Game 1: The Rays overcame an awful start from Blake Money and outslugged the White Sox 10-7. Early on it was HR Derby for the Rays as Jasson Dominguez, back in the lineup, blasted his first HR of the year in the top of the 1st and Nate Clark followed with #5. After Money gave back those runs in the bottom of the inning Bobby Witt Jr. hit #4 to restore the lead briefly before Money really came apart in the 2nd, allowing 4 runs and leaving with an ugly 1.2 6 6 6 2 3 line. But within two innings the Rays had tied it up, first on Dominguez's 2nd HR of the game in the 3rd and then on RBI groundouts from Jhon Diaz and Keibert Ruiz. And they re-took the lead in the 6th on RBI singles from Witt and Conner Kirkley. After Chicago made it 8-7 in the 7th, Ruiz provided some much-needed insurance with a 2-run double. With Money departing in the 2nd, it was going to be a bullpen game and Jack Leiter was called on in need of long relief. Unfortunately he lasted two batters before having to leave with a herniated disc that will keep him out the better part of two weeks so he's IL-bound. Andy Aparicio came on and pitched decently, going 2 2/3 scoreless despite giving up 4 hits. He nabbed the win. Evan Godwin had a 1-2-3 6th but gave up a leadoff HR to Logan Wyatt in the 7th so Jordan Diaz came on again and had his best outing as a Ray with two perfect innings before JDLC finished off the game for save #4. The Yankees lost again so the lead has grown to a season-high 3 1/2.
April 27: Placed P Jack Leiter on the 15-day IL with a herniated disc, recalled P Malachi Benford from AAA Durham.
Benford is back and he has decent stamina so we can use him in long relief if needed.
Game 2: The Rays got another bad start and this time they couldn't overcome it in a 9-5 loss to the White Sox. Shane McClanahan, so effective in his first start of the season, struggled with Chicago and Omar Rivas in particular tonight. Rivas hit a 2-run inside-the-park homer in the 1st after Jud Fabian had doubled in the top of the inning to put the Rays in front and after Fabian followed up with a 3-run shot (#5) in the 2nd to make it 4-2 Rays, Mac melted down in the 4th allowing Rivas to hit one outside of the park this time with the bases full, gave up another run, and then saw Malachi Benford allow 2 more of his runners to score to end with a hideous (except for the Ks) 3.2 8 9 9 4 7 line. In a classic case of closing the barn door after the horses left, Benford went 3 1/3 scoreless after that, and Mike Mooney had a perfect 8th but the Rays couldn't score again until Nate Clark hit #6 with the bases empty to give us our final score. The Yankees lost yet again but Boston won its 5th straight and has now moved into 2nd, and the lead is 3 over the Red Sox.
Game 3: Like the first two games, the Rays kept hitting homers. Unlike the first two games they got a very good outing from their starter so that combination yielded a 7-2 win over the White Sox. The Rays scored enough runs to win 3 batters into the game as Jhon Diaz led off with a single, Judson Fabian stayed hot with HR #6, and Nate Clark hit #7. They kept the rally going with the key hit an Isaac DeLeon double, and Bobby Witt Jr's sac fly made it 4-0 before Alec Sachais took the mound. And Sachais got it done, even though it took until the 5th inning before he recorded his first strikeout. He ended 6 4 2 2 1 3 and is now 4-0, 2.70. Mike Mooney pitched 2 perfect innings and Evan Godwin one perfect inning in relief to finish off the game. And they added more runs with Keibert Ruiz's RBI single in the 4th and then Ruiz blasted #4 before Fabian made it 3 HRs in 2 games and 4 in 5 with HR #7 in the 7th. Haven't spoken about it much, but Keibert is off to an incredible start this season at 365/388/619, hitting for average and power and looking like the mid-2020s version of himself. He'd only hit 10 & 11 HR the last two seasons after exceeding 20 three times, and he might return to that figure this season. Perhaps the "every third game off to get Carlos Perez experience" plan is keeping him fresh. I've taken to calling him "Contract Year Keibert" since he's a FA at year's end.
Game 4: The Rays got a solid start from Mack Anglin and just enough offense to beat the White Sox 3-2 and take 3 of 4 in the series. Anglin was 6.1 4 2 2 2 6, pulled after he gave up his 2nd homer of the game. Daniel Espino walked two in relief of him but got two strikeouts to get out of the inning, then he put a man on to start the 8th and Jose Alvarado walked one as well but got out of that, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched around a 2-out single to get save #5. Anglin is now 3-2 with a still-unsightful 5.59 ERA. The bats didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball but got the key hits, none moreso than Carlos Perez's 1st MLB homer which proved to be the difference, giving the Rays a 3-1 lead at the time. Earlier Joe Barker hit #4 and Bobby Witt Jr had an RBI double off one-time Rays farmhand Daiveyon Whittle.
Team record: 17-8. Next up: An off-day, followed by a pair of games in Kansas City.
Remember how the Yankees were the Rays' biggest threat in the division? Well that all changed in the last week as everyone else got hot:
MLB News: Philadelphia's Jack Little threw the 2nd no-hitter of the young season, beating the Mets 5-0. Little walked 1, struck out 6 and threw 104 pitches in outdueling none other than Emerson Hancock, now in the Mets' rotation.