Game 1: A game which through the first 7 innings looked like a typical low-scoring affair at the Trop became Coors Field over the final 2 innings with four HRs being hit and the lead going back and forth as Wander Franco's 3-run blast, his second of the game, gave the Rays an 8-5 walk-off win. Before the madness began, it was Matt Manning against Luis Castillo and the Rays had a 3-2 lead after 7. Alec Bohm blasted a 2-run HR in the second (#21), Cleveland strung some hits and a walk together off Manning to get 2 runs and tie in the 6th, and in the bottom of the inning Wander went deep for the first time today. With Jose Alvarado unavailable after working the last two days and some lefties up, Will Smith got a high-leverage chance. He struck out the tough Nolan Jones but hit Gary Sanchez, and Cleveland pinch-hit Tyreque Reed for lefty Bobby Bradley and Reed took Smith deep to make it 4-3. Smith stayed in against the righty Lewis Brinson and he too homered to make it 5-3. But the Rays rallied right back against James Karinchak in the bottom of the frame as Wander walked, was wild-pitched to 2nd, went to third on a fly ball and scored on a passed ball. That passed ball came with Keibert Ruiz at the plate and it must have rattled Karinchak as he then served up a homer to Ruiz (#9) to tie the game. The homer was Keibert's 4th hit of the game. Mitchell Verburg came in for Smith and retired all 5 men he faced with a pair of Ks, and then in the bottom of ninth Daniel Espino gave up singles to Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan, setting the stage for Wander's walk-off blast, his 20th of the season. Manning went 7 7 2 2 2 6 and he's now thrown enough innings that his 2.54 ERA qualifies for the league lead.
Game 2: It was the Heston, Keston and Gaston show as Kjerstad's 2-run triple in the 4th and Hiura's 2-run single in the 7th provided the offense and Sandy brought the heat in a 4-2 Rays win. The two were filling in for Nick Schnell and Vidal Brujan and showed off the team's depth. Daniel Lynch got the start for the Rays and did his usual 6-inning, 2-run thing although he did not factor into the decision. He had a 2-1 lead in the 5th but gave up Nolan Jones' 30th HR of the season to tie it, so he gave way to Gaston in the 7th. And once again Gaston was filthy. He struck out the side in order in the 7th and looked so good doing it he pitched the 8th as well, striking out 2 more and allowing a hit. Hiura's heroics enabled him to pick the up the win, his 4th. Jasseel De La Cruz needed 25 pitches to get through the 9th, walking a couple of men, but still picked up save #22 as the Rays rolled to their 5th straight win and 21st in 27 games since the All-Star break.
Game 3: Asa Lacy was the controversial choice to stay in the rotation when Tyler Glasnow came back as Shane McClanahan had been more consistent, but because Lacy was out of options and McClanahan wasn't Lacy stayed up. Well Lacy did his best to quell the controversy by taking a no-hitter into the 6th inning and going 7 2 1 1 2 3 to beat Cleveland 3-1 and improve his record to 6-1. The Rays got on the board quickly in the 1st when Wander Franco tripled and scored on an Austin Meadows sac fly, and they tacked on a run in the 4th when Alec Bohm singled, stole his first base of the year, went to third on the throw into the outfield, and scored on Nick Schnell's sac fly. Meanwhile, Lacy held Cleveland without a hit for 5 2/3 innings before Anthony Alford doubled to deep center. In the bottom of the 6th, Rafael Devers hit his 3rd HR of the week, #17 for the season, off Triston McKenzie to make it 3-0. Lacy lost his shutout bid in the 7th when Gary Sanchez took him deep, and he finished the inning and his outing on 87 pitches. Nick Anderson made quick work of Cleveland with 2 Ks in the 8th, and pitched to the first batter in the 9th and allowed an infield single. Jose Alvarado came on for the save with Jasseel De La Cruz tired from his lengthy 9th inning the night before, and Alvarado made things interesting with a couple of walks to load the bases. But he got one of this year's top hitters, former Ray Jake Bauers, to ground out to third to end the game, grabbing his 2nd save of the season.
Injury update:
Not what I wanted to see, but not a huge problem for the team with how well McClanahan and Lacy have pitched in his absence. Of course I'm thinking about who's going to be the 4th starter come playoff time behind Glasnow, Buehler and Manning (and that's not necessarily the order of the top 3 either). Daniel Lynch is probably the front-runner as though he's not as overpowering as May, McClanahan or Lacy, he just keeps getting the job done and he pitched well in last year's championship run. Having 7 capable starters is a good problem to have but does make for some tough decisions.
Game 4: Any worries about Tyler Glasnow only having 1 strikeout in his first start off the IL were put to rest by his performance today as he whiffed 12 Cleveland batters in 7 innings as the Rays swept the series and extended their win streak to 7 with a 3-1 victory. Glasnow was 7 5 1 1 1 12 as he took a shutout into the 8th inning before allowing the first two batters to reach. With four straight lefties due up and Jose Alvarado unavailable, DL Hall came in and made things...interesting. He got two outs but also walked two, the second of which forced in a run. With the bases loaded and two out, Nick Anderson came in and struck out Tyreque Reed to end the inning, and then Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side in a perfect 9th for save #23 as Rays pitchers tallied another 17 strikeouts. The offense came via the longball, with a 2-run Alec Bohm blast in the 4th (#22) and Rafael Devers' 4th HR of the week (#18), a solo shot in the 6th. Those were half of the Rays' 4 hits on the day and the teams combined for 9 hits in the entire game. Glasnow goes to 10-3, 3.56.
Team record: 79-40. Next up: 4 games in Toronto, for which I'm setting the over/under of total Rays runs at 50 based on their two previous visits to Rogers Centre this season.