Game 1: Wander Franco had himself a day, tying the Rays' single-game record for RBI in a game with 8, as the Rays shellacked the Sox 13-1 at Fenway. They jumped on Justin Dunn early as Vidal Brujan walked, stole second and scored on a Rafael Devers single, then Keibert Ruiz singled in Devers who went to second on the throw home. Seth Beer took Dunn deep in the 2nd over the Monster with HR #8 to make it 4-0 and then Wander went to work. He had a 2-run double in the 4th, a grand slam (#24) in the 5th, and a 2-run single in 7th to tie Ben Zobrist's team single-game RBI record set in 2011. Coasting with all this run support was Daniel Lynch, who went the distance throwing only 98 pitches. Only a Xander Bogaerts RBI single in the 6th kept Lynch from throwing a Maddux, as he went 9 6 1 1 0 3 to improve to 13-6, 3.30. Greg Jones came on in the 7th for Brujan to make his MLB debut, and singled in his first big league at-bat. Also it turned out to be a milestone win for me, my 500th as Rays manager. Baltimore lost again (more significantly to them for their wild card chances) so the magic # drops to 5.
Game 2: Trailing 4-2 going into the 6th, the Rays turned it around with 7 runs between the 6th and 8th and won 9-5. Wander Franco remained hot, going 3-4 with 2 RBI and Shane McClanahan pitched about as well as you can while still giving up 5 earned runs to get the win. After Alec Bohm tripled and scored on a groundball and Wander drove in Keston Hiura to put the Rays up 2-0, McClanahan was the victim of some hit sequencing (as well as a passed ball) in the 3rd which allowed Boston to score 4 times on 4 hits, on a 2-run double from Ryan Mountcastle and a 2-run single from rookie Pierson Gibis. It stayed that way until the 6th, when the Rays busted out for 4 runs against starter Pablo Lopez. The Rays loaded the bases with 1 out and Lopez walked Spencer Torkelson to force in a run before Hiura (giving Vidal Brujan a day off) got the 3rd of his 3 hits on the day, a 2-run single to put the Rays up 5-4 and which Wander followed up with an RBI single. They added 3 more in the 8th on a 2-run single by Austin Meadows and a Keibert Ruiz RBI single. As mentioned, McClanahan was great outside that sequence in the 3rd and allowing a run to score on a wild pitch in the 7th; he ended up 7 6 5 5 0 6 to improve to 4-2. Mitch Keller pitched 2 scoreless innings to finish the game. Baltimore won so the magic # is 4.
Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls won the pivotal Game 3 by a score of 2-1 to go up 2-1 in their first-round series. Durham pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts and leading the parade was starter Dean Christidis (acquired from the White Sox in the Rylan Bannon deal) who went 6 3 0 0 3 10. Dany Jimenez struck out the side in the 7th, and after Luke Little allowed an Indianapolis run in the 8th, Nick Frasso shut the door in the 9th by also striking out the side around a base hit. The Bulls got both their runs in the 5th inning on back-to-back doubles from Yordys Valdes and Patrick Dorrian, and then Bramdon Davis picked up his 5th RBI of the series with a sac fly scoring Dorrian. I misspoke about Dustin May starting last time, he had one more injury day so he'll be the rehab starter in Game 4 as the Bulls look to close it out and advance to the finals.
September 15: Activated P Dustin May from the 15-day IL and sent him on a rehab assignment to AAA Durham.
As just mentioned, May will start tonight for Durham, and assuming they win the series they're up 2-1 in, he should get another rehab start in the International League finals. This would enable him to possibly start during the last 7-10 days of the season, but with how well Daniel Lynch has pitched lately, the lefty looks like the choice for #4 playoff starter over May, meaning May likely works out of the pen.
Game 3: The Rays annihilated Boston 20-0, completing a sweep which saw them score 42 runs in the 3 games (you'd think they were in Rogers Centre or something). And this was 20 runs with Austin Meadows, Alec Bohm and Keibert Ruiz all getting the day off. Ruiz's understudy, Mebrys Viloria, had a career day missing the cycle by a single as he doubled, tripled and hit his first Rays HR around the Pesky Pole to drive in 4 runs, the very warm Seth Beer had a mammoth 3-run blast to CF for #9, Triston Casas homered against his old team, etc. etc. The Rays were up 11-0 after 2 innings and had the 20 through 6, courteously refusing to score over the final 3 innings. Tyler Glasnow got the start and went the minimum 5 innings to get the win, going 5 4 0 0 2 5 to improve to 13-4, 3.32. Asa Lacy went 3 1 0 0 2 5 and Mitchell Verburg pitched a perfect 9th to wrap up another team shutout. Here's the Rays batting section of the box score to take in and admire:
Team record: 94-50. Next up: back to St. Pete for 3 games with another once-formidable AL East team down on its luck, the Yankees.
Durham Playoffs/Dustin May rehab update: May got the start and went 4.2 3 1 1 4 1 on 76 pitches so he was a little wild but was able to limit the damage, and that was the only run Indianapolis scored as Durham eked out another 2-1 win to take the first round series 3 games to 1. The Bulls only managed 2 hits, but they were big hits as they came in a 2-run first inning. Tyler Frank led off the game with a walk and was forced by Bramdon Perez who scored on Nick Gonzales' double, and Chris Betts singled home Gonzales. They were no-hit the rest of the way but the Bulls' staff managed to hang on, including one real Houdini act from Emerson Hancock, who would have started had May not been rehabbing. In the 6th Hancock loaded the bases on walks with nobody out, but got an Indy hitter to line one at SS Yordys Valdes, who doubled off the man on 2nd, and then he struck out the last hitter. Luke Little bounced back from 2 outings allowing a run to get key outs in the 8th and the leadoff man in the 9th, and Nick Frasso got the final two outs to clinch the game and the series. They will play the Phillies' AAA affiliate, Lehigh Valley, in the finals as they seek a third straight IL title.