[Art Deco]

Game 1: In a game where they were looking safe for a win only for Toronto to make it close before getting some breathing room again, the Rays won the opener of this 4-game set at Rogers Centre 8-5 over the Blue Jays. Austin Meadows had the big hit, a 3-run HR (#10) in the 3rd inning that gave the Rays a 5-2 lead, and a Vidal Brujan sac fly made it 6-2 in the 6th. But entrusted in a medium-leverage situation, Nick Frasso served up a 3-run HR to Bo Bichette to allow Toronto to cut the lead to 6-5. Jose Alvarado got a key double play to get out of that inning, and then the Rays added 2 more in the 8th for some insurance on a Brandon Marsh sac fly and a Brujan RBI grounder. Nick Anderson got through the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a perfect 9th for save #14. The pitching was an issue today as Mitchell White had to leave in the 4th with a sprained elbow (he's DtD for a week so Dustin May could get a reprieve) and Mitch Keller picked up the middle-inning slack, going 2 2/3 with 1 run allowed to pick up his 4th win. Keston Hiura was on base all 4 times today with 2 hits, a walk and an HBP. Since getting regular playing time in late May, he's gone 20 for his last 43 with 6 walks, getting on base at over a .500 clip during this stretch and he's now hitting 352/428/563 for the season. Boston won so no ground gained.

Game 2: Coming in I knew this was a game where we'd have to score a lot of runs to win given the depleted state of the bullpen along with a bit of a lack of faith in Shane McClanahan against Toronto's righty-dominated lineup. And sure enough it was as despite taking a 10-0 lead, it got within 11-9 before the Rays ended up prevailing 13-9. Leading the charge again was Keston Hiura, whom the Jays cannot simply get out. And I mean that literally as after reaching base all 4 times yesterday he did likewise in all 5 of his trips today, and he kicked off the scoring with the first of his two HRs in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Vidal Brujan knocked in another run in the inning and then Wander Franco hit the first of his 2 HRs, a 2-run shot off Matt Wisler to make it 5-0. And then after Chris Betts had an RBI single in the 3rd, Wander launched a grand slam to make it 10-0. But McClanahan, in trouble all night, gave up 3 in the bottom of the inning but managed to make his way through 5 on 101 pitches, going 5 9 3 3 3 5 but picking up his 3rd win. Still things got dicey. Nick Frasso came in and gave up 2 more HRs to make it 10-5 after 6. Hiura hit his 2nd HR in the top of the 7th to make it 11-5 but Frasso and Mitchell Verburg combined to allow 4 more Jays runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 11-9. Brandon Marsh homered in the 8th to make it 12-9, and Verburg somehow managed to get through the 8th without being scored upon. Betts added another RBI single in the 9th so last man available Nick Anderson didn't have a save situation but even he managed to put a couple of men on before whiffing Ryan McKenna to mercifully end the game. Speaking of people that can't be retired, Vlad Jr. was 4-4 with a walk and 3 RBI for the Jays, who actually outhit the Rays 18-13 but were out-homered 5-2. Boston was bombarded by Oakland today 15-7 so we actually gained a game to get within 2 1/2.

June 14: Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham.

Luke Little was our 2nd round pick all the way back in 2020, a 6'8" lefty who consistently throws 100 mph and has been a setup man/closer for Durham since mid-season last year. Obviously he can whiff people, the issue is his 40 control. With Frasso frazzled from giving up 3 HRs the last 2 nights, I needed an extra arm.

Game 3: You could say I've disrespected Daniel Lynch this year, relegating him to long relief. After all he was 15-6, 3.44 last season, has pitched some fine games in the playoffs, etc. Still, Dustin May was great last year in the first half before getting hurt and Shane McClanahan was great in the second half so Lynch and his less-than-shiny advanced stats ended up the odd man out of the rotation after Mitchell White was acquired to replace Walker Buehler. So with May blowing up this year it was time to make a change and Lynch got first crack and he did quite well with that shot today as the Rays beat the Jays for their 5th straight win (and 6th straight against Toronto) 6-3. Lynch isn't the hardest thrower in the rotation but he whiffed 5 in the first two innings on his way to a 6.2 6 3 3 0 9 performance. Most of the damage against him was two solo HRs by (who else?) Vlad Jr. (Speaking of people who couldn't be retired, Keston Hiura was today going 0-4). But Lynch hung in there and got just about everyone else out, and Aaron Ashby did a nice job getting him out of the 7th and getting a 1-2-3 8th. Jasseel De La Cruz made everyone nervous by allowing the first two he faced to single, but got the next three including a whiff of Justin Ellison to end the game for save #15. The Rays actually were behind 3-2 after 6 when Vlad hit his 2nd HR but Miguel Castro loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz came through with a bases-clearing triple to make it 5-3 in the top of the 7th. Keibert also had an RBI single to provide a little insurance in the 9th, while Hunter Bishop's RBI double and Triston Casas' sac fly accounted for their first 2 runs in the 2nd. And the A's bombed Boston again 12-6 so we're within 1 1/2 (although 3 back in the loss column).

Game 4: It was the 2021 Cy Young winner vs the 2023 Cy Young winner, so a pitchers' duel was expected. That's not what we got though as Nate Pearson and Tyler Glasnow were both terrible, the former with his control and the latter allowing too many hits/HRs. Glasnow was rocked for 4 runs in the 2nd on a Byron Buxton 2-run double and a Bo Bichette 2-run HR, but the Rays rallied with 5 in the 4th when Pearson lost the plate, walking 4 in the inning and allowing runs on sac flies from Triston Casas and Wander Franco (his MLB-leading 62nd RBI) and singles from Keibert Ruiz and Austin Meadows. Given a new lease on the game, Glasnow could have buckled down but instead gave up another HR to Bichette, this one of the 3-run variety, and Toronto was back up 7-5 on the way to a 9-5 win. He gave up a couple of more hits after that and Dustin May came on in his first relief appearance of the season and got Glasnow out of it but gave up a couple of more runs over his 3 2/3 innings although he whiffed 5. Glasnow ended an ugly 3.1 10 7 7 2 4 in his worst outing of the season. Luke Little got to make his MLB debut in the 8th and although he gave up a hit to the leadoff man, he got the next 3 out albeit with no strikeouts. The offense was pretty much limited to that 4th inning as 4 Toronto relievers combined to give them only one hit and no walks over the final 5 1/3 innings. The win was Toronto's first in 7 games against the Rays this season. Fortunately no ground was lost as the A's completed a sweep of Boston in Fenway Park.

Team record: 41-26. Next up: 3 games at home vs the Yankees.