Another week, another player of:
Game 1: The Rays kicked off their latest homestand in impressive fashion with a 14-1 clubbing of the White Sox. Bo Angeac's first-inning grand slam (HR #17) off Chicago ace Andrew Dalquist (who came in with a 2.94 ERA and left with one much higher) was the key blow in a 7-run opening frame, and Jon Soranno cruised to a 9-0 record and a 2.93 ERA with a 6 3 1 1 3 8 outing. Bob Sirna came on for the 7th, walked the bases loaded with one out and was replaced by Chris Hicks, who went the final 2 2/3 scoreless. Rodolfo Rivas also had another big game, going 3-4 with 3 RBI including a first-inning RBI single that put them on the board. Having a career day was Melvin Gutierrez, 3-5 with 3 RBI, Alex Buitrago was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and Victor de Jesus bumped his OBP up to .425 by reaching ball all 5 times today on two hits and three walks. One dark cloud though: our injury woes continue with Luis Corpus straining a hamstring. It's considered day-to-day, but it will ail him for 3 weeks so we're just going to go ahead and IL him.
June 8: Placed C Luis Corpus on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain, recalled C Mike McKee from AAA Durham.
The future is now for our catcher of the future, Mike McKee. McKee is ranked the #49 prospect in baseball by BNN/OSA and was hitting 307/374/493 at Durham with 5 HR. He's only rated a 45 defensively though, which is a bit of a flaw. He'll likely split time with Will Quintana while Corpus recovers.
Game 2: Another day, another comfortable win, this time 7-2 over the White Sox. Andy Aparicio was excellent, not allowing a hit until the 4th and finishing 7 4 2 2 1 8 after sitting through a 26-minute rain delay to improve to 10-2, 3.23, becoming MLB's first 10-game winner. Bob Sirna went the final 2 innings and put some men on but didn't let any of 'em score. The offense got underway in the 2nd with a 2-run homer from Alex Buitrago (#10), and they added 4 more in the 3rd with the big hits a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single and a 2-run knock from Will Quintana. Rivas added a sac fly in the 3rd for run #7 while Jaiden Hardaway was 3-4 with a walk and two runs scored.
Game 3: The Rays kept on keepin' on with a 6-4 win over the White Sox, but this one was more hard-earned than the last two. Part of the reason is that Alec Sachais started and was not very effective, giving up 3 runs on a pair of homers including a 2-run shot from old friend Connor Kirkley in the 3rd. Shortly afterwards Sachais had to leave the game with a herniated disc and will be out a month as the baseball gods seemed determined to see how much we can keep winning with one injury after another. Chicago's 3-1 lead (after a first inning solo blast from Victor de Jesus, his 19th) evaporated in the bottom of the 3rd when Melvin Gutierrez of all people went deep with his first MLB homer and Mike Harms drilled an RBI double. The Rays then took the lead in the 6th on a solo homer from Harms (#6) and after Danny Medina and Tim Siqueiros combined for 4 1/3 scoreless, Mike Wherry got the ball in the 8th. He retired the first two but gave up a game-tying homer to same-handed lefty hitter Omar Rivas to tie the game. Again, Chicago's prosperity did not last long as our Rivas, Rodolfo, hit #16 off brief ex-Ray Mike Tudor to restore the lead. A rally ensued, and rookie Mike McKee in his MLB debut had an RBI single for an insurance run. Kikuo Kawase took over and got the final out of the 8th to pick up his 4th win, and he stayed on for the 9th whiffing a pair but giving up a couple of hits which he pitched around.
Team record: 51-11. Next up: Oakland comes into town for the weekend for 4 games, including a doubleheader on Saturday.