Game 1: The Rays were beset by some lousy pitching in an 8-5 loss to Boston at Publix Park. Marc Wagner continued to cough up homers, giving up a pair in the early innings and then two more runs in the 6th, so despite 11 whiffs he was hit for 5 runs and 7 hits in 5 2/3 innings and dropped to 7-5, 3.53 as a Ray. They've lost Wagner's last 4 starts and he's allowed 16 ER in his last 24 1/3 innings. Mike Mooney wasn't much better, giving up 3 runs in the 7th. Evan Godwin and Corbin Martin each had a scoreless inning to salvage some pride for the staff tonight. Offensively they got a first inning homer from Dayle Jenkins (#19) and one in the 2nd from Connor Kirkley (#22), RBI groundouts from Jenkins and Jasson Dominguez, and an RBI single from Nate Clark in the 5th which briefly put them ahead 4-3. Ricky Widmar had a 3-hit night as well.
Game 2: It's not a cliche to say Christian Little has no-hit stuff most times he takes the mound, but he's usually pitch-inefficient enough that he rarely goes past 6 innings. That was not the case tonight though, as Little went the distance in a performance for the ages, a 1-walk, 16-strikeout no-hitter over the Red Sox on 119 pitches as the Rays won 9-0. And it wasn't like he was coasting or Boston was uninterested while getting blown out because the Rays held only a slender 1-0 lead after 5 and 2-0 after 6. Little lost his shot at the perfect game in the 4th when Bob Kelly reached on a Victor de Jesus error, and he did walk David Dahl with two out in the 8th. But they were only the Red Sox to reach base as he had everything working today, and when Thairo Estrada flew to Dayle Jenkins to end the game, he was mobbed at the mound. The 16 whiffs tied a team record set in the last Rays no-hitter,
a gem pitched on September 16, 2024 by Walker Buehler, who had the same exact line (1 walk, 16 whiffs, game score of 102) in his. Offensively, things started slow as mentioned but my calling out of Adley Rutschman two days ago worked (he needed to rest yesterday) as he hit two doubles, the first of which led to the first run when he scored on Isaac DeLeon's sac fly in the 2nd. The Rays doubled the lead in the 6th when Ricky Widmar led off with a triple and scored on Joe Barker's sac fly, then they broke it open with 4 in the 7th on D'Andre Hodges' 7th HR of the year, a Widmar sac fly, Dayle Jenkins' RBI single and Barker's RBI single. Finally they tacked on 3 more in the 8th on Connor Kirkley's 2-run single and Jenkins' RBI double. The reason Hodges was in the game was because we suffered another key injury which put a little damper on the night. Jasson Dominguez fractured a finger making a diving catch in the 5th and will be out a little over a month, making it a very close call as to whether he'll be back for the ALDS. He finishes another great season at 292/322/555 with 36 HR, 107 RBI and 5.1 WAR and would have been a front-runner for AL MVP if he had been able to finish out the season. Dayle Jenkins will become the full-time CF. Anyway, here's the box score for the no-hitter:
And here's a look at the game screen:
September 1: Placed OF Jasson Dominguez on the 10-day IL with a fractured finger, purchased the contract of OF Josh Naylor from AAA Durham; recalled 1B Caleb Picciotti and P Danny Ceja from AAA Durham.
A lot of moves here with September roster expansion. Naylor is a 33-year-old vet who wasn't exactly tearing it up at Durham but he's a live body with some pop in his bat who will fill out the bench. Picciotti and Ceja get rewarded for great seasons at Durham. Picciotti was 317/384/540 with 26 HR and 74 RBI and should be starting for an MLB team. The problem is he doesn't move the needle much in trade talks despite being rated 65 contact/55 power/55 eye/60 defense at 1B so right now I'd rather hang on to him. The same thing happened with Chris Sharp last year and he ended having value in the winter off a big season, so we'll see what the offseason brings. Ceja is a polished righty with average 50 stuff but 60 movement and 60 control and was 13-7, 2.98 at Durham with a 39/156 BB/K ratio in 175 innings. I'm going to put him in the rotation starting today and see how he does and go to a 6-man rotation for a bit to give the other starters a bit more rest. Lord knows we've suffered enough injuries (Rivas, Witt, Dominguez) already and there's still another month to play out.
