[Art Deco]

Game 1: Mack Anglin's debut was a mixed bag, but he still should have picked up the win as the Rays led 7-4 after 6. But some bad bullpen work and a key error led to a sloppy 8-7 loss to the A's. Anglin looked great in the first with a pair of whiffs, but Matt Chapman welcomed him to MLB with a line-drive homer leading off the 2nd. It may have been Anglin's night to remember but it most certainly turned out to be Chapman's as the veteran A's 3B ended up hitting for the cycle. Anglin ended up 5.1 8 4 4 3 8 on 97 pitches so while he was whiffing people he was a bit hittable, even if a few of the hits were of the infield variety. Still as mentioned the Rays were up 7-4 thanks to a HR and 4 RBI from Wander Franco (#9) and a mammoth solo shot from Brandon Marsh (#2). But Steven Casey, who got the final two out in the 6th relieving Anglin, stayed on for the leadoff righty in the 7th and gave up a double, and then Jose Alvarado stunk up the joint with a pair of hits allowed and a couple of walks and by the time he was done the game was tied at 7. Nick Anderson and Evan Godwin had an adventurous 8th with Godwin appearing to get out of the inning only for Lewin Diaz to mishandle the throw on Andrew Benintendi's grounder to allow the go-ahead run to score. The offense could do nothing against Kevin Ginkel (shades of his Toronto days) and Corey Knebel and they fell to their 6th loss of the season. Diaz had a rough game in his home Rays debut; in addition to the error, he was 0-5 at the plate.

Oh, and Dustin May went 8 2 1 1 1 11 in his Washington debut vs Miami (shakes head).

Game 2: Well it finally happened - the Rays lost consecutive games in 2026. The one-run worm is possibly turning as after last night's 8-7 loss tonight they fell 3-2 as the offense couldn't do enough with its opportunities and Christian Little gave up one HR too many. Little was dazzling as usual at times, walking 1 and whiffing 10 in 6 2/3 innings, but he gave up 3 solo homers for Oakland's runs including another one from Matt Chapman. Meanwhile the offense wasted several chances. Keston Hiura tripled with one out in the 2nd but couldn't get home, they loaded the bases in the 5th but Judson Fabian grounded into a double play to score a run but kill the threat, and in the 8th Wander Franco singled with one out but Fabian hit into another twin killing. Lewin Diaz's sac fly in the 4th accounted for the other run but although they had 11 baserunners against Oakland starter Thomas Szapucki, they only managed the two runs. And once again Kevin Ginkel and Corey Knebel shut them down in the 8th and 9th.

Elsewhere, Chris Paddack left his first Rangers start after 1 1/3 innings with a tender elbow that will keep him out 1-2 weeks. I swear we didn't know!

Game 3: Well the Rays have gone from losing 5 times all year to losing 3 straight as they were swept by Oakland today 4-1. The offense was listless when they weren't squandering opportunities like a Wander Franco triple with one out in 1st or men on 2nd and 3rd in the 2nd. Judson Fabian's 3rd inning sac fly was it, as they hit lazy fly ball after lazy fly ball (11 in total) off A's follower Jesus Camargo, who went 6.2 5 1 1 0 2. And when they weren't hitting lazy fly balls, they grounded into double plays in the 6th and 7th. Matt Manning pitched one of his better games this season in vain and was victimized by a Leody Tavares HR in the 7th which broke a 1-1 tie as he ended up 7 4 2 2 2 6. After a perfect 2K inning from Evan Godwin, Liam Hendriks served up a 2-run HR to Franklin Barreto in the 9th to effectively end the game. In more not-great news, Hunter Bishop had to leave the game early with back tightness which will keep him out the next couple of days.

Team record: 28-8. Next up: 3 games in Toronto.