[Art Deco]

July 23: Sent 1B Alec Bohm to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.

Bohm has played a couple games at Durham already and was 1-8 with a triple. I'll probably let him go the weekend to get some more ABs and activate him for the homestand starting Monday. Odds are Renato Nunez gets DFA'd although I could send down Bramdon Perez, which would have been the original plan. But the problem for Nunez, aside from the fact he's hitting about .165 in extended playing time, is that Hunter Bishop has been hitting lefties (276/356/550), obviating the need to bench him and play Torkelson in LF and Nunez at DH.

Game 1: Not the usual slugfest at Rogers Centre but the Rays did enough to eke out a 5-4 win in the first game back from the All-Star break. Wander Franco's 7th inning RBI single broke a 3-3 tie and a Spencer Torkelson sac fly in the 8th gave the Rays an insurance run they cashed in after Nick Anderson ran into some trouble in the bottom of the frame. Shane McClanahan got the start and was up and down, going 4.2 5 3 3 3 3 with Mitchell Verburg having to bail him out with men on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out in the 5th. Verburg stayed on to throw a perfect 6th and that ended up earning him his 1st win of the season. Brandon Marsh singled in a run in the 2nd and Austin Meadows continues to love this building as he hit #14 in the 3rd. Still the Rays trailed 3-2 going into the 7th but Triston Casas, heating up of late, blasted HR #9 to tie the game before a couple of men got on ahead of Franco who delivered the go-ahead hit. Jose Alvarado had an uneventful 7th, but Nick Anderson gave up 3 hits and a run in the 8th after retiring the first batter on a strikeout and he needed to be bailed out by new late-inning weapon Liam Hendriks and the 36-year-old righty got a pair of whiffs to keep the Rays in front. Jasseel De La Cruz gave up a one-out hit and had to face Vlad Jr. who hit the ball hard but right at Hunter Bishop, and then he got a grounder to end the game and grab save #24. And good news from Baltimore as Blake Snell and Mets beat them in extra innings to make the lead 5 games.

Game 2: This was a more typical Rogers Centre affair at 9-8, but the Rays were on the wrong end of the score as they blew 3 different leads in the game and lost it in the bottom of the 9th. They jumped on Eleiser Medrano for 4 runs in the 1st but in shades of Game 4 of the 2022 ALDS, Daniel Lynch channeled Max Fried and gave that lead right back by the second inning and it was 5-4 Jays. But Vidal Brujan launched HR #8 with a man on in the 4th to make it 6-5 Rays and they added a run in the 6th to make it 7-5 on a Toronto error. But Lynch and Mitchell Verburg combined in the 6th to allow the Jays to tie it at 7, and although Triston Casas and Vidal Brujan hit doubles to put the Rays back ahead in the top of the inning, Nick Anderson allowed an Aaron Ashby runner to score to tie it at 8. Jose Alvarado got a pair of strikeouts to close out the 8th and stayed on to face the leadoff lefty in the 9th, whom he struck out but he walked Justin Ellison. Liam Hendriks came on and had his first bad Rays outing, giving up a single and a walk to load the bases, and then gave up an RBI single to Ryan McKenna to let Toronto walk it off. Austin Meadows, Keibert Ruiz, Hunter Bishop and Spencer Torkelson all had RBI hits in the 1st, but Lynch had a poor 5 7 6 6 3 4 outing, his first such one since rejoining the rotation. Fortunately Baltimore lost another extra-inning game to the Mets so the lead remains 5.

Game 3: A nightmare of a game that saw the Rays lose starter Mitchell White after an inning to elbow inflammation which will keep him out 4-5 weeks and the bullpen blow it again, this time losing a 6-2 lead in the 8th to drop a 7-6 decision. After Spencer Torkelson hit HR #13, Vidal Brujan singled in Triston Casas who had tripled, and Brandon Marsh had a 2-run triple of his own, the Rays opened a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. Mitch Keller got the first two outs of the inning but gave up a double to Vlad Jr and with two lefties due in the next 3 batters Aaron Ashby came in and simply couldn't get anyone out. He gave up consecutive singles to score a run and then gave up a 3-run HR to lefty Ryan Noda to tie the game. He gave up 2 more hits after that before Jasseel De La Cruz had to get the final out, and then De La Cruz allowed a single to lead off the 9th. He threw out the lead runner at 2nd on a bunt attempt, but Vlad Jr got an infield single and Luis Toribio followed with a single to right to score the winning run. Asa Lacy, who'll take White's place in the rotation, went 4 4 2 2 0 6 in relief with the second run scoring when Keller gave up a double to score his runner. Earlier in the game Wander hit #22 to give the Rays a 2-0 first-inning lead. The only solace they could take today was that the Mets swept Baltimore at Camden Yards so the division lead remains 5.

Team record: 61-40. Next up: 3 at home vs the Yankees.