[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Jon Hayes train keeps on rollin' as the Rays edged Houston 2-1. The lefty is now 19-2, 2.76 and I know recounting this is getting old, but that's his 15th straight start won and his 17th win in a row. He got the win and pitched 7 shutout innings despite not being that sharp, allowing 7 hits and walking 4 Astros. Three double plays helped, as well as a few clutch whiffs although he only had four in total. Jose Alvarado had a dominant 8th, striking out all 3 men he faced and lowering his ERA back below 1, while Jordan Diaz got into a little trouble in the 9th, giving up a pair of hits and a run before finally closing the deal for save #17. Both teams left numerous men on base but the Rays finally broke through in the 5th on Nate Clark's 2-out, 2-run double, which now gives him 114 RBI on the season.

Game 2: It was a 1-1 game heading into the 6th inning that turned into a 12-1 Rays rout of Houston tonight. Connor Kirkley and Austin Hays exchanged RBI singles as it appeared we had another low-scoring affair like last night on our hands. Danny Ceja was pitching well, albeit against a rather punchless Astros lineup, and ended up with his longest MLB outing going 7.2 5 1 1 1 7 to improve to 4-2 and get his ERA down to a less unsightly 4.62. Tim Siqueiros kept Ceja's ERA down by getting the 3rd out after Ceja allowed a 2-out triple in the 8th, and Mike Mooney had a 1-2-3 9th. And now back to the 6th inning. The tie was broken by none other than Eloy Jimenez, who started the season with Houston before being dealt to Colorado, with a 2-run HR into the Crawford boxes in left. That's #52 on the season, #9 as a Ray in 15 games, and he added a 2-run single in a 6-run 9th inning. Kirkley capped the 6th with a 3-run HR of his own (#21), and in that 6-run 9th D'Andre Hodges and Jasson Dominguez each had 2-run doubles as the team finished with 15 hits, with at least one for everyone except Dane Ayers.

Game 3: The Rays broke through for three runs in the 9th inning to take a 4-2 win over Houston, their fourth in a row. It was a matchup of the 2027 and 2028 Cy Young winners with former Ray Shane McClanahan against Christian Little and it played out as the pitchers' duel it looked to be on paper. Mac left with the game 1-1 after going 6 7 1 1 0 4, keeping the Rays off-balance and getting out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the 5th. Nate Clark's sac fly in the 3rd brought home the only run against him. Meanwhile Little was pretty good, giving up his obligatory homer (to the light-hitting Everson Pereira who had only 1 longball to his name in 133 AB coming in) and nothing else until the 7th, when he loaded the bases with one out. Jon Whiteleather was summoned from the pen to get a strikeout, but he gave up a fly ball instead which allowed Houston to take the lead. He struck out the next batter and got a 1-2-3 8th while Little finished 6.1 4 2 2 2 9. Eloy Jimenez led off the 9th for the Rays with a chance to tie the game against his old mates, but he hit a popup for out #1. So Jasson Dominguez took care of matters, drilling HR #23 into the RCF seats to tie the game, and Houston closer Joldanny Genao came unglued after that going walk, whiff, single, walk, wild pitch to score the go-ahead run, and then an RBI single from Dayle Jenkins (his 4th hit of the game). Jordan Diaz came on in the bottom of the 9th and retired the Astros in order for save #18 while Whiteleather celebrated his first MLB win.

August 21: Optioned P Eric Carter to AAA Durham, recalled P Jon Soranno from AAA Durham.

Let the Six-Pack Era begin. That's Soranno's nickname which I'll attribute to him being fairly chiseled rather than an excessive beer drinker. The lefty, who was the #1 overall pick in the 2027 draft and a top 10 prospect when we acquired him from Cincinnati in the Jack Leiter deal, will make his Rays debut tonight starting against Houston. Not his MLB debut as he pitched 29 games in relief for the Reds last year, going 4-1 with a 2.22 ERA and 45 Ks in 44 innings. He's been in the Durham rotation all season and has impressed, going 8-3 with a 3.27 ERA and a 48/138 BB/K ratio in 140 innings with only 10 HR allowed. He's a 70 movement guy so he'll keep the ball in the park and his stuff is 55 present/65 potential. His only Achilles heel is control where he's 40/45. If he can keep it closer to 3.1 BB/9 he had at Durham rather than the 4.4 he had with the Reds last year, we'll be golden.

Game 4: Jon Soranno was dynamite in his Rays debut (and his first MLB start) as the Rays took a 7-3 win over Houston to sweep all seven games of the season series. Soranno was a bit wild with three walks in the first four innings but settled in from there going 7 2 1 1 4 6 with the only run coming on an Everson Pereira triple. He threw 99 pitches and was never really in trouble, getting a strikeout after that 2-out triple in the 4th. Tim Siqueiros pitched a scoreless 8th but Brad Ballmann stunk again in the 9th, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk and Jose Alvarado had to come in and get the final out, which he did on a harmless ground ball to pick up save #19. After the Rays scored in the 1st on a Joe Barker RBI single, Jakob Runnels delivered the biggest hit of the game (and perhaps his biggest as a Ray during a season in which he's struggled big-time with the bat), a bases-clearing double in the 2nd to make it 4-0 and give Soranno plenty of breathing room. Rodolfo Rivas and Connor Kirkley also drove in runs and Eloy Jimenez had a pair of doubles.

Team record: 96-25. Next up: The road trip continues as we head west to Oakland for the weekend.