[Art Deco]

Minor League Playoff Update: Gwinnett turned the tables on Durham by doing to them what Durham did in Game 1, scoring 2 late runs to come back and win 3-2 to even the best-of-5 series at 1. Emerson Hancock had to leave after the 1st inning with what turned out to be a scar tissue problem from previous surgery and is done for the postseason. Heston Kjerstad homered in the losing effort. Elsewhere, Hudson Valley was drubbed 10-1 by Norwich and is now down 0-2 so they'll need a miracle.

Game 1: It was the Tork & Tyler teamup again as the Rays beat Boston 8-4. Spencer Torkelson broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the 8th with HR #22 over the Monster and the Rays added 3 more for insurance in the 9th to prevail. Tyler Glasnow picked his MLB-best 17th win, although he blew a 4-0 lead in the process of doing so, ending up 7.1 8 4 4 1 7. The primary damage against him was a pair of HRs in the 4th from Yoan Moncada and Pierson Gibis (who's hit at least 3 of his 7 HRs against the Rays). This after the Rays went up 4-0 on a Brandon Marsh RBI single, a 2-run double from Nick Gonzales (3-4 again) and a Triston Casas RBI single. Marsh and Keibert Ruiz had RBI knocks in the 9th and Austin Meadows brought home the final run on a fielder's choice. When it was still 5-4, Jose Alvarado came on in the 8th with one out but only got one more out while allowing two runners, so Nick Anderson came in and got pinch-hitter Tyler Keenan in his MLB debut and stayed on for a 1-2-3 9th to get save #5. Brujan stole 3 bases to up his season total to 70, and Marsh and Hunter Bishop each had 4-hit games. Baltimore did win in Oakland so the lead stays 4 but the magic # drops to 18.

Game 2: You knew this wasn't going to be the Rays' day right away in the 1st inning when they put Brujan and Marsh on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and couldn't get either home, and then the Red Sox led off the bottom of the inning with a HR. Mitchell White didn't have it today, and although he got out of the first after allowing that HR and loading the bases but letting nobody further score, he was bombed in the second inning for 5 more runs and had one of "those" starts, going 1.1 8 6 6 1 2 as the Rays ended up losing 10-6 in a game that really wasn't even that close. The Rays actually took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 2nd when Vidal Brujan and Keibert Ruiz had RBI singles, but Brujan was thrown out at the plate to end in the inning and then Boston blew it open in the 2nd. Christian Little came on for White and went 2.2 4 1 1 0 4, and Sandy Gaston served up a 3-run HR to Ryan Mountcastle (who had 6 RBI for the day) in the 5th to make it 10-3. The Rays did get a 2-run double from Hunter Bishop, an RBI single from Austin Meadows and an Alec Bohm sac fly, but yesterday's hero Spencer Torkelson was 0-5 with 3 whiffs and 8 men LOB. The loss didn't sting as much as Baltimore dropped a heartbreaker to Oakland, scoring in the top of the 9th to go up 1-0 but then giving up 2 in the bottom of the frame to lose. This drops the magic # to 17.

Minor League Playoff Update: 3-2 was the score yet again between Durham and Gwinnett and this time the Bulls prevailed to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-5 first round IL playoff series. Jack Leiter (who has an outside shot at next year's rotation) got a promotion from AA Montgomery and was brilliant in his AAA debut, going 7.1 4 1 1 1 6, with the one run against a HR that chased him in the 8th. Heston Kjerstad had the game's big hit, a 2-run shot in the 3rd for his 2nd HR in as many days. Veteran Randal Grichuk hit a pinch-hit HR in the top of the 9th to make it 3-1, which turned out to be huge when Nick Frasso gave up one of his own in the bottom of the inning but still picked up the save. Daniel Lynch will look to close it out for Durham tomorrow. Elsewhere, Hudson Valley scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to stave off elimination with their own 3-2 win. A couple of Rays prospects looked good on the mound with 2nd round 2022 pick Tyler Gough going 5.1 4 2 2 2 5 and 2024 supplemental 1st round pick Billy Tacuri pitching 2 perfect innings with 4 Ks in relief.

Game 3: Shane McClanahan was sensational and the Rays banged out 7 doubles and a HR to beat Boston 6-0. It was a rare decision for Mac, who came into the game 6-6 despite making 28 starts. Well he improved to 7-6, 3.21 with 169 whiffs in 168 innings off a 6 4 0 0 1 5 outing on 97 pitches today. Nick Anderson pitched a 1-2-3 7th while it was 4-0, Aaron Ashby went 1 1/3 and Mitchell Verburg got the final 2 outs for the team 5-hit shutout. The Rays jumped out to that 4-0 lead in the first 2 innings on an Austin Meadows RBI single and Keston Hiura RBI double in the 1st, and RBI doubles from Vidal Brujan and Brandon Marsh in the 2nd. Hiura added a 2-run shot, HR #17, in the 8th to make it more comfortable. And the division title came into clearer view with Baltimore dropping a 9-1 decision to Oakland to up the lead to 5 and lower the magic # to 15.

Team record: 84-59. Up next: Another off-day as we finally return home to play 3 against the Angels, with whom were 1/2 game behind for best record in the AL as it looks like nobody will win 100 games this year in the league.

Minor League Playoff Update: We'll have a Game 5 in Durham after Gwinnett beat the Bulls 7-5 in a game that was 2-0 Gwinnett most of the way, until they added a third in the 6th and 4 more in the 8th to go up 7-0, then Durham scored 5 in the ninth to make it interesting including another Randal Grichuk HR. Daniel Lynch was terrible for the Bulls, not making it out of the 3rd, and was lucky to have only allowed 2 runs (he left with the bases loaded but Jack Perkins got him out of it). Longtime MLB vet Julio Urias was untouchable for Gwinnett, going 8 5 0 0 0 12 before his bullpen almost gave it away. In the NY-Penn League, Hudson Valley's season is over after they lost 3-1 to Norwich to drop the series by the same margin. Robbie Ashford, acquired from Detroit in the Matt Manning/Shane Baz/Alex Kirilloff deal, homered for the lone Renegades run.