[Art Deco]

Game 1: Interleague baseball at the Trop, and the Rays took care of business with a 7-0 win. Matt Manning continued red-hot, going 7.2 4 0 0 3 9 on 108 pitches as he's now 9-4, 2.54, and he had little margin for error with the Rays only up 2-0 while he pitched. Brandon Marsh hit HR #4 off Kenta Maeda to start things off in the 4th, and after Vidal Brujan walked Wander Franco executed a hit-and-run, lacing a double into the gap to easily score the Rays' speedy 2B man. That's where things stood in the 8th, where Manning walked the leadoff man who went to 3rd on a Christian Yelich single with two out. Jose Alvarado was summoned to get Francisco Mejia, and he did with a fly ball. Then the Rays busted it open in the 8th off Sean Doolittle with the big hits being a 2-run Alec Bohm double and a bases-clearing double from Meibrys Viloria, his first big hit as a Ray after Keston Hiura was intentionally walked ahead of him. Sandy Gaston then finished it out with a typical 1-walk, 2-strikeout inning.

Game 2: The Rays were held to 3 hits on the night as they lost 4-2 to Milwaukee. Shane McClanahan ended up having one of his rougher starts this year, although he did whiff 8 in 5 2/3 innings. The problem was he also walked 4 and allowed 6 hits, leading to 4 Milwaukee runs. The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Vidal Brujan walked and was singled home by Keibert Ruiz, but Luis Urias homered for the Brewers in the 2nd to tie it, and then they added 2 in the 4th and 1 in the 5th. A Wander groundout scored Brandon Marsh to make it 4-2, but that was as close as they got as brief former Ray Tony Gonsolin got the win in middle relief for the Brewers. The Rays did draw 7 walks on the night but couldn't turn that to their advantage. DL Hall went 1 1/3 of scoreless relief and Mitchell Verburg and Will Smith threw scoreless innings as well.

Game 3: The Rays got back in the win column with a 6-1 decision over Milwaukee behind some strong pitching led by Asa Lacy. With Tyler Glasnow coming off the IL this will be Lacy's last start until and unless another injury occurs, and he made the most of it although he didn't pick up the win. He went 5.2 4 1 1 2 7 and left at 102 pitches and with two men on. Sandy Gaston, whom I'm trusting more and more, came into the 1-1 game and got Harrison Bader to fly out. The Rays then erupted for 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th off Madison Bumgarner. Austin Meadows doubled with one out, and Rafael Devers singled him to third before Keibert Ruiz doubled Meadows home, Alec Bohm singled in Devers and Ruiz, and Keston Hiura took vengeance on his old team with a 2-run homer, his 7th of the season. Gaston, who picked up his 3rd win, had a perfect 7th with a couple of whiffs. Will Smith pitched the 8th and gave up a run on 3 hits but caught a break when a Brewer was caught and tagged out in a rundown, and Mitch Keller whiffed a pair in the 9th to close it out. Gaston has been getting better and better, now with a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings with an eye-popping 55 Ks. Of course he's walked 20 but he's only allowed 20 hits, and of course he has 80 stuff. Thanks to injuries to Ian Hamilton he's kept his spot and now Hamilton is almost due back from his latest rehab assignment. My options now are to either leave Hamilton down or send down Mitchell Verburg who hasn't quite lived up to billing since being acquired.

Team record: 73-40. Next up: An off-day, followed by 2 home games again Boston.