[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays routed the Blue Jays 15-8 (it was 15-3 before the Jays got some late runs) in the opener of their 3-game series. Joe Barker was the hitting star, going 3-4 with 2 HR (#s 9 and 10) and 6 RBI, Nate Clark was 2-4 with a 3-run HR (#14), and Judson Fabian was 4-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Isaac DeLeon had a 2-run HR (#12) in an 8-run 3rd inning that put the game away. Shane McClanahan picked up his 1st win of the season against 3 losses and was pretty good even with his 7 5 5 5 4 4 line not looking that great with most of the scoring against him after the game was in hand. Malachi Benford struck out the side in the 8th, but wasn't too sharp in his second inning of relief, allowing 3 runs and requiring Jordan Diaz to come in and get the final out. Having a big day for Toronto was their 1B, Brendan McKay. Yes, that Brendan McKay who is now a full-time hitter and having a pretty good season with the Jays after they acquired him from the Mets during the offseason. He was 3-5 with a HR and 3 RBI and is hitting .287-9-29 this season. The lead remains 7 as Baltimore (today's 2nd place team) beat the Yankees.

Game 2: The Rays downed the Jays 7-4 thanks in large part to Judson Fabian, who belted a 3-run HR in the 5th and a 2-run HR in the 7th (#10). Jasson Dominguez hit #7 in the 2nd with a man on to put the Rays up 2-1, and Fabian made it 5-1 in the 5th. After Toronto pulled back within 5-4, Fabian's 2nd in the 9th provided some much-needed insurance. Mack Anglin did his usual "pitched well most of the time but had a bad sequence or two" thing, going 5.2 7 4 4 2 5 to go to 5-2, and Jordan Diaz got him out of the 6th and through the 7th. Jose Alvarado got two outs in the eighth but walked a man ahead of righty Skyler Messinger, so Daniel Espino came in to get out of that inning. Jasseel De La Cruz pitched the 9th for save #9 but made things interested by putting the first two men on before retiring the next three. Still 7 ahead of Baltimore.

Game 3: Home run or bust got the Rays through 9 innings tied at 3, but they finally strung together a couple of hits in the 10th to take a 4-3 win and a series sweep of the Blue Jays. For the first 7 innings they could only manage 3 hits off Joe Musgrove (who shut them down at the Trop a few weeks back) but luckily they were all longballs: Joe Barker's 11th in the 2nd, Jasson Dominguez's 8th in the 5th, and Carlos Perez's 2nd in the 6th. The latter two brought them back after Alec Sachais put them in a 3-1 hole. The righty wasn't his sharpest today, needing 92 pitches to go 5 6 3 3 2 4. Andy Aparicio took over for him in the 6th, struck out the side, did it again in the 7th around a couple of baserunners and then gave up a leadoff double to Aaron Judge in the 8th. Jose Alvarado came on, got a groundball that moved Judge to 3rd and then got out of it with another grounder at the drawn-in infield and a whiff. Daniel Espino pitched the 9th, gave up a leadoff double with the next batter intentionally walked to set up a force or double play and got the next 3 out to survive that. This bought them time for the 10th when Barker led off with a single, stole second with two out, and scored on Bobby Witt Jr's double after Witt had been 0 for the series. JDLC had a much easier 1-2-3 10th for save #10 while Espino continues to rack up relief wins, 4 now this year after 10 last season. Baltimore fell to the Yankees so the lead is a season-high 8.

Team record: 33-12. Next up: An off-day, then back home for the Yankees this weekend.