Game 3: The kids were alright in a 13-1 Rays bombing of Boston. Danny Ceja made his MLB debut with the start, and aside from a rough second inning when nerves got the best of him and his 60 control when he walked the bases loaded and Boston got a run on a sac fly, he was outstanding going 6 4 1 1 4 5 for his first MLB win. Those 5 whiffs included getting Boston's all-star catcher Pierson Gibis three times. And Caleb Picciotti got the start at first and reached base three times in his four plate appearances on two singles and a walk, scoring 3 runs in the process as there were plenty of game balls to go around as souvenirs today. Speaking of souvenirs, Ricky Widmar provided one for the fans in LF with a 2-run HR (#14) in the 4th off old friend Tyler Glasnow as part of a 3-4, 4 RBI day. It was sad to see Glasnow mopping up in relief as injuries and age have turned him into a shell of his former self, and after allowing 2 runs and 4 hits in 1 2/3 innings he had to leave with back spasms. He's only managed 13 1/3 innings this year as that 5-year, $150M deal he signed with Boston after 2026 looks really bad in retrospect. He game them one Cy Young-caliber (7.6 WAR) season in 2027 and he's thrown a grand total of 205 innings in the three seasons since with his stuff down to 40 - as a reliever. This is where
Arrested Development's J. Walter Weatherman would chime in with "And that's why you don't sign a 30-something starting pitcher to a long-term, big-money deal". Back to the game, Nate Clark was 3-5 with 2 RBI, Joe Barker was 2-5 with a 2-run HR (#29) and a 2-run double and Adley Rustchman had 2 hits and an RBI as maybe he's warming up. Corbin Martin went the final 3 innings and struck out 5 to get his 3rd save of the year.
Nice to see Connor Kirkley get some recognition:
Game 4: The injury bug has gotten so ridiculous that it's to the point where I'm thinking to playing my remaining key starters once or twice a week the rest of the regular season. The latest to go down was the team's most valuable player, Ricky Widmar, with a torn hamstring that will keep him out 6-7 weeks, so goodbye ALDS and probably ALCS as well. We've already lost Rodolfo Rivas and Bobby Witt Jr for the season, lost Jasson Dominguez for the rest of the regular season and perhaps the ALDS, and now Widmar's regular season is over at 311/369/479, 14 HR, 62 RBI, and 51 SB, all good for 5.8 WAR. He suffered the injury beating out an infield hit in the 2nd inning. So how was the game, Mrs. Lincoln? Well the Rays won 10-6 in a game that saw the ball flying out of Publix Park as the teams combined for 8 homers. Fortunately the Rays hit 5 of them and that was enough to get Alec Sachais his 18th win on a day he really didn't deserve one (this makes up for his last start where he was great but missed a win by one out). They handed Sachais a 5-0 lead in the 1st on 2-run HRs from Dayle Jenkins (#20) and Isaac DeLeon (#14) around a Victor de Jesus sac fly, but by the 5th inning he gave it back entirely as Boston tied it up with 3 homers off him. Fortunately, Nate Clark led off the bottom of the 5th with #43, de Jesus hit #6 and Caleb Picciotti had an RBI single to make it 8-5. Picciotti added a sac fly in the 7th and Clark hit his 2nd of the game and 44th of the year in the 8th. Sachais made it into the 6th, leaving with two on and a 5.1 7 6 6 1 7 line. Andy Aparicio allowed Sachais' final run to score but was otherwise his usual dominating self, going 2.2 3 0 0 1 7. Brad Ballmann pitched a scoreless 9th.
Team record: 103-35. Next up: The Blue Jays come to town for 3.