Game 1: The Rays' midseason malaise continues as they lose to Boston 3-2 in a strange game. Strange in that all the scoring came in the first inning as Walker Buehler picked up where left off in getting bombed by Baltimore last night out, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk before his teammates could come to bat. But the Rays struck right back in the bottom of the inning off Justin Dunn when Rafael Devers tripled in Vidal Brujan and then scored on a Keibert Ruiz single. And that was it. Buehler settled down and was basically unhittable the rest of the way, pitching a complete game, going 9 5 3 3 1 9 on 101 pitches. Dunn allowed 8 hits over his 7 innings but didn't walk anybody so the Rays usually only had one man on base at a time. Nick Schnell got a hit off Boston closer Durbin Feltman with two out but Keston Hiura grounded out to end the game. Baltimore lost so the lead remains 11 games.
Game 2: Well, nobody scored in the final 8 innings yesterday, and nobody scored in the first 6 innings today as Matt Manning and Domingo German hooked up in a duel. But Manning blinked first in the 7th, allowing a Ryan Mountcastle double and then a Xander Bogaerts RBI single and Boston took a 1-0 lead that German made stand up with a 4-hit shutout. German walked 1 and struck out 7 as the Rays mounted only one serious scoring threat when Wander Franco tripled with 1 out in the 3rd but couldn't be brought home. Rafael Devers singled with two out in the 9th to give a brief glimmer of hope but Alec Bohm couldn't get one of his famous walk-off homers, instead striking out to end the game. Manning was excellent, going 7 4 1 1 1 5 in taking the tough-luck loss. Mitchell Verburg pitched the final two innings, giving him 6 2/3 shutout innings over his first four Rays appearances. Baltimore won so the lead is down to 10.
3-game losing streak, so it's time to shake things up with a trade:
The situation with Ronaldo had become untenable. He was never going to get the full-time job over Keibert Ruiz, and as a result his anger has affected his play this season, as you can see from the numbers above. He does deserve to start elsewhere and I expect him to thrive in Kansas City, although they have another good young catcher of their own in MJ Melendez. So I made lemonade from lemons here, and got some decent value back. First of all, Meibrys Viloria is kind of the perfect backup catcher, he's 60 defense and hits for average, around .280-.300. He doesn't have Ronaldo's power but he will hit more consistently. Of course the real prize here is Leiter, the #3 overall pick in 2023, the #35 prospect in MLB and a future stud for the rotation. To get him in the deal, I needed to include Ian Lewis, a nice SS prospect who's ranked #67 himself but who I've always been less high on than BNN. And I also got KC to thrown in Barillas, who has some real power potential although he hasn't displayed it above rookie ball yet. I am sad to see Ronaldo go, he was so productive the previous two seasons in his limited playing time, but his patience ran out and then so did mine.
Game 3: Another well-pitched game by a Rays starter, and this time the offense scratched out enough runs to get him the win. Tyler Glasnow bounced back from his Baltimore beating with a 7 6 1 1 1 9 outing and the Rays snapped their 3-game losing streak with a 4-1 win. Glasnow found himself behind in the 2nd when Niko Goodrum doubled in Xander Bogaerts, but that was all he gave up. And in the bottom of the inning the Rays rallied with two outs to get a pair on a bases-loaded Vidal Brujan single to take the lead for good and get their first runs in 18 innings. Wander Franco added a solo HR in the 5th, his 14th, to make it 3-1 and a Rafael Devers' fielder's choice RBI gave them some insurance in the 7th. Jose Alvarado had a scoreless 8th for his 18th hold and Jasseel De La Cruz made quick work of Boston in the 9th to get save #15. Glasnow heads into the all-star break (and presumably the all-star game) at 9-3, 3.77. Baltimore was shut out today so the lead is back to 11.
Game 4: The Rays head into the All-Star break on a high note, thrashing the Red Sox 10-1. Daniel Lynch made it 4 excellent starts out of 4 in the series (sadly they only won 2 of them), going 7 5 1 1 2 7 and improving to 9-3, 3.18. Keibert Ruiz led the attack, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and a HR, and they also got HRs from Keston and Heston as Hiura went deep in the 2nd to make it 2-0 and Kjerstad hit one in the 4th to make it 6-1. Wander was 3-4 with a pair of doubles (the team hit 8) and an RBI but injured himself on the last double, straining his back with a 6-day injury. This will keep him out of the ASG but he may end up missing only 1 game with the break. Sandy Gaston had a nice 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts (giving him 40 in 25 1/3) and Asa Lacy pitched around a couple of hits to get through the 9th. Baltimore won so the Rays go into the break up 11 games in the AL East.
Team record: 56-34. Up next: the All-Star break, we'll have a post with the rosters, the game result and a report on how the various Rays did, as well as the Rays prospects playing in the Futures Game.