This wasn't a shock, but nice to see regardless:
Also, some big transaction news:
Caratini was the top free agent catcher on the market this winter, but never got signed, so the market's loss is our gain. It's a $4.2M deal when we call him up, but my thoughts are that when Keibert Ruiz comes back, we trade Caratini, recoup a prospect and let someone else pay his salary. Since he missed spring training, I'm going to let him get a few at-bats at Durham and activate him for this weekend's series against the White Sox.
Game 1: This has been a weird season so far, and the Rays just won their 5th 1-run game of the season and more improbably the second on a walk-off walk. Going 3-3 into the bottom of the 9th, Alec Bohm tripled with one out, pinch-hitter Nick Gonzales was intentionally walked, then Patrick Bailey unintentionally walked before Brandon Marsh walked as well, bringing in the winning run. The Rays jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the 1st on solo HRs from Wander Franco (#3) and Judson Fabian (still unconscious, #6). Eric Herman took Shane McClanahan way, way deep in the 2nd to cut the lead to 2-1, and Cleveland tied it at 2 in the 5th, but the Rays answered in the bottom of the frame when Vidal Brujan walked, stole second and scored on a Wander single. Mac came out to get the leadoff lefty on strikes in the 6th, and then left with a 5.1 5 2 2 1 8 outing on 104 pitches. Liam Hendriks followed and had his first shaky outing of the season, giving up 3 singles to allow Cleveland to tie. And that's where we went until the 9th, with Jose Alvarado (1.2 innings) and Nick Anderson (1.1 & the win) combining to shut Cleveland out over the final 3 before the walk-off win. The offense only managed 5 hits on the night, but all of them except for a Fabian single counted in each of the runs.
Game 2: Christian Little wasn't quite as dominant as he was in his first start, but he was good enough to help lead the Rays to a 6-2 win over Cleveland which makes them 8-1. Little struggled with his control, and ended up 5 4 2 2 5 9 on 99 pitches to go to 2-0. Aaron Ashby was brilliant, whiffing 5 in 2 innings against Cleveland's lefty-heavy lineup, Evan Godwin had a scoreless 2K inning, and Asa Lacy and Jasseel De La Cruz managed to get through the 9th but not without a scare. Lacy gave up 2 hits with 2 out, and with righty Tyreque Reed due up, De La Cruz got the call. He hit Reed to load the bases, and then the tying run at the plate in the person of the powerful Bo Naylor hit one to deep LF but just shy of the track where Judson Fabian cradled it for the final out. Rays pitchers totaled 17 strikeouts. Wander Franco kick-started the offense in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-run HR (#4) and Alec Bohm added a sac fly later in the inning. They added a 4th run in the 4th on a Vidal Brujan fielder's choice and then got 2 big insurance runs in the 7th on a Patrick Bailey sac fly and a Brandon Marsh RBI single. Marsh was on base all 4 times today with that single and 3 walks.
Game 3: Team one-run win does it again with another walk-off win after coming back twice to defeat Cleveland 6-5 in 12 innings today. Trailing 4-1 in the 8th the Rays scored 3 times with 2 out on a Judson Fabian 2-run triple and a Spencer Torkelson infield single to score Fabian. But it looked like all was lost in the top of the 12th when Tyler Freeman tripled off Evan Godwin to give Cleveland the lead, but the Rays rallied in bottom of the 12th off Shane Bieber. With one out, Alec Bohm singled, Patrick Bailey singled and I had Bohm try to take third but he was thrown out, so things definitely looked bleak. But Brandon Marsh singled, and Vidal Brujan doubled up the gap to score Bailey and Marsh, and it party time again at the Trop. The Rays jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Brujan doubled and scored on a Fabian single, but Cleveland tied it up and kept adding against Chris Paddack, who ended up 6.2 6 4 4 2 6. Dustin May got through the 8th, and Nick Anderson, Jose Alvarado and Jasseel De La Cruz all had scoreless innings before Godwin was touched for that run in the 12th. I'm not thrilled with how much I've had to use the bullpen this year but I'll bank these early season wins nonetheless.
Team record: 9-1. Next up: 3 weekend games at home vs the White Sox, where we see Zach Britton who's already hit 3 homers.