[Art Deco]

Game 1: The last few nights it seems the Rays starters have been playing a game of "can you top this?" when it comes to bad starts to see how much of a hole they can put the offense into to make it come back from. Tonight Jack Leiter was positively awful during the first three innings, giving up 6 runs despite being staked to a 3-1 lead in the first inning on a Spencer Torkelson homer (#6). And Leiter settled down to throw 3 scoreless innings to give the Rays enough time to tie the game at 6 on a 2-run HR from Joe Barker (#14) and a Carlos Perez RBI single. But thanks to some bad work from the bullpen, this time there would be no Rays win. First, Evan Godwin allowed the same-handed former Ray Triston Casas to hit an RBI double off him to give KC a 7-6 lead. And then in the 8th Mike Mooney was downright horrible, allowing all 5 hitters he faced to reach and yielding 3 runs as the Royals prevailed 10-6. Unfortunately we had to burn Daniel Espino tonight to pitch the final 2 innings just to get the game over with. Leiter's 6 10 6 6 2 6 outing doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in him as a Christian Little replacement but we'll see how it goes.

Game 2: And the Rays get yet another shaky start, but excellent bullpen work to buy time to allow the team to score 9 runs over their final 3 innings to take an 11-3 win over Kansas City. Blake Money managed to get through the 1st unscathed but gave up runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings and ended up with a 5 4 3 3 4 7 line. Not horrible but they trailed 3-2 after 5 with Keibert Ruiz's 2-run HR (#8) their only offense to that point. Romulo Canelon pitched a scoreless 6th and ended up getting the win when Jasson Dominguez hit a 3-run HR (#17) to make it 5-3 Rays. And after Jordan Diaz got them through the 7th, they added 3 more in the bottom of the inning on a Ruiz RBI double and RBI groundouts from Ricky Widmar and Jud Fabian. Keibert was in the middle of another rally in a 3-run 8th when Tropicana Field fans and the TV audience were treated to the rare sight of him hitting a triple, his first in two years and which meant he missed the cycle by a single. Bobby Witt Jr had led off the inning with HR #9, and Widmar singled in Ruiz for the other run. Mike Mooney bounced back from yesterday's debacle with a pair of scoreless innings to finish out the game. An oddity: Nate Clark was hit by a pitch 3 times in the game, which ties the MLB record set by many, including former Rays HBP legend Brandon Guyer (twice) and Jonny Gomes.

Game 3: The Rays were done in by some familiar faces today in a 3-1 loss to Kansas City. First and foremost was Royals starter Aaron Ashby, who spent 5 1/2 seasons with the Rays before being waived last season. He pitched in relief for us but was converted to starting by Kansas City and he was great today, going 5.1 4 0 0 1 6 against the best offense in baseball. Meanwhile Triston Casas had a big double in the 4th inning which led to the Royals' first run, and 2026 1B flop for the Rays Lewin Diaz continued to torment them with a 2-run HR off Jose Alvarado to turn a 1-0 game into a 3-0 game in the 8th. Diaz has 6 HR and 15 RBI in 80 AB against the Rays playing for various teams since the Rays offloaded him to San Diego, including a pair of HRs in the Angels' ALCS win over the Rays in 2027. Today he was 2-2 with 2 walks to go with that HR. The anemic offense today wasted yet another great start from Shane McClanahan, who went 6 3 1 1 3 9 and has allowed only 4 runs in his last 26 innings. The only offense they managed was a Joe Barker RBI single in the 8th to cut it to 3-1, and they had 2 on with 2 out when yet another ex-Ray, Luke Little, whiffed Jasson Dominguez to end the inning.

Game 4: Tim Siqueiros got another start and it was the polar opposite of his Rays debut as he was masterful and efficient in going 8 4 1 1 3 6 on 93 pitches as the Rays dumped the Royals 7-1. It did help that Kansas City is a less patient team, but it was still an encouraging sign from the righty who'll either likely be in next year's rotation or in the Andy Aparicio multi-inning reliever role. A William Contreras 8th-inning HR was the only run scored against Siqueiros, and Romulo Canelon pitched a scoreless 9th to finish. The offense was led yet again by "Contract Year Keibert" as the veteran receiver bashed a 2-run HR (#9) in the 2nd to make it 3-0 after Connor Kirkley singled in a run and later drilled an RBI double in the 6th. Ruiz is showing no signs of slowing down, hitting 329/357/595. Kirkley also drove in a run with a groundout and Ricky Widmar was 3-4 with a RBI.

Team record: 49-19. Next up: An off-day, then a 3-game series in Boston which includes a doubleheader on Tuesday. Alec Sachais is due back and will start one of the games.