[Art Deco]

Game 1: The less said about this one the better, as the Rays were blown out by Toronto 16-3. Matt Manning didn't have it (2.2 7 8 8 3 4) and neither did Blake Money (2.1 9 8 8 1 5) and this one was over by the 3rd inning. Hayden Johns at least salvaged some pride for the staff by pitching 3 shutout innings with 4 Ks. Judson Fabian hit HR #16, a solo shot, for the offensive highlight as the pitching was more offensive than anything the bats did. Despite the shellacking, the magic # dropped to 13 as the Yankees lost again as they are getting sucked into a wild card race with the Orioles (who beat them tonight) and the Red Sox. As things stand at the moment, the Yankees are 2 up on Baltimore for the 1st wild card, with Baltimore up 1 1/2 on Boston for the 2nd.

Game 2: The Rays snapped back from yesterday's debacle with a 9-5 win over the Jays. Much as it was 5 days ago, a couple of ex-Durham guys had big games with Jack Leiter getting the win and Nate Clark with a couple of big hits. Leiter's game followed his usual M.O. - look great at times and then have it all go wrong in an inning. Today it was the bottom of the 2nd where the Jays scored 3 times on 5 hits. For the other 5 innings he pitched he allowed only 2 hits and 0 runs or walks, ending 6 7 3 3 0 7 to go to 7-3 despite a 5.22 ERA. Evan Godwin pitched a perfect 7th when it was only a 5-3 game, and after it went to 9-3, Liam Hendriks (on a homer) and Jack Filby (having to leave after a hit with back spasms) each gave up a run. The offense started quiet with only Nick Gonzales's 3rd HR of the week after hitting 2 all season their only hit through the first 4 innings before they erupted in the 5th for 4. With two out and Jhon Diaz on 2nd, Julio Cedillo singled him home to cut it to 3-2 Jays, Cedillo stole second and scored a Keston Hiura single to tie it up, Adrian Hernandez misplayed Wander Franco's fly ball to let Hiura score for the lead, and Nate Clark singled in Wander to make it 5-3. They blew it open in the 8th, starting with an upper-deck solo shot from Clark (#8) leading off the inning and capped by Diaz's 3-run blast (#9). The magic # is down to 11 as the Yankees lost again to Baltimore, and Boston won as well making the wild card race very interesting.

Game 3: Wander Franco had a big day, going 4-5 with a HR and 2 RBI and the Rays needed all of it to eke out a 4-3 win over the Jays. It was Judson Fabian's RBI single in the 8th that won it, though, breaking a 3-3 tie and after the Rays had lost a 3-0 lead. Once again Christian Little pitched well but didn't get the win, going 5.2 2 2 2 5 9 with the walks costing him today in terms of pitch count, leaving at 102 pitches. He had just given up a 2-run HR to Dominic Fletcher and then walked a man with 2 out in the 6th and was pulled for Aaron Ashby, who got the final out of the inning. In the 7th Ashby stayed on but Triston Casas botched a throw on a pitcher-covering play, putting a man on 2nd with one out. Ashby was forced to leave (he would have been relieved anyway) with an elbow strain that will keep him out 6 weeks, well into the postseason meaning his year is probably over. Daniel Espino came in to face Vlad Jr, a Keibert Ruiz passed ball moved the runner up to 3rd, and Vlad singled off Espino to tie the game. He recovered to strike out the next two and the first man in the 8th (vulturing the win in the process), Jose Alvarado struck out two more in that inning and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #21 with a 1-2-3 9th including a game-ending whiff of Vlad. Earlier they built the 3-0 lead on a Nate Clark sac fly in the 3rd and Wander's 24th HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the 5th. Baltimore swept the Yankees, which reduces our magic # to 9 and puts the Orioles in a tie with the Yankees for the first wild card and second behind the Rays. Boston lost a 16-11 slugfest to Detroit and they now sit 2 1/2 behind that pair.

Team record: 92-51. Next up: We have Labor Day off, and then get our first look at MLB's newest ballpark, Columbus Fields, playing the Lightning for a pair.