[Art Deco]

Game 1: After such a dominant run of 22 wins in 24 games the Rays were due for a stinker, and tonight was just that even though the final scoreline of a 4-2 loss to the Angels didn't look that awful. The bad baseball came in the early innings, especially the 2nd when LA scored all 4 of its runs. Andy Aparicio was kind of all over the place, and thanks to 3 Rays errors behind him plus a strikeout which reached on a wild pitch, it took him 111 pitches just to get through 4 innings. His final line was 4 4 4 1 2 6 with a Ricky Widmar error in the 2nd looming large but it was mostly his doing. With normal long reliever Danny Medina having pitched yesterday, Jon Whiteleather got the call down 4-0 and amazingly turned in his best MLB performance going 4 2 0 0 1 7, before Bob Sirna pitched a scoreless 9th. Normally Whiteleather's heroics would have bought time for the offense to do its thing, but they didn't show up today either, only managing 4 hits in total off 37-year-old opener Victor Arano and 38-year-old follower* Alex Young through 8 innings. Jasson Dominguez's 19th HR of the season in the 7th was the only damage. They did make it interesting in the 9th, all with 2 out. Dominguez tripled and scored on a wild pitch, and then Angel closer Danny De Jesus walked Victor de Jesus and Jaiden Hardaway. But Bo Angeac grounded out and that was that.

*This Angels team might be the oldest I've seen in years. In addition to those two pitchers, they have Mike Trout (40), Mookie Betts (39), Francisco Lindor (38), Andrew Benintendi (37) and Jake Rogers (37).

Game 2: The Rays' season-long bullpen bugaboo came back to bite them today in a 5-4 loss to the Angels. It was Alexander Beltre, who hadn't pitched in over a week due to a bout of gout, who was the culprit today, giving up two doubles and a triple in the 8th allowing LA to plate 2 runs to come back and take the game. Jon Hayes started and pitched well through 6, with the Rays staking him to a 4-2 lead. At 97 pitches I shouldn't have brought him out for the 7th, but with a lefty due I left him in and he gave up a triple to lead off the inning which Tim Siqueiros allowed to score. Siquerios got the first out in the 8th and then Beltre came in and blew the game. Nate Thompson had a 1-2-3 9th. The offense was sluggish again today, doing nothing through 5 before erupting for 4 in the 6th. They erased a 2-0 deficit three batters into the 6th when Ricky Widmar homered (#9), Dayle Jenkins doubled, and Nate Clark homered (#25). They continued to rally with Luis Corpus singling in a run but not two as Jasson Dominguez was thrown out at home, another negative trend from this season. They looked like they might have a chance in the 9th when Bo Angeac walked to lead off the inning, but Dane Ayers grounded into a double play to end any comeback hopes. The Yankees have lost the last two days as well, meaning the 7-game division lead remains intact.

Game 3: The Rays snapped their mini 2-game losing streak with a 5-1 win behind a 4-run 1st and another overpowering outing from Christian Little. Little struck out 10 Angels in the first 4 innings on his way to a 6 4 0 0 1 14 effort, more than good enough to go to 9-2, 2.78 with another Cy Young in his sights. Tim Siqueiros lost the shutout when he gave up a Francisco Lindor homer in the 7th, but Alexander Beltre bounced back today with 1 1/3 scoreless, whiffing 3. Nate Thompson finished in the 9th as Rays pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, possibly a team record for a 9-inning game. Their four-run rally in the 1st came courtesy of a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single and another Victor de Jesus homer, a 3-run blast which was his 23rd, equaling his total from all of last season. Nate Clark added an RBI single in the 8th. Will Quintana got the start in his MLB debut and while he went 0-4 at the plate with a GIDP he obviously called an excellent game behind the plate. Another Yankee loss makes the division lead 8 as that is becoming less and less an area of concern.

Game 4: The Rays took a split of the series with the Angels thanks a hard-fought 3-1 win. Both teams had lots of chances to score, but had issues with RISP until the Rays finally broke through for a pair in the 7th to nab the win. Alec Sachais started and pitched pretty well, giving up an Andrew Benintendi homer in the 1st inning and settling in from there before leaving with men on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out in the 7th. He finished 6.2 6 1 1 2 8 to lower his ERA to 3.18, and Jose Alvarado came in and whiffed pinch-hitter Mookie Betts to get out of that jam. Alvarado then proceeded to get LA 1-2-3 in the 8th with a pair of strikeouts in the best he's looked this season since he's lost a little of his stuff. Thanks to the runs in the bottom of the 7th, he picked up his 2nd win while Jordan Diaz made it interesting in the 9th. After striking out the first two batters Diaz gave up a walk and a single to bring pinch-hitter Mike Trout up with the game on the line. Diaz struck him out for save #9. The hitters meanwhile had no trouble getting on base, but they just couldn't get the runners home with their first run scoring on a GIDP. Finally in the 7th Jaiden Hardaway led off with a single and stole second. After the next two batters struck out it looked like "here we go again" but Ricky Widmar delivered a triple to score him and Dane Ayers followed with a double to bring Widmar home.

Team record: 56-29. Next up: We head to Fenway for 3 before the All-Star break.