[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays were due for a bad game, and a bad game is what they had as the 8-game winning streak was snapped in a 7-4 loss to Toronto. The scoreline is deceiving as the Jays battered Asa Lacy for 6 runs in 2 1/3 innings and held a 6-0 lead until the 6th, when the Rays finally started chipping away at Spencer Schwellenbach. Judson Fabian (still looking for his first HR of the season) had a 2-run double, Wander Franco singled in a run in the 8th, and against the bullpen Brandon Marsh singled home a run in the 9th. They did have the tying run at the plate with 2 out in the 9th but Vidal Brujan flied to left. Lacy was horrible (2.1 7 6 6 1 0) and it would have been worse had Fabian not thrown a runner out at the plate. Hayden Johns and Christian Chamberlain were impressive in long relief, combining for 5 2/3 shutout innings, although Mike Bayley gave up a run in the 9th. Lacy's hold on the 5th starter job is tenuous with Jack Leiter lurking, although Leiter did not pitch that great in Durham's season opener last night so Lacy's safe for now.

Game 2: A frustrating night for the Rays as they had several men on in scoring position but couldn't get them home in a 3-2 loss to Toronto. Shane McClanahan wasn't at his best tonight, getting dinged for runs in the 1st, 3rd and 5th. The one in the 5th proved to be the winning run and it was the result of a batter reaching on Wander Franco's error and coming around to score on a Jorge Polanco double. Mac ended 5.2 7 3 2 3 8 and drops to 2-2, 3.23. The 2 Rays runs came courtesy of Spencer Torkelson's 6th HR of the year with a man aboard in the 4th but otherwise they left 9 on base with Vidal Brujan the biggest culprit going 0-5 with 5 LOB. Steven Casey, Evan Godwin and Liam Hendriks combined for 3 1/3 scoreless relief innings for what it was worth. The Yankees got a 3-run walkoff HR from Anthony Rizzo (remember him?) to beat Cincinnati again so we're back into a tie atop the AL East.

Game 3: A back-and-forth affair ended up in the Rays' favor but the 6-5 win over Toronto was somewhat costly. Jasseel De La Cruz took the ball for the 9th to preserve the lead but after getting an out, he walked Vlad Jr. on 4 pitches and had to leave the game with what turned out to be biceps tendinitis and he'll be out 4 weeks. Jose Alvarado came in and got the final two outs for save #2, and going forward it's going to be closer by committee. Brandon Marsh singled to lead off the 8th, stole second and scored on Vidal Brujan's single to break a 5-5 tie and give them the win. It was 5-2 Rays going into the 7th behind Matt Manning but he ran into a bit of trouble and was relieved by Liam Hendriks, who might have had his worst outing as a Ray, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks to allow Toronto to tie, and it could have been worse but Brandon Marsh threw out Jorge Polanco at home during the rally. Before that the Rays had broken a 2-2 tie on a solo HR from Triston Casas (maybe heating back up after a day off yesterday), #7, and a 2-run single from Yordan Alvarez who had a 3 RBI day with an earlier RBI groundout. Patrick Bailey's infield single scored the Rays' first run in the 2nd. Manning went 6.1 9 4 4 1 6 in not his greatest outing but Hendriks allowed the last 2 runs of his to score. Evan Godwin cleaned up Hendriks' mess in the 7th and pitched through the 8th in impressive fashion to pick up the win. The Yankees aren't going away, they won to stay tied with the Rays for the division lead.

Team record: 16-6. Next up: 4 games in Houston as we get the season series with the Astros out of the way early and Yordan Alvarez returns home (maybe that will inspire him to get going).