Opening Day at Publix Park saw the Rays ended up winning easily, although it was anything but easy until they broke it open with a 6-run 8th inning to win 10-3. Dayle Jenkins had the game's biggest hit, a 2-run single in the 6th which put the Rays up 4-3, and then sac fly added insurance in the 8th to make it 5-3 before Joe Barker's 2-run single and Victor de Jesus's 3-run homer. Christian Little started and was his usual self, getting strikeouts but giving up a key homer, as Baltimore made the most of their three hits off him to drive in a run after a walk and a steal and a 2-run homer from Logan Tanner which put them up 3-2 at the time. The bullpen was great, Evan Godwin (who picked up the win) got a double play from the first man he faced in the 6th to get out of that, Tim Siqueiros looked great with a pair of whiffs in his inning of work, Jose Alvarado got a double play of his own after walking a man, and Mike Mooney finished nicely after the game was in hand. Earlier Ricky Widmar homered in the 3rd and Barker singled in a run.
Oh, and lookie here:
Congrats to Jack, who got it done on 103 pitches for the first perfect game on Opening Day in MLB history. And he had to face a DH as well!
Game 2: This one didn't go according to script as the Rays' bullpen couldn't get it done in a 4-3, 11-inning loss to Baltimore. The Rays took a 3-1 lead into the 9th and 2030 AL Reliever of the Year Jordan Diaz came on for the save, but he blew it allowing the Orioles to tie it up with 2 runs. And after Brad Ballmann pitched a scoreless 10th, Jon Whiteleather coughed up a run in the 11th and although Bobby Witt Jr. got on with a leadoff single, Luis Corpus grounded into a double play to end the game. The loss wasted a fine effort from Alec Sachais, who went 6.2 4 1 1 1 9 with the only run a homer he allowed in the 7th. Former Ray Steve Givens was tough on his old team, though, holding them to 1 run through 6 innings on a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single in the 4th. But in the bottom of the 7th with two out Dayle Jenkins tripled, scored on a wild pitch, and then Nate Clark followed with his 1st homer of the year to make it 3-1. Speaking of Nates, Nate Thompson made his Rays debut in relief of Sachais and would have been in line for the win had it not been blown. Jose Alvarado got two outs in the 8th as well, but the team suffers a rare loss at Publix Park.
Game 3: The Rays were 12-6 winners in a sloppy, ugly game to take two out of three in their opening series of 2031. It was a 2-2 game going into the bottom of the 5th thanks to a Victor de Jesus RBI single and Joe Barker's first HR of the year before the Rays broke it open with 5-run innings in the 5th and 7th. Much of the first 5-run inning was due to Orioles starter Jorge Cadena, who had two out with two on and nobody in, but lost it with three walks, including one with the bases loaded as well as a bases-loaded balk. Rodolfo Rivas had a 2-run double and Connor Kirkley an RBI single to cap the inning. And then in the 7th consecutive Baltimore errors with one out loaded the bases, Jakob Runnels drew a bases-loaded walk, and then Ricky Widmar hit his 2nd HR of the young season for a grand slam. Jon Hayes started and wasn't his sharpest, going 6 4 2 2 4 8 and becoming the first Rays starter this year to notch a win. Jon Whiteleather had a nice 7th including striking out the side, but Mike Mooney (3 runs on 4 hits including a homer) and Tim Siqueiros (a run allowed and the bases were left loaded) were not good at all in their innings of work.
Team record: 2-1. Next up: An off-day then an instant World Series rematch in Columbus for a 3-game weekend series.