Game 1: The Rays saw their 12-game winning streak snapped in dramatic fashion tonight, right after it looked like they'd pull out consecutive win #13 as Wander Franco took revenge against his old club with a 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th to give the Rangers a 3-2 win. For 8 innings the only run either team put on the board was a first inning solo shot from the Rangers' Adrian Ramos off Nate Schultz, who otherwise pitched another absolute gem. Coming off a near no-hitter, Schultz went 8 3 1 1 0 9 and was in line for the win when the Rays mounted a miracle 2-out rally off another former teammate, Alexander Beltre. Omar Rodriguez singled and stole second, but Bo Angeac and Luis Corpus went down, so the game was in the hands of Erik Batchelder, who walked to keep the game alive. Then Jaiden Hardaway ripped a double into the LF corner, scoring Omar and Batchelder and giving the Rays a 2-1 lead. But Jordan Diaz couldn't get it done for the second straight time in the bottom of the 9th, hitting Rodolfo Fernandez to lead off the inning. Although Diaz retired the next two batters, Franco stepped up and drilled a 2-1 fastball into the RF seats to walk it off for Texas and end the Rays' win streak.
Game 2: The Rays bounced back from last night's tough loss to take a 6-1 win over the Rangers in a game that started off quite similar to yesterday's. It was 1-0 Texas through 5 as Victor Presas held the Rays in check while Jon Soranno, like Nate Schultz yesterday, gave up a first-inning run (a minor miracle it wasn't more considering Texas loaded the bases with nobody out to start the game) but nothing else afterwards. The Rays finally tied it up in the 6th when Rodolfo Rivas doubled, went to third on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch, and in the 7th the Rays made the breakthrough with Rivas delivering a bases-clearing double to make it 4-1. Omar Rodriguez singled in Rivas to extend the lead to 5-1 and Soranno ended up the winner, going to 8-0 after an outstanding 6 4 1 1 3 6 effort which lowered his ERA to 3.06. Tim Siqueiros had a 2K 1-2-3 7th, Omar singled in another run to make it 6-1 to cap a 3-hit day, and Jim Connors went up against his old mates and finished the game out with two scoreless innings.
Congrats to Victor!
And to Kikuo:
June 1: Sent P Nate Thompson to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment.
Thompson is back from his torn labrum suffered last July, and we'll see how his stuff held up. If he's 90% of what he was he'll still be valuable and will probably take Chris Hicks' place on the active roster when healthy.
Game 3: The Rays hit 6 solo homers to account for all of their runs in a 6-3 win over Texas as Andy Aparicio pitched perhaps his best game of the season. Jaiden Hardaway set the tone by leading off the game with a longball, the first of five homers they hit off Texas starter Edwin Harty who had surrendered only four all season coming in. The blast was Hardaway's 11th of the year and seventh in his last nine games. Bo Angeac went deep in the 2nd to double the lead, and then they hit three more in the third: Nate Clark's 22nd, Rodolfo Rivas (back-to-back with Clark) and Angeac's 2nd in as many innings and 14th of the year. Rivas finished the scoring by hitting his second of the game and 14th of the year off Bryan Mata in the 5th. Meanwhile Aparicio was mowing down Ranger after Ranger and finished with a brilliant 7 5 1 1 0 10 line and upped his record to 9-2, 3.29. Chris Hicks crapped the bed again as he was entrusted with the 5-run lead in the 8th and gave up a 2-run homer to Edgar Medina with one out. It was then Kikuo Kawase time and the Japanese sensation walked the first man he faced but immediately erased him on a double play and then whiffed a pair of Rangers in a 1-2-3 9th for save #7 on 19 pitches.
Team record: 45-11. Next up: An off-day then the road trip continues in the Pacific Northwest with 3 against the Mariners over the weekend.
Nate Thompson rehab update: Thompson was hit hard in his return to game action after almost a year out, giving up 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings, walking 2 and whiffing none over 51 pitches. Nevertheless, our head scout Rob Metzler was there and returned this report:
So not only did his stuff not diminish, it's better along with his control. I see the stamina was reduced but that's understandable given the circumstances. Great news!