Game 1: Andy Aparicio had a brutal start, allowing 2 homers, hitting 3 batters and putting the Rays in a 6-2 hole. And in the end it didn't matter because of course they came back and won 8-7. Facing one-time farmhand Taj Bradley in the 7th, who's rated 30 for movement and who had allowed 9 HR in 22 2/3 IP coming in, the inevitable occurred as Dayle Jenkins smacked a 2-run HR (#8) to tie the game and Nate Clark hit #20 to break the tie. Before all that, though, Aparicio had his issues going 5 5 6 5 0 5 in his first start at Publix Park. Sac flies from Clark and Ricky Widmar kept the Rays marginally in it, but the comeback began in earnest in the middle innings when Jasson Dominguez hit #14 in the 4th to cut it to 6-3 and Joe Barker delivered a 2-run double in the 5th to make it 6-5. After Tim Siqueiros did his usual thing in the 6th (two walks, three whiffs), Mike Mooney gave up a leadoff triple to Jared Kelenic and he scored to put Seattle up 7-5 in the 7th before the comeback was completed in the bottom of the inning and Mooney ended up with his first win of the year. Evan Godwin pitched a 1-2-3 8th and Jose Alvarado gave up a leadoff single in the 9th but erased it with a game-ending double play ball to grab save #10.
Game 2: Same story, different day as the Rays came back once again to win after they trailed today 4-1 in the 7th. It looked like Alec Sachais would lose his perfect 11-0 W/L record when he allowed 2 runs in the 6th to finish 6 7 3 3 0 8, and especially after Steve Givens allowed another one in the 7th. But Carlos Perez hit #4 in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 4-2, and Jhon Diaz had a big RBI double with 2 out in the 8th followed by a Dane Ayers RBI single to tie it up. And in the 9th Ricky Widmar led off against former Ray Steven Casey with a single, stole second, went to third on a bad throw from yet another former Ray Patrick Bailey, and scored on Dayle Jenkins' single for the Rays to walk it off 5-4. After Corbin Martin had a 1-2-3 8th, Jose Alvarado came on and pitched around a leadoff double in the 9th to secure his 3rd win as he lowers his ERA to a microscopic 0.40. Joe Barker drove in the first Rays run in the 1st with an RBI single while Jenkins had his second straight 3-hit game.
Game 3: No comeback needed today (OK technically they were down 2-1 in the 3rd) as the Rays clocked the Mariners 10-3. A 5-run 3rd inning broke the game open, highlighted by a 2-run HR from Bobby Witt Jr (#7) and a D'Andre Hodges RBI double. Joe Barker added a 2-run HR (#10) in the 6th, Dane Ayers drove in a couple of runs with a sac fly and an RBI single, and Dayle Jenkins had another great day going 2-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored and an RBI to make it 8 for 13 during this series. Jon Hayes started and although he was nicked for a couple of runs in the 3rd he shut down Seattle until giving up a homer in his final inning. He finished 7 6 3 3 1 4 and won his 9th straight decision after losing the first two. Tim Siqueiros had 2 dominant innings of relief to close it out, whiffing 5.
MLB News: A tough break for former Ray Mack Anglin, having a fine season after being traded to Philadelphia last winter (5-2, 2.95), as he tore the flexor tendon in his elbow and will be out 13 months.
Major deal incoming:
A biggie on several levels. First we say goodbye to a couple of mainstays of two World Series-winning squads in Diaz and Money. They were moved for several reasons, in no small part due to the poor seasons both were having. You can see Diaz's numbers above and Money has been mediocre this year. Both are better than this and I'm sure will be better for Oakland, but also they were getting more expensive with each moving into their second year of arbitration. But they're still both very talented and still have value so we parlayed them into one of the league's better young pitchers in Wagner, a workhorse lefty who struck out 250 in 198 innings last year in a 4.9 WAR season, and isn't eligible for arbitration until the winter after next. Here are his ratings, fairly mouth-watering except for movement:
65 stamina and rated "durable" for injury as well, hence the workhorse label. He gives us a fourth ace in the rotation to go with Little, Sachais and Hayes. Plus Little is getting expensive in arbitration and can't stay healthy so the acquisition is a bit of a hedge in that department as well. Wagner will make his debut tomorrow night against St. Louis. As for the prospects in the deal, we got the best one of the four: Boesel is a Florida Gator who's ranked #66 by BNN and was the 5th overall pick in 2028. He's got great all-around ability. The three we gave up are various levels of prospect. Narvaez is an 18-year old SS who can go anywhere from boom to bust, Miller throws 95-97 and has future closer potential according to the scouts, and Vazquez is the best of the lot, our 6th round pick last year who has developed into more of a prospect than some of the others taken ahead of him and a real comer at SS.
June 10: Recalled OF Victor de Jesus from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.
And there's the other shoe to drop from the deal as trading Diaz makes room for de Jesus, whose potential for 40 HR and an OPS around 1.000 has been well-chronicled here. He's not going to play every day as we want to mix Isaac DeLeon and Rodolfo Rivas in as well but eventually the RF job will be his.
Game 4: Holy crap, this team. Yet another miracle comeback win tonight, with this one being by far the most dramatic. Down to their final out and trailing 6-5 with nobody on base, Joe Barker hit his 3rd (not a typo, his 3rd) homer of the day into the RF bullpen off former Ray Steven Casey to tie the game, and Gabriel Moreno's RBI single in the bottom of the 10th gave the Rays a 7-6 walk-off win to sweep the series (and the season series) from Seattle. Isaac DeLeon led off the 10th with a double up the RCF gap, Victor de Jesus in his MLB debut game was intentionally walked, and Dane Ayers' fly ball to right moved DeLeon up to 3rd, where he scored on Moreno's hit. Moreno was in the game because Carlos Perez was pinch-hit for in the 8th by Rodolfo Rivas as the Rays tried unsuccessfully to tie the game in that inning. It looked like the Rays would win this one easily as they led 5-1 through 5 and Jack Leiter was dealing. He got the first two outs in the top of the 6th but the Mariners then went double, single, single, and double and it was suddenly 5-4. Evan Godwin, who had been lights out this year, picked a bad time to revert to his homer-allowing form when Patrick Bailey greeted him with a 2-run shot and Seattle was improbably in the lead. But you can't mount a comeback if you don't keep the other team from continuing to score, and credit to Corbin Martin, Mike Mooney and Jasseel De La Cruz, who each went a scoreless inning to hold Seattle at 6, and JDLC ended up with his 2nd win of the season. That early 5-1 lead was built in part by Barker, who bashed solo homers in the 2nd and 5th before his dramatic equalizer in the 9th and now has an absurd 13 HRs in 78 AB (a HR every 6th AB!) and is slugging .923. He now has 6 in his last 5 games and 8 in the 11 games since his return from a broken hand. Perez had a 2-run double and Dayle Jenkins an RBI single for the other runs. de Jesus had an impressive debut as well, doubling in his first MLB at-bat and reaching base four of his five times up with a single and two walks as well.
Team record: 51-14. Next up: The most anticipated series of the regular season to date with the 44-20 Cardinals coming to town for two games in a rematch of the 2026 World Series and a possible preview of 2030's.