[Art Deco]

Personal note: After playing OOTP on my slow as hell, 3-year-old, mid-range 15" laptop for the last 6 months, I upgraded to a 17.3" i7 fully SSD new laptop and man, what a difference. At times it took minutes to load the day or a new game and now it takes seconds.

Also, the Friday night game scheduled in this series was rained out and we're playing a Saturday doubleheader. Mitchell White had to go back on the DL at Durham so Asa Lacy will get a start later next week against Miami in 4 days.

Game 1: It was Christian Little vs Kumar Rocker in a battle of hard-throwing young righties, and the rookie Little came up big as the Rays routed the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader 12-2. Little was dominant, not giving up a hit until the 4th inning and ended up 7 3 1 1 1 13 on a career-high 110 pitches. Despite the final score, it was a close game for quite a while until the Rays broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th. Hunter Bishop had an RBI single to put the Rays in front, then a wild Rocker loaded the bases and walked Brandon Marsh to force in a run before a Vidal Brujan fielder's choice made it 4-1. They really broke it open in the 7th on a Spencer Torkelson RBI double, a 2-run triple by Bishop and then the first of a pair of 2-run HRs from Victor Caratini, his first longballs as a Ray. Steven Casey mopped up over the last two innings, allowing a run. Bishop, however, had to come out of the game again with another nagging injury, his second in a week. This one's a pulled abdominal muscle that will keep him out 3 more days. Bramdon Perez will get most of his at-bats in that time.

Game 2: The Rays swept the doubleheader and did so by the identical 12-2 score they won by in Game 1. Unlike Game 1, the Rays busted this one open early with a 7-run third inning and didn't look back. The big hits in the third were a 2-run single from Spencer Torkelson and a 3-run HR from Nick Gonzales (#2), who hadn't played in 13 days. Talk about staying ready. Tork later added a 3-run HR (#15) for a 5-RBI day (actually 7 counting Game 1), while Wander (#11) and Keston Hiura (#9) went deep. Hiura and Bramdon Perez each had 3-hit days as the Rays pounded out 16 of 'em in Game 2. Matt Manning sat back in his rocking chair and went 7 6 2 2 1 9 against his old team to improve to 3-2 and his ERA is in the mid-4s now instead of the mid-5s. Aaron Ashby and Liam Hendriks each pitched a scoreless inning to round it out.

Game 3: What was looking like a laugher turned out to be a nail-biter but the Rays held on to win 8-5 and sweep the series from the Tigers. It was Tyler Glasnow vs former Ray hotshot prospect Shane Baz and the Rays got to Baz for 3 in the 2nd inning on a 2-run single from Victor Caratini and a Vidal Brujan grounder. Judson Fabian added an RBI double in the 5th and Lewin Diaz hit his 4th Rays HR in the 6th to make it 5-2 and then Fabian socked a 2-run HR (#15) in the 7th to make it 7-2. Tyler Glasnow left after going 7 8 2 2 3 6, not at his sharpest (and he got 3 outs on infield liners) although good enough, but Evan Godwin crapped the bed in the 8th putting two on and giving up a 3-run HR to Austin Martin to suddenly make it 7-5. Jose Alvarado had to bail him out in the 8th, and Vidal Brujan hit HR #4 to lead off the 9th to give them a little breathing room. Jasseel De La Cruz made it interesting in the 9th but didn't go full meltdown like his previous outing; instead he put 2 on to bring the tying run to the plate but got a flyball to end the game and pick up save #8. Glasnow improves to 5-1, 2.88 while Fabian ended with a 4-hit day.

Team record: 33-9. Next up: 2 games in Miami against the Roughnecks followed by 2 against them at the Trop.