That should say July above, not August.
July 29: Activated OF Brandon Marsh from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, designated OF Wil Myers for assignment and placed him on waivers.
Unsurprisingly Myers didn't accept a demotion to Durham, so off to waivers he goes.
Game 1: A close game turned ugly as the Rays offense remains in the dumps, and Baltimore took an 8-1 decision to move within 9 1/2 games of the division lead. The Orioles need a sweep to give them a chance at making it a race, and they took the first game behind an excellent performance from Vladimir Gutierrez who went 8 2 1 1 2 5. Daniel Lynch was right there with him for 5 innings before allowing a leadoff Austin Hays HR in the 6th to give the O's the lead to stay. Mitch Keller pitched an excellent 1 2/3 innings in relief of Lynch (5.1 3 2 2 3 7) but Mitchell Verburg had another bad outing and throwing Nick Frasso in for his MLB debut didn't work out so well as the two combined to allow 6 runs in the 8th. Frasso snapped back after allowing hits to the first 3 batters he faced by striking out four of the next five, but by then it was too late. And it probably didn't matter as the offense had its second straight bad day with only Wander's 16th HR of the year in the 5th putting them on the board.
Game 2: The offense was largely absent again today, but one well-sequenced set of at-bats and Matt Manning's pitching were enough to get the Rays a 4-0 win over Baltimore which for the moment snuffs out hope the Orioles could make it a race as the lead is back to 10 1/2. Grayson Rodriguez kept the Rays in check until the 5th when Nick Schnell (who was 3-for-3) and Triston Casas singled, Vidal Brujan walked, and then with two out Wander Franco hit a grand slam, his 17th HR of the season and second in two games. That was all the Rays would need and all they would get, while Manning did his thing. He wasn't completely dominating as Baltimore managed 8 hits and a walk off him in 7 innings but his 8 strikeouts helped him get out of some mild jams with baserunners on. Nick Anderson got through the 8th despite putting a couple of men on, and Will Smith pitched the 9th to complete the team shutout. The Rays only managed 7 hits as a team but I'm sure they'll get the offense going a bit more consistently.
Game 3: It was another low-scoring affair at the Trop, and the Rays came out on top 3-2 in 12 innings. In doing so, they prevailed over their three bugaboos: left-handed pitching, one-run games and extra-inning games. Heston Kjerstad's 3rd hit of the game was a single which drove in Keibert Ruiz in the bottom of the 12th, giving Nick Frasso his first MLB win in his second appearance. With a few of the bullpen tired, Frasso came on in the 11th and pitched two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts. The only reason the game went to extras is that they tied it with two out in the bottom of the 9th when Vidal Brujan walked with the bases loaded, their first run since Wander Franco scored on a wild pitch in the 1st inning. Shane McClanahan started and had his usual 6-inning, 2-run outing, going 6 6 2 2 2 5, but was outdueled by DL Hall. Mitchell Verburg had 2 scoreless innings, bouncing back after a few bad outings, Sandy Gaston pitched a Sandy Gaston inning, walking 2 while striking out the side, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a perfect 10th, striking out the side as well. The win effectively ends any realistic hope of Baltimore taking the division as the lead now grows to 11 1/2 games.
Team record: 65-37. Next up: 4 games in Yankee Stadium.
And in a classic case of "if you can't beat 'em, trade for 'em" we swung a deal after the game and right before the deadline with Baltimore to pick up DL Hall and his 70 starter/75 reliever stuff. It comes with 35 control but I think our coaching staff can help him. Casey has excellent numbers in the low minors and could be a sleeper. The cost was Brandon Dieter, who's a nice MI prospect with on-base skills but no power, but Baltimore kept making Hall in available in potential trades so I was glad to oblige them. Since Hall started tonight, I won't add him to the roster for several days, but obviously there will be moves to come.