double play which he started himself to end the game as the Rays remain undefeated to start the year. Wander had 3 more hits (and a couple of steals) and is now 10 for 20.
Rays disapora update: The Royals put Drew Strotman in their rotation but his debut did not go so well as he allowed 5 runs in 3 innings at Houston, admittedly a tough place to pitch. Also for the Royals another former Rays property whom we acquired twice and dealt twice, JJ Bleday, was 2-4 with his first MLB homer. The Royals claimed Bleday on waivers from San Diego, which now has nothing to show for the Chris Paddack deal after they released Brendan McKay. Meanwhile Strotman's partner in crime, Austin Franklin, made his Nationals debut today with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief with 3 strikeouts.
Durham update: The move-Shane-McClanahan-to-the-starting-rotation experiment had an early success: 7.2 3 0 0 1 8 on only 89 pitches against Charlotte today in an 8-0 Bulls win that saw Chris Betts, Owen Miller and Niko Hulsizer go deep.
Game 3: It was the Tork and Tyler show tonight at the Trop as the Rays made it 6 straight wins to start the year with a 6-3 triumph. In the 2nd inning Spencer Torkelson drilled his first MLB HR of many to come with a 2-run oppo taco to the RF stands to give the Rays the lead to stay, after Vlad Jr. hit a 517-ft missile against Tyler Glasnow in the 1st to give the Jays a brief lead. Tork later singled and had an RBI double in the 7th to go 3-4 with the HR and 3 RBI. On the pitching side Glasnow was untouchable after the Vlad blast, going 7 3 1 1 1 8 in another great start from the staff. With the game 6-1, Aaron Ashby came on and struck out the first two lefties he faced but two men on. Since the worst that could happen was 6-4 I let him pitch to Vlad, who made it 6-3 with a 2-run double. Jasseel De La Cruz got Bo Bichette to end the inning, and with Will Smith still a bit tired and several lefties due up, Jose Alvarado got the save opportunity and cashed it in, getting a DP to erase a leadoff single and a pop-up to end it. In non-Tork offensive news, Vidal Brujan was 3-5 with 2 steals and an RBI, Wander remains at .500 with 2 more hits and a ribbie, Triston Casas spelled Alec Bohm and was 2-3 with a walk, and Rafael Devers hit his first homer of the year in the 3rd off Matt Wisler, whom the Rays tattooed for 12 hits in 5.2 innings.
Game 4: Another great start from the rotation and the bats came alive in the late innings for what turned out to be an 8-2 thumping of the Jays and a 7-0 start to the season. Daniel Lynch, filling in for Matt Manning, was an excellent 6 3 1 1 2 7 with his only blemish being - you guessed it - a Vlad Jr. HR. Guerrero had 3 of the Jays 5 hits for the entire game as Lynch was in control for the most part. Asa Lacy came on again and was impressive, although he did allow a solo HR to Brett Phillips he was otherwise untouched in his 2 innings with a pair of Ks, and once the game was blown open again in the 8th Mitch Keller finished instead of Will Smith and had a pair of strikeouts around a Vlad double. As mentioned the offense started slow with only 2 runs through the first 5 innings, scoring one on a DP groundout and the other on a Wander double. But they added a pair in the 6th on Austin Meadows' 1st longball of the year and a RBI double for Keston Hiura for his first big hit as a Ray. A Meadows sac fly plated a run in the 7th and then Brandon Marsh went deep for the first time this year himself, into the Rays tank to score 3 for the final margin. The Rays had 13 hits on the day with Alec Bohm's 3 leading the way. Spencer Torkelson was 0-4 as the only Ray not to reach base.
Team record: 7-0.
This didn't come as a surprise:
