[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays jumped all over Giants starter Tony Cardoso for 7 runs and 8 hits in the first 2 innings and Andy Aparicio continued to round into dominant form in a 10-1 shellacking of San Francisco. Dayle Jenkins was the man once again on offense, homering for the 3rd time in 4 games (#8) with Dane Ayers (who had another 3-hit game) aboard in the 1st and drilling a 2-run double in the 5th. He was 3-4 with the homer and 4 RBI, and has taken over the AL WAR lead with 2.9 thanks to a 324/393/555 line and his 70 defense in RF. The other big hit of the game came in the 2nd when Nate Clark blasted a grand slam off Cardoso (#18). Jasson Dominguez hit HR #14 in the 4th and Jaiden Hardaway had an RBI single against his old organization as well. Aparicio meanwhile was mowing 'em down, going 7 4 1 1 1 12 to pick up his AL-best 8th win of the season and lowering his ERA to 4.12. Danny Medina, who hadn't pitched in ages, went the final 2 innings with 4 whiffs. The lone run against Aparicio came off the bat of old friend Mike Lammers, who hit a solo homer in the 7th. Lammers was waived by Colorado last year after he went there in the Eloy Jimenez trade and was picked up by the Giants, where he's bounced back and forth from AAA.

Game 2: It was a low-scoring affair as expected with Jon Hayes on the mound for the Rays and one of the NL's top pitchers in Pat Brownell for the Giants but the Rays did enough to prevail 3-2, their 8th win in 9 games. Hayes left with a 2-1 lead after going 6 4 1 1 3 6 and lowering his ERA to 4.25, but Tim Siqueiros blew it for him in the 7th on another homer from Mike Lammers who seems determined to torment his ex-mates. Siqueiros put a couple more on with two out and left for Alexander Beltre, who whiffed pinch-hitter Ronny Mauricio to get out of the inning and then impressively set down three righties 1-2-3 in the 8th, getting the win in his best outing as a Ray. Jordan Diaz finished with a 1-2-3 9th for save #7 as it looks like he may be over his early-season malaise. Brownell wasn't easy to score against, but Nate Clark did manage a wind-aided HR in the 1st which just barely cleared the fence in left, his AL-leading 19th. They scratched out another run against Brownell in the 5th when Victor de Jesus singled, was doubled to 3rd by Bo Angeac, and brought home on a sac fly from Francisco Alvarez. de Jesus and Angeac teamed up for the game-winner in the 7th when the former doubled and was singled home by the latter. The Yankees have found their groove again in Minnesota, so the lead remains 3 games.

Game 3: I'm running out of superlatives for the run Christian Little's been on, so I'll let his numbers today speak for themselves: 8 3 1 1 0 15 in a 9-2 win over San Francisco at Publix Park. Little did not allow a hit until the 6th inning and didn't allow a run until Jose Gonzales doubled to lead off the 8th and scored after two ground balls. With the win he goes to 8-2, 2.94 and an MLB-leading 4.3 pitcher WAR in mid-June. He had some rough outings earlier in the season but over his last 5 starts his combined line is 34.1 20 4 4 7 58. That's a 1.05 ERA and 15.2 K/9 in that span with wins in each of those 5 games. Bob Sirna struck out 3 in the 9th but gave up a Spencer Torkelson homer. On offense the big star was Victor de Jesus, having an MVP-type season and who had a 2-run single in the 3rd and a 2-run homer (#18) in the 5th to account for four of the first five Rays runs as part of a 4-4, 4 RBI day. He leads MLB in OPS and has a 305/383/619 line. Also having an MVP-type year is Dayle Jenkins, who homered yet again and singled in a run, giving him 9 for the season and 4 in his last 6 games. He's at 332/405/569 himself and is right behind de Jesus for #2 in OPS in MLB (and thanks to his defense, 1st in WAR among position players at 3.2). D'Andre Hodges was also 2-3 with 2 RBI today. The Yankees completed the sweep in Minnesota to stay 3 back.

Team record: 41-26. Next up: We hit the road starting with 3 in Cleveland.