[Art Deco]

Game 1: Runs were scarce at the Trop tonight but the Rays got two of 'em in the 8th to shut out the Royals 2-0. Until the bottom of the 8th the Rays were dominated by KC starter Freicer Perez, who held them to 2 hits through 7 2/3. But Brandon Marsh doubled into the RCF gap with 2 out, Nick Gonzales doubled down the RF line to score Marsh, and Wander Franco singled in Gonzales to break the stalemate. Matt Manning emphatically alleviated any worries off his sore shoulder scare last time out by going 7 7 0 0 1 10, and Jose Alvarado picked up his 4th win with a shutout 8th and getting the leadoff lefty in the 9th before Jasseel De La Cruz whiffed the final 2 Royals to nail down save #21. Baltimore was off so the lead is 10 with both teams playing the same # of games.

Game 2: Unlike last night when it took them until the 8th inning to get on the board, the Rays put up a touchdown in the first inning and rolled to an 11-1 win over Kansas City. Nick Gonzales set the cue for the team by homering to lead off the bottom of the 1st (#5), Keibert Ruiz hit #12 to make it 2-0, Lewin Diaz walked with the bases loaded for run #3, and then Brandon Marsh cleared them all with a grand slam (#10) as they treated Royals starter Janser Lara like a human piñata. They added 2 more in the 2nd on a Ruiz RBI single and a Keston Hiura RBI double, then Hunter Bishop hit #17 in the 4th and Marsh added #11, his second of the game, in the 7th. Getting double-digit run support for the third straight start, Mack Anglin coasted even though he wasn't as sharp as usual, going 6.1 7 1 1 2 5 and is now 8-2, 3.14. Aaron Ashby pitched the final 2 2/3 perfect with 5 strikeouts, including striking out the side in the 9th. Baltimore lost so the lead is now a very-large 11 games, and this will be the last I mention the division race until it gets to within 8 games or so.

Game 3: After scoring early and often last night, the Rays couldn't generate much offense and lost a tight 2-1 decision to Daniel Tillo and the Royals. Tillo, one of the league's best pitchers, kept the Rays in check for 7 innings only allowing 1 run (on a Spencer Torkelson sac fly) and 5 hits. They got Nick Gonzales on via walk with 2 out in the 8th, but he was caught stealing for the second time in the game, and Tork couldn't follow up on Judson Fabian's 2-out single in the 9th. Shane McClanahan started for the Rays and gave up the 2 runs that KC needed to win the game in the 1st inning on a 2-run MJ Melendez single after he had loaded the bases on a HBP. Mac settled down from there and was overpowering at times, but a bit wild and pitch-inefficient as he went 5.1 5 2 2 4 9 on 110 pitches. Four relievers pitched the final 3 2/3 with Steven Casey the most impressive, retiring all 5 he faced with 3 strikeouts. Nick Loftin got a start at DH and went 1-3, lowering his BA to .579 and for a moment it looked like he might have tied it in the 8th but his deep drive was caught at the RF wall.

Game 4: This was looking a lot like Games 1 & 3 of this series, as Kansas City scored a run in the first off Tyler Glasnow and it held up into the 5th behind Logan Allen. But Patrick Bailey, catching in the afternoon game while Keibert Ruiz was the DH, hit a long and loud HR to CF off Allen to tie the game and that kind of broke the dam open as the Rays put a couple of more men on and Ruiz drilled a 2-run double to the LCF gap to make it 3-1. Hunter Bishop hit HR #18 in the 6th to increase the lead to 4-1, and in the 8th Spencer Torkelson tripled, scored on a Keston Hiura groundout, and after Bishop walked Bailey went deep again for #6 to give us our final score of 7-2. Glasnow recovered after the 1st and was his usual dominant self, going 7 7 1 1 1 7 to go to 14-2, 2.43 and continue to price himself out of my budget for next year*. With the score 4-1 in the top of the 8th, Liam Hendriks came on and was greeted by a Bobby Witt Jr. homer and then put the tying runs on base with nobody out. I left him in to face Thairo Estrada and he got a double play ball and a ground out to end that threat before the Rays made it comfortable. Nick Anderson pitched a perfect 9th in his new lower-leverage role.

*I was never to going to shell out big for Glasnow as any money I'd spend on an extension for him (at age 33 and beyond) will be better spent on a post-2027 Wander Franco extension.

Team record: 75-32. Next up: A 3-game weekend series at home vs Minnesota, currently 64-44 and 5 1/2 games up in the AL Central.