Game 1: The Rays kept scoring runs but the Angels kept answering back until they finally pulled away with 3 in the 8th to beat LA 11-6 and make it 7 straight wins. Joe Barker had a huge day, drawing a bases-loaded walk in the 1st, adding a 2-run homer (#21) in the 5th and hitting a 2-run single in the 6th. Bobby Witt Jr added a solo HR (#11) and a sac fly, but it wasn't until the 8th when Nate Clark blasted #35, his first homer since July 12 (not counting the 2 he hit in the All-Star Game), a solo shot, and Jasson Dominguez hit one out (#27) with a man aboard did the Rays finally get some real breathing room. Dominguez and Barker had 3-hit games as did Dayle Jenkins, who now has his average up to .330. And Ricky Widmar had 2 more hits to extend his hitting streak to 20. Jack Leiter got the start, and the win (#10) but wasn't his best at 6 7 4 4 2 4. Brad Ballmann allowed a run in the 7th, and Jordan Diaz allowed a homer in the 8th, only the second he's yielded this year. Evan Godwin had a scoreless 9th to finish it off.
Game 2: Marc Wagner pitched 7 dominant innings and Nate Clark homered and drove in 3 runs to lead the Rays to a 5-0 win over the Angels. The win saw two streaks extended: the team's winning streak of 8 and Ricky Widmar's hitting streak of 21 games, thanks to a single leading off the game. Wagner gave up a few hits early but was untouchable once he settled into a groove, going 7 4 0 0 1 13 to improve to 6-2, 3.03 as a Ray and 10-4, 3.04 overall. Clark had a sac fly in the 3rd and then a 2-run homer in the 8th (#36) to bust it open. The homer put him over 100 RBI at 101, the third straight season he's reached the century mark in that category. Joe Barker's 1st inning RBI single off Shohei Ohtani was all they'd need and Dayle Jenkins added an RBI single in the 3rd. Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 8th for a hold and Jasseel De La Cruz had a 1-2-3 9th to complete the shutout.
Game 3: Well that was ridiculous. Trailing 5-0 with 2 out and nobody on in the bottom of the 8th, the Rays came from behind with 2 runs in the 8th and 4 more in the 9th to shock the Angels 6-5, with Dane Ayers' 2-run walk-off homer (#5) the decider to make it 9 straight wins. Just to demonstrate how ridiculous and unlikely this comeback was, here's the win probability chart:
The comeback started in the 8th when Dayle Jenkins doubled in Ayers with 2 out and Nate Clark singled in Jenkins. Still it was 5-2 going to the bottom of the 9th but Adley Rutschman walked, Jasson Dominguez singled, Bobby Witt Jr tripled them both home, and after Isaac DeLeon struck out Ayers stepped up and drilled one into the RF bullpen. Before all of that the story was going to be how LA's Alfredi Jimenez shut them down and how the Rays' bullpen was terrible. Christian Little started and was filthier than ever, going 6 4 2 2 0 15, unfortunately allowing a 2-run single to Shohei Ohtani in the 3rd with two out. This was Little's 4th straight start with double-digit strikeouts. But the pen was bad, and all three relievers who pitched had a hand in the Angels expanding their lead. Corbin Martin was terrible for the 3rd time in 4 outings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. And although Mike Mooney got him out of the 7th, Mooney put two on via walk and was pulled for Brad Ballmann, who gave up an RBI single to make it 5-0. Ballmann allowed another hit, but Nate Clark threw the runner out at the plate and he stayed on through the 9th and got a couple of whiffs to end up with his first victory as a Ray. Ricky Widmar singled in the 6th to keep his hitting streak alive at 22 while Jenkins had
another 3-hit game, the third time in the last four he's done this and in the other game he had 2 hits, making him 11 for his last 18 and raising his BA to .336.
Team record: 84-27. Next up: We head out west to reunite with old friend Jhon Diaz and his Oakland A's for 3 games.