Game 1: The Rays' run of great starting pitching performances came to an abrupt end tonight as Matt Manning was tattooed for 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 12-7 loss to Boston. Only a 5-run 7th inning made the score semi-respectable as Manning didn't have it tonight, and trying to get some length from him turned out to be a mistake. His final line was a hide-the-children 3.1 11 12 12 3 5, starting with a Didi Gregorius 3-run HR in the 1st and continuing with a 2-run HR from David Dahl, just acquired by Boston from Miami, for whom he killed the Rays during that 4-game sweep back in May. Mitchell White came on in long relief, and was great going 3.1 1 0 0 1 4 until he had to leave with elbow inflammation and will be out 7 weeks. Aaron Ashby finished up the final 1 1/3. There was some offense of course, and Vidal Brujan was 3-4 with a HBP to raise his numbers to 336/426/490, Wander Franco had a 2-run HR (#21), Patrick Bailey was 2-5 with 2 RBI, and Hunter Bishop had an RBI double. Baltimore got back in the win column so the lead has been reduced to 6.
July 11: Placed P Mitchell White on the 15-day IL with elbow inflammation, recalled P Steven Casey from AAA Durham.
I mentioned Casey's #s in the
midseason report card, and he was long overdue for a recall.
Game 2: Lousy pitching doomed the Rays again, as they lost their second straight to a team they're 26 games ahead of in the standings as both starter Asa Lacy and the back end of the bullpen combined for a 9-8 walk-off loss to Boston. Lacy looked good for 1 2/3 innings before Boston had 7 straight batters reach to score 4 times in the 2nd. But the offense came back, and they took a 6-5 lead before Lacy allowed back-to-back HRs to Josh Naylor and Gabriel Arias (more on him shortly) to put Boston back in front 7-6. But they tied it in the 7th, and took the lead in the 9th on a Keston Hiura sac fly. But after they got 2 more shutout innings from Ben Bowden and one from Evan Godwin, Jose Alvarado could not get it done in the 9th, putting two on with one out. And Jasseel De La Cruz was terrible as well, walking the bases loaded and giving up consecutive singles to David Dahl (who else?) and Arias to allow Boston to win. Alvarado continues his poor season with the 2 runs raising his ERA to 4.99, and while he's never been known as a control artist his BB/9 has more than doubled to 5.3 this season. Lacy continues a trend of Rays starters that just can't handle Fenway, as he went 5 9 7 7 3 5 and allowed 4 homers. Arias ended up 4-5 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI. No blaming the offense on this one, though. Judson Fabian's 20th HR of the year was a 3-run shot that got them back within 4-3, Vidal Brujan continues scorching hot going 3-5 with an RBI, and Keibert Ruiz drove in a pair, including a game-tying HR #8 in the 7th. And the Baltimore Austins won again today with 3 HRs from Hays and one from Meadows (to go with 30 on the season from Riley), so that lead which grew from 3 1/2 to 7 1/2 is suddenly back down to 5.
Game 3: The Rays avoided going into the All-Star break on a 4-game losing streak by getting past Boston today 6-4 to salvage the final game of the series. Shane McClanahan didn't pitch that great, but he looked like Walter Johnson compared to Matt Manning and Asa Lacy the last two games, going 5.2 10 4 4 2 8 and picking up his 10th win of the season. Unlike yesterday, the bullpen came through today with a scoreless inning from Ben Bowden (although he issued his first walk as a Ray in 18 innings), rookie Steven Casey (who got 4 crucial outs to end the 7th and get through the 8th) and a bounce-back outing from Jose Alvarado who retired the side in order with a whiff in the 9th to grab save #4. Most of the Rays offense came via the longball today. Keibert Ruiz (#9) and Judson Fabian (#21) went back-to-back to make it 2-0 in the 1st, each homering for the second straight day. And then Brandon Marsh hit a pair, a 2-run shot to put the Rays up 4-3 in the 5th (after which they scored a run on a GIDP) and then a big homer in the 7th to give them an insurance run, his 6th and 7th of the year. Vidal Brujan had 2 more hits and a steal and a shoutout to Tristan Casas, who was 2-4 today and finally climbed over the Mendoza Line. And the Angels beat the Orioles behind a pair of homers from Ji-Man Choi, so the lead is back up to 6 games.
Team record: 61-27. Next up: The All-Star break, followed by 3 big games at home vs Baltimore and the return of Austin Meadows to the Trop.