Before we get into the games, here's some hardware for a Ray:
Not bad when your fourth (fifth?) starter wins pitcher of the month.
Game 1: Well it was a good thing for Daniel Lynch that the calendar fell where it did because after his great September, October started out a disaster for him (let's hope it was just tonight as next time we see him it will be the playoffs). He had what was probably his worst start of the year, getting torched for 8 runs, 9 hits and 2 walks in 3 2/3 innings. But despite Daniel's disaster the Rays still won the game 9-8, coming back with 5 runs between the 8th and 9th. Down 8-4 in the top of the 8th, Addison Reed came on for the Yankees and after Keibert Ruiz singled, Nick Schnell went deep for #19 to make it 8-6, and Seth Beer made it back-to-back jacks with #12 of his own to cut the lead to 8-7. And then in the 9th against Yankee closer David Bednar, Rafael Devers (who earlier notched RBI #99) walked, Ruiz doubled to put men at 2nd and 3rd and after Alec Bohm grounded out to 3B with the runners holding, Schnell delivered an RBI single scoring Devers to tie it and Beer hit a sac fly to LF to score Ruiz with the go-ahead run. Jasseel De La Cruz bounced back from a couple of blown saves to strike out a pair around a base hit, giving him 28. Will Smith had pitched a 1-2-3 8th to nab the win, and that was part of a fine bullpen performance after Lynch that saw Asa Lacy go 2 1/3 scoreless and Ian Hamilton toss a shutout frame as well. In addition to the Devers RBI single, Ruiz had a pair of RBIs himself as part of a 3-hit day. Vidal Brujan was also on base 4 times today with 3 hits and an HBP as they followed yesterday's 19-hit day with 18 more and everyone in the (regular) lineup getting at least one. Side note: the mysterious Joe Allen was 0-2 with a pair of sac flies for the Yankees.
MLB Playoff Race Update: The Mets beat the Braves for the second straight night to go 1 1/2 games up in the NL East, while the Dodgers and Diamondbacks each split their games the last two nights leaving the Dodgers one game ahead. In the AL, Baltimore and Seattle both lost and Minnesota won, allowing the Twins to keep their longshot hopes alive as they creep to within 2 1/2 back. The magic # for Baltimore and Seattle remains 3.
October 2: Optioned P Mitchell Verburg to AAA Durham, recalled P Dustin May from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.
May wasn't that sharp in his 2 rehab starts for Durham, but I want to give him a start in the final days here, especially as I may end up leaving him off the playoff roster. I will see how he looks as I need to decide whether to keep him or Asa Lacy on the playoff roster. Verburg may or may not make that playoff roster as well.
Game 2: Ugh. I say that not for the 5-4 loss tonight to the Yankees, but for the fact the game went 19 innings (!) and I had to use the entire bullpen except Jasseel De La Cruz. Probably would have won had I used him as the Rays blew leads in both the bottom of the 9th and the bottom of the 19th (and had I known the game was going to go 19 I would have used him in the 9th). He wasn't listed as tired but I didn't want to use him for the second straight day in a meaningless game. Anyway, this was another empty-the-bench game with Franco, Brujan, Meadows, Ruiz, and Devers all getting the day off, and some of the understudies had brutal games, especially Triston Casas who was 0-8 with 4 whiffs. Nick Schnell whiffed 5 times but had hits the other two times up, including an RBI single. Greg Jones had the best day of the bunch, going 4-8 with 2 doubles and a pair of steals and their only consistent offensive threat. Alec Bohm hit #25 back in the 4th inning but was 1-7. Thought we might still get the win when Mebrys Viloria got his third hit of the game, singling in Bohm who had walked, in the top of the 19th but Dustin May, whom I didn't want to have to use, loaded the bases with nobody out in his second inning of work. He then got two whiffs and I thought he might he get out of it but Andrew Knizner singled in the tying and winning runs to give the game to the Yankees. But several relievers got worn out: Ian Hamilton and Asa Lacy, who each pitched yesterday, threw 3 innings apiece and Mitch Keller pitched 2. Looks like Verburg will come back up tomorrow. Lost in all this was they got another pretty good start from Shane McClanahan, who went 6 4 2 2 2 4 and is making a case to be the 4th starter in the playoffs after Lynch looked really bad yesterday.
MLB Playoff Race Update: The Orioles won and the Twins lost, knocking their magic # for a wild card down to 1, and even though Seattle lost again, theirs is down to 2. In the NL, the Braves beat the Mets to pull back within 1/2 a game, and the D-backs won while the Dodgers lost so those two are tied with 3 games left. The Dodgers go to Coors Field to play the Rockies and the Diamondbacks host Kansas City, while the Braves play 4 in Miami and the Mets have 3 in Philly.
Game 3: It looked for a while like we might be playing extra innings again but the Rays scored in the top of the 9th to pull out a 7-6 win and this time I did bring in Jasseel De La Cruz and he pitched a perfect 9th with two whiffs to get save #29. The Rays jumped on Deivi Garcia for 4 runs in the first on a RBI double from Austin Meadows, an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz, and a 2-run HR by Alec Bohm (#26). Tyler Glasnow took those 4 runs and cruised through 5 innings, allowing only an Aaron Hicks homer. But things went badly for Glasnow in the 6th as he ended up allowing 3 more homers. Kyle Isbel's 2-run shot made it 4-3, the mysterious Joe Allen hit a 2-run shot to make it 5-4 Yankees and Skyler Messinger went deep after Allen to make it 6-4. Glasnow ended the game 6 6 6 6 3 10 and finishes the season 13-4, 3.66 with 212 whiffs in 174.2 innings. He gave up 17 runs in his last 26 1/3 innings which is not the trend you want to see going into the playoffs, especially with his checkered postseason history. He's looking more and more like the Game 3 starter behind Buehler and Manning. Anyway the Rays mounted a comeback which started with Spencer Torkelson's 15th HR of the season in the 7th, a majestic blast to LCF. Keibert's sac fly in the 8th tied the game, and in the 9th Tork singled and Greg Jones walked, and Vidal Brujan singled in Torkelson with what proved to be the winning run. Sandy Gaston picked up the win to go 6-1 after he bailed Mitchell Verburg, in his second inning of work, out of an 8th inning jam with 2 on and 0 out by whiffing a pair and getting a ground ball.
Team record: 104-55. Next up: We close out the regular season with 3 at the Trop against Baltimore, who is also gearing up for the playoffs.
MLB Playoff Race Update: Minnesota won to stay alive just barely in the AL, they and Oakland are 2 back of Seattle going into the final weekend. The Braves beat Miami and they move into a tie with the Mets so both the NL East and West have deadlocks at the top.