[Art Deco]

Game 1: Another day the office for MLB's hottest team as the Rays took a 4-2 win over Boston to make it 11 straight and open a 13-game division lead over the Yankees, who took 2nd place back tonight after Toronto lost. Michael Wacha was brilliant, going 6.2 4 1 1 0 8, losing his shutout in the 7th when Franchy Cordero took him deep with a massive shot to dead center. Rafael Dolis made his Rays debut in relief of Wacha and with a man on 2nd, but got the final out of the 7th and a 1-2-3 8th as he impressed his new teammates. Diego Castillo pitched the 9th for save #7 despite allowing a Rafael Devers solo shot while Wacha improved to 9-4, 3.90. The bats were up against former Ray Matt Andriese who came in with a sub-3 ERA and left with one as he allowed them only one earned run through 6, Brandon Lowe's 29th HR of the year in the 6th, as the first run scored on a passed ball. The Rays tacked on runs in the 7th on a Willy Adames sac fly and in the 8th on a wild pitch as they scored just enough to win tonight.

MLB News: A relatively quiet trade deadline as surprise wild card (and AL Central) contenders Kansas City acquired Anthony DeScalafani from San Francisco and the Astros beefed up their bullpen with Pittsburgh closer Richard Rodriguez (who has 20 saves but a 6.99 ERA, so it's questionable how much beefing up they did). Also the Mets acquired Braves middle reliever and Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. We decided to stay put with just the minor Dolis acquisition. I would have liked an impact starter like Scherzer but he didn't want to come here and anything else available wasn't any better than what we have, and what we have is pretty good (1st in runs allowed in the AL).

Game 2: It took 15 innings, but the Rays' 11-game winning streak was finally snapped as Boston took a 6-5 win. Franchy Cordero tripled off Rich Hill to start the top of the 15th and scored one out later on a wild pitch. The reason we went so long was that Brandon Lowe, who had earlier hit HR #30 off Chris Sale (who left with a strained oblique and will miss 2 months) in the 1st, doubled in Austin Meadows in the bottom of the 9th to tie it up. Before all that the Rays looked like they'd cruise up 3-1 after 4 with Shane McClanahan 1-hitting Boston and whiffing 6, having only allowed a Christian Vazquez homer. But things unraveled for Mac in the 5th and that man Cordero had a big RBI double in a 3-run inning that put Boston ahead. McClanahan came back out for the 6th with a decent pitch count, but gave up another run and it was 5-2 Sox as he finished 5 5 5 5 3 8. But the Rays answered back with a pair in the 7th on an RBI single from Randy Arozarena (who had 4 hits in 7 trips today) and a Wander Franco sac fly. This set up Lowe's equalizer in the 9th and on and on we went. The bullpen ended up pitching the equivalent of a complete-game shutout, holding Boston scoreless for 9 innings thanks to Andrew Kittredge (2 2/3 IP), Cody Reed (1 1/3), Pete Fairbanks (3) and Nick Anderson (2). We really didn't want to use Hill with his tweaked back but had no choice by the 15th.

August 1: Sent P Chris Archer to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment, waived P Oliver Drake and designated him for assignment.

Archer was only out 3 weeks so he probably only needs one start at Durham. Drake, meanwhile, completed the 30 days of his assignment and just isn't going to make the team; after his injury his stuff has diminished to 40 and especially with the Rafael Dolis acquisition there's no place for him. If he clears, I'll see if he'll go back to Durham, otherwise he'll be released.

Game 3: Tyler Glasnow went from pitching a perfect game to being on the hook as the losing pitcher, but his teammates rallied as the Rays took a 5-4 win over Boston in the rubber game of the series. Glasnow was overpowering out of the gate, not allowing a baserunner until he walked Bobby Dalbec with one out in the 5th. Up 2-0, he took a no-hitter into the 6th and got two out after walking a man but gave up a Xander Bogaerts single to put two on, and the wheels came off as Franchy Cordero got an infield single to score a run and then JD Martinez drilled a 2-run double to give Boston the lead. Glasnow came out at that point over 100 pitches with a 5.2 3 3 3 2 9 line and Rafael Dolis relieved him, picking up the final out. But the Rays immediately responded in the bottom of the 6th as that man Brandon Lowe homered once again with his 31st of the year evening the score. They then put on a rally which culminated in a 2-run single by Kevin Kiermaier to make it 5-3. Dolis got through the 7th (and picked up his first Rays win) before Chaz Roe surrendered a Cordero homer in the 8th which cut the lead to 5-4. Diego Castillo got the call in the 9th and he struck out the side around a walk to nab his 8th save. The division lead stands at 12 1/2 over Toronto and the magic # is reduced to 45.

Team record: 71-35. Next up: Seattle visits for 3 games.