[Art Deco]

Game 1: Last time the Rays came into Baltimore in mid-April they were in the throes of an offensive slump, losing a pair of 2-1 games. Today they came in winners of 12 of 13 while scoring almost at will and continued on their run with a 7-2 win at Oriole Park. Three swings of the bat brought home all 7 runs, with Victor de Jesus hitting HR #19 with a man on in the 4th and tying Nate Clark for the team lead, Rodolfo Rivas clearing the bases with a 3-run double in the 5th, and Dayle Jenkins homering with a runner aboard and for the 6th time in 9 games with #11 in the 7th. Jon Hayes was outstanding on the mound, going 6.1 6 1 1 1 9 to get on the winning side of the ledger at 7-6, 4.05 as all the Rays starters seem to be bringing their ERAs down from their high numbers of the early season. Nate Thompson pitched for the first time in 13 days with 1 2/3 scoreless, and after Bob Sirna failed to retire anyone in the 9th, Jon Whiteleather made his first appearance since June 8 and had a scoreless inning. The Yankees lost tonight, so the lead grows to a season-high 5 1/2 games.

Game 2: The Rays rode another dominant Christian Little start and some timely late hitting to take a 4-1 win over Baltimore in the first game of their doubleheader, their 14th win in 15 games. Little went 6 4 1 1 0 11 with a Gunnar Henderson homer keeping him from getting the win as the game went 1-1 into the 8th after Dayle Jenkins had singled in a run for the Rays. Nate Clark hit HR #20 with Jenkins aboard in the 8th off Steve Givens to make it 3-1, and Bo Angeac added #8 in the 9th for the final run. Nate Thompson picked up his 2nd win of the year by pitching the 7th, and Alexander Beltre held the fort in the 8th for Jordan Diaz to get save #8 pitching the 9th.

June 26: Recalled P David Sanchez from AAA Durham.

Sanchez is the 26th man for the doubleheader and will start Game 2

Game 3 (Game 2 of doubleheader): Nate Clark hit a 2-run homer in the first inning and David Sanchez, in his spot start, retired the Orioles in the 1st inning. And had the game stopped there it would have been great for the Rays. Alas, Sanchez was lit up like a Christmas tree in the 2nd inning for 7 runs (we tried getting him through it with 4 already in and 2 out but he gave up a 3-run homer), and the Rays lost the nightcap to Baltimore 11-2. Sanchez gave up a leadoff double in the 3rd and I had seen enough, going with Danny Medina, who gave up a couple of groundouts to score that runner so Sanchez was charged with 8 runs in 2 innings. Medina later gave up 3 runs of his own in the 5th on a bases-clearing double from Druw Jones but gave us 4 innings. Speaking of giving us innings, Rodolfo Rivas, who got the 2nd game off at 1B, came in and pitched 2 scoreless innings. For those who maybe forgot, Rivas has legit pitching ability but unlike last year when he was a part-timer and therefore available out of the bullpen more, this season he's been the everyday first baseman so this was a rare chance for him to pitch. Clark ended up with 3 of the team's 5 hits on the game, as this will probably be the last we see of David Sanchez for a long while (at least as a starter). The Yankees won to pull within 5 games as with the doubleheader, we've finally played the same number of games as New York.

Game 4: Just when it appeared the Rays had put their early-season bullpen meltdowns behind them they managed to blow an 8-3 lead with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the 9th at Camden Yards. Luckily for them today Bo Angeac hit his 2nd homer of the game in the top of the 10th to give them a 10-8 win, but it showed they still can't count on the pen. They had built that 8-3 lead on the longball and one not-quite-as-long ball on blasts from Nate Clark (#22, his 3rd straight game with a homer), Angeac, Dayle Jenkins (#12), Luis Corpus (#7) and an inside-the-park 2-run homer from Ricky Widmar (#8). This backed a solid if not spectacular outing from Alec Sachais (6.2 8 3 3 0 4 with 2 HR allowed) and Jose Alvarado pitched well, getting the final out of the 7th, a 1-2-3 8th and the first man in the 9th. With the 5-run lead, Jon Whiteleather was entrusted with getting the final two outs; instead, he didn't retire anyone, giving up 2 hits and hitting a man. This brought on Jordan Diaz, and he was just as bad, walking a pair and giving up a 2-run double to tie the game, leaving with men on 2nd and 3rd. Alexander Beltre got the final out albeit on a diving liner caught by Jaiden Hardaway to at least force it to extras, and Angeac's 10th of the year and 2nd of the game with a man aboard restored the lead. Beltre then got the O's in the 10th to hang on to his 2nd win of the season. The Yankees won so the lead remains 5.

Team record: 47-27. Next up: Back home vs Boston for 3.