[Art Deco]

Game 1: From the previous post I just knew they would struggle with the 22-61 Cubs, and they did today but not so much that they lost. However it came down to the last batter before the Rays escaped with a 4-3 win. It was Daniel Lynch against Dinelson Lamet, and Lamet kept the Rays in check for 7 innings with a 2-1 lead. But they broke through in the 8th against him, despite losing leadoff hitter Wander Franco, who had singled, to a caught stealing. Austin Meadows (who had an RBI double in the 3rd for the first Rays run) walked, Rafael Devers singled to chase Lamet then Keibert Ruiz ripped a double to the gap off Mychal Givens scoring them both, and Nick Schnell followed with a single to score Keibert to make it 4-2. Lynch went 6 6 2 2 1 7 and Mitchell Verburg followed with a perfect 7th, picking up the win. Nick Anderson breezed through the 8th with a pair of Ks, but Jasseel De La Cruz struggled mightily in the 9th. After striking out Ian Happ to start the inning, he gave up a walk, a single to put runners at 1st and 3rd, a wild pitch to score a run and put the tying run on 2nd, and then a single which led the runner to attempt to score but Nick Schnell threw him out at the plate and De La Cruz got a groundout to end the game and get a shaky save #14.

Game 2: The Rays have had a habit of playing down to their competition this year, and a 2-game sweep of a terrible Cubs team was too much to ask as they fell 9-6. Dustin May was due for a stinker, and a stinker is what he gave us, going 4 9 6 6 2 3 and allowing at least a run in each inning he pitched. He left down 6-0 but the Rays made a few attempts to come back, getting 3 in the 5th including a 2-run HR from Vidal Brujan, his 3rd of the year as part of a 3-5 game for him. 6-3 is where we stayed until the 8th, when Asa Lacy turned in a terrible performance, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs in his lone inning of pitching. The Rays did make it marginally interesting in the 9th off Cub reliever Ryan Jensen including a Rafael Devers RBI single, his 4th hit of the day, and a Keibert Ruiz double to cut it to 9-6 and they had the tying run at the plate but Alec Bohm and Nick Schnell both struck out to end the game.

Team record: 54-32. Up next: Back home to the Trop for the first time in almost 2 weeks starting tomorrow with a 4-game set against Boston. We won't see our old buddy Abraham Toro as he's currently on the IL.