[Art Deco]

Game 1: This game did not get off to a very good start for the Rays as Derek Crum took Christian Little deep to lead off the game and Little gave up another run in the 2nd on 3 hits. Meanwhile, Yankee phenom pitcher Eric Peterson 2-hit the Rays through the first 5 innings. But in the 6th the Rays strung together 4 straight hits to score two runs and tie it after Little had settled down, and in the 7th they got a leadoff solo HR from Jhon Diaz (#3) and a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#5) to take a 6-2 win over New York. After the early struggles Little turned in a vintage Christian Little performance, going 7 5 2 2 1 10. Evan Godwin got 2 outs in the 8th before giving up a triple with Vlad Jr due, so Corbin Martin came in and looked like the electric reliever we thought he'd be by striking out Vlad and getting two more whiffs in a perfect 9th to finish the game off. Gabriel Moreno continued to wield a hot bat with 2 more hits today to up his average to .375 with 3 HR and 8 RBI as we say "Keibert who?", but on the other side of the ledger Rodolfo Rivas was 0-4 again and is off to a brutal 1-19 start in the majors. He did lose a shot at his first RBI when Clark was thrown out at the plate on his fly ball in the 6th.

Game 2: For a change the bullpen picked up the starter today, and Rodolfo Rivas picked a fine time to hit his first major league homer as the Rays made it 2 straight over the Yankees with a 4-2 win. Alec Sachais got the start but was far from his sharpest, and although he left ahead 3-0 in the 6th he left with men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Evan Godwin came in to face the lefty Joe Allen and gave up a double to score the runners, but whiffed 4 of the next 5 men faced, Andy Aparicio got 4 up, 4 down to get through the 8th, and we held our breath and turned to Jasseel De La Cruz to pitch the 9th. There was definitely a feeling of "here we go again" when he allowed a leadoff single to Miguel Sano but he got the next 3 batters for his first save since opening day. Sachais went to 3-0 despite a pedestrian 5 5 2 2 3 2 line. Offensively it was another subpar performance but it was enough. They picked up 2 runs in the 1st on RBI singles from Jasson Dominguez and Bobby Witt Jr with help from a Yankee error, Jhon Diaz singled in a run in the 3rd, and then right after the Yankees pulled within 3-2 Rivas went deep the opposite way down the RF line and put one in the Publix Park seats to give the team some much-needed insurance.

Game 3: After some early hiccups Jon Hayes was excellent again and the Rays clawed out a 3-2 win over the Yankees to make it three straight in the series and four in a row overall. Hayes had a rough first inning which included two triples allowed and saw the Yankees score both their runs, but was locked in after that and was only in trouble at the very end in the 7th when he gave up a Jo Adell double with 2 out and then a single on which Adell tried to score but was thrown out at the plate by Jhon Diaz. Hayes ended 7 8 2 2 0 9 to win his second straight start. Once again it was a struggle on offense and once again they did just enough. Connor Kirkley led off the 3rd with his 2nd HR of the year and three singles later in the inning, with the last one coming from Rodolfo Rivas (who had a 2-hit game), tied the game at 2. And in the 6th Bobby Witt Jr led off with a double and came around to score on a D'Andre Hodges sac fly as the rookie got a rare start. Jose Alvarado was dominant in the 8th, whiffing 2 around a single, and for the second straight day JDLC came in to close things out and he had a 1-2-3 9th for save #3 as he may be over his early-season yips.

April 21: Activated P Jordan Diaz from the 15-day IL, optioned P Tim Siqueiros to AAA Durham.

Game 4: Despite the best efforts of the bullpen to blow the game, the Rays came away with a 7-6 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th to sweep the 4-game series and extend their winning streak to 5. With the game tied at 6, Ricky Widmar led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, went to third on Dayle Jenkins' double and Nate Clark singled off Yankee closer Mike Tudor to bring home Widmar with the winning run. This was after Andy Aparicio, who can hit 102 on the gun, gave up a 3-run homer to (relative) banjo hitter Cade Horton in the 8th, who had all of 7 last season to allow the Yankees to tie it up. Before that the Rays had built a 6-3 lead on four homers: Ricky Widmar's 3rd to lead off the game, a 2-run shot from Isaac DeLeon (#3) in the 3rd, Dane Ayers' 1st of the year with a man on in the 4th, and Rodolfo Rivas' 2nd in 3 days in the 6th. This backed the 13-strikeout effort of Jack Leiter, who allowed 3 runs on 2 Yankee HRs among the five hits and one walk he had in 6 innings as the ball was flying out of Publix Park like it did in the first week of the season. Corbin Martin got two outs in the 7th but walked a pair before Mike Mooney got him out of that, and Mooney put a man on with two out in the 8th. Enter Aparicio, and after he walked a man to bring the tying run to the plate he served his gopher ball to Horton. Jose Alvarado took over with one out in the 9th and put two men on of his own, but got out of it and ended up with his 1st win of the season after the walk-off rally. Rivas is finally coming around - including the homer he was 3-3 today with a walk.

Team record: 13-6 (10-1 at Publix Park). Next up: An off-day then Minnesota comes to town for 3.