[Art Deco]

Before we start the Houston series, a couple of transactions:

April 26: Claimed P Kirby Yates on waivers, designated P Dany Jimenez for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Who says you can't go home again? Kirby Yates, who started his MLB career with the Rays in 2014-2015, is back ten years later. In the meantime Yates has been a quality reliever, and spent a few years as a closer for the Padres and later the Reds in 2020. His career was derailed in 2022 and the first part of 2023 with a torn UCL but he came back last year with the Mets and was brilliant, with an 8/58 BB/K ratio in 39 innings last season. He became a free agent and signed with Pittsburgh, but after 3 outings in which he gave up 4 runs in 3 2/3 innings they put him on waivers and I'm glad to chance it with him, as he should at least be an upgrade on Jimenez, whose spot on the roster and the 40-man he takes. Jimenez has cleared waivers 3 times in the last 6 months so I imagine he will again.

April 26: Traded minor-league 2B Gionti Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor-league RHP Jack Perkins.

Turner's a singles-hitting middle infielder who was playing at AA Montgomery and was tough to envision as anything more than a second-division utility infielder so he wasn't tough to part with for Perkins, a righty who has excellent stuff, whiffing 89 in 59 innings last season in High-A, and who had 10 whiffs in 8 innings at AA Tulsa so far this season. Scouting reports say he has mid-rotation potential, although the Dodgers have used him as a reliever. I'm going to put him into the Montgomery rotation and see how he does, but I like his upside way more than Turner's.

Game 1: The Rays got back to winning ways with a comprehensive 9-2 win over Houston as one hitter continued ludicrously hot and another who came in with a snowflake next to his name might have broken out of it. The former of course is Hunter Bishop, who had a big 2-run double in the bottom of the 2nd to put the Rays ahead 3-2, and later added a sac fly. Bishop has 4 HR and 13 RBI in 7 games and 23 at-bats. In fact, his 13 RBI are tied for third on the team behind Wander and Brujan's 14 and they've been playing all season. The cold guy you might have also guessed is Alec Bohm, who had 2 hits today and scored twice before he finally hit his 1st HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the 7th off Raisel Iglesias. It was long overdue for the guy who hit 38 last season and 6 more in the postseason including the walk-off shot in Game 6 that put the Rays in the World Series. Brujan tonight was 2-3 with 2 RBI and a steal (#9 which leads the AL) and Rafael Devers had an RBI double in the 1st. Max Fried was the starter and winner and made it through 6 innings with only 2 runs allowed but it was a struggle. His second inning could have been much worse had he not gotten two strikeouts with the bases loaded to end it, and he averaged 2 runners per inning, going 6 9 2 2 3 6 to go to 3-1. Aaron Ashby, who's undergone a 180-degree turnaround from most of last season, had 2 scoreless innings with 3 Ks, and Kirby Yates made his Rays return with a 1-2-3 9th.

Game 2: The Rays won 5-2 today but I would have traded that win for the loss they suffered during the game. Starter Chris Paddack had to leave in the 7th and it turns out he will miss the rest of the season with shoulder inflammation. He's been their most consistent starter aside from Tyler Glasnow since they acquired him at the deadline in 2022 and he'll be tough to replace. And given that he's no longer eligible for arbitration and is a free agent at year's end this is likely the last game he'll pitch in a Rays uniform. At least he went out with a win, going 6.1 7 2 2 1 7 to end the year 3-0, it was a typical Paddack performance: a strikeout an inning, hardly any walks (his walk in the 4th was his only one of the year), and a homer allowed (to Carlos Correa). As for the game, Austin Meadows was the offensive star, he doubled and scored on a Seth Beer single to put them up 2-1, and after the Correa homer tied it in the sixth, he hit a 2-run shot (#3) in the bottom of the inning to put the Rays ahead to stay. Alec Bohm went deep for the second straight night a couple of batters later off Houston starter David Villegas. Vidal Brujan had singled home Nick Schnell, who had doubled, for the first Rays run. Nick Anderson came in for Paddack in the 7th and struck out a couple to end that inning, Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 8th, and Will Smith worked around a 2-out single for save #7. For the short term, there's a good chance that Shane McClanahan gets called up to make his first Rays start as he's looked good at Durham in their rotation (2-0, 0.92, 2/21 BB/K ratio in 19.2 innings), and depending on how things shake out when Matt Manning comes back, Daniel Lynch may keep his spot in the rotation.

April 28: Placed P Chris Paddack on the 60-day IL with shoulder inflammation, recalled P Shane McClanahan from AAA Durham.

Depending on how things shake out, McClanahan could be used in long relief if needed since there's an off-day coming up and Paddack's rotation spot could be skipped for a turn.

Game 3: The kids were alright in a 7-0 win over, and series sweep of, the Houston Astros. Dustin May, not really a kid but a junior member of the staff, was dominant today going 8 4 0 0 0 7 with two of the hits infield singles by noted speedster Yordan Alvarez. He set the tone by striking out Jose Altuve to start the game (he whiffed the hard-to-K Altuve again later) and was never in any trouble. He got all the offense it turned out he would need when Nick Schnell hit a monster blast to the RCF stands in the 3rd, but got plenty more in the next inning when Triston Casas, getting a rare start with Rafael Devers needing a rest, hit a grand slam off Jose Urquidy to make it 5-0. Alec Bohm continued on his mini-roll by getting an RBI single in the 5th to make it 6-0, and then Casas went deep again the opposite way most impressively off a lefty, Kyle Kubat, to round out the scoring. May was at 101 pitches after the 8th and I decided not to push him (remembering how bad Max Fried was in his next start after I let him throw nearly 120 to get a shutout earlier this season), so Mitch Keller came in and struck out the side in the 9th to complete the shutout.

Team record: 15-5.