Game 1: The Rays' offensive woes (there's a phrase I never thought I'd be typing this season) continued as they dropped three straight games for the first time this year, losing 4-1 to the Tigers. It looked like it might be back to business as usual for Tampa Bay when Jaiden Hardaway led off the game with HR #15 (extending his hitting streak to 23 games), but that would turn out to be the only time a Ray would cross home plate tonight as they managed only 5 hits. Victor de Jesus in particular had a rough night, getting the golden sombrero with 4 strikeouts. Kevin Kerstetter started and fell to 0-4, but he pitched well and was largely the victim of bad sequencing as he put two on in the 3rd before Tyler Freeman tripled, and Freeman scored on a sac fly. He finished 6 5 3 3 2 8 and deserved a better fate. Eric Carter gave up a run in his inning of work, and Bob Sirna struck out 3 in his. There's some regression to the mean at play here, but 4 runs in the last 3 games is something for a team that was sneezing runs only a week ago.
Game 2: It's something for a team now 55-15 to get excited about a win, but after three nights of frustration and offensive futility it was nice to get a different result. They didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball in a 5-0 win over Detroit, but three big homers and the pitching of Nate Schultz carried the day. Victor de Jesus singled, stole second and scored on Alex Buitrago's sac fly to give them a 1-0 lead in the 2nd, and Bo Angeac doubled the lead against his old organization with HR #20. And then Buitrago went deep with de Jesus aboard in the 6th for his 11th HR of the season and the lead was doubled yet again. Nate Clark, who has been a drag on the offense lately, hopefully started snapping out of it with HR #24 in the 9th. Schultz was outstanding, striking out the side in the 1st and going 6 5 0 0 2 6 on 98 pitches to improve to 9-0, 3.46. Tim Siqueiros struck out the side in the 7th, Jim Connors had a 7-pitch 1-2-3 8th, and Jordan Diaz whiffed 3 Tigers around a double in the 9th. Jaiden Hardaway continues his ludicrous run of getting on base, on four times today with two hits and two walks, and he stole 3 bases to boot. His hitting streak is now at 24, he has an absurd OBP of .465 to go with his .376 batting average, and his WAR is up to 4.9, an incredible season for most players but representing only 40% of his year.
June 18: Claimed P Edgar Rios on waivers from San Diego, designated P Steve Bloom for assignment and placed him on waivers.
It's extremely rare I make a waiver claim and even rarer when someone with a worse record doesn't claim him, but we've added Edgar Rios. He's a 96-98 MPH righty reliever who has 65 stuff (potential 75), 65 movement and 45 control (potential 55) and had a cup of coffee with the Padres which saw him allow only 1 hit over 5 2/3 innings with 4 walks and 6 whiffs. Rios was the Padres' 2nd round pick in 2028, and has 2 option years left so he'll go to Durham. Bloom is OK, but isn't as good as Rios, plus he'll probably clear waivers anyway.
Game 3: It was a thrilling game at Comerica Park which saw the Rays take the load, lose it, then get it back again late to take a 5-4 win over Detroit. The Rays had built a 3-1 lead into the 7th after homers from Victor de Jesus (#21) and Mike Harms (#7) and an Omar Rodriguez RBI triple. Meanwhile Jon Soranno was cruising along with a 2-hitter through 6. But after a leadoff single (and some hard-hit balls including a homer off Soranno in the 6th), Spencer Torkelson came to the plate and I decided to leave Soranno in while muttering to myself "this is probably a mistake". And sure enough it was as Tork got some payback against his old team with a 2-run blast to tie it up. Jim Connors came in, and then gave up a homer himself to put Detroit on top 4-3. In the top of the 8th de Jesus led off with a double but looked like he might be stranded at second as the next two batters failed to advance him. With a lefty in for Detroit, lefty-hitting Alex Buitrago was due and my first instinct was to pinch-hit righty Nate Boesel for him. But as the "are you sure?" button came up I remembered Buitrago had done decently against lefties this year so I clicked "no" and let him hit. He repaid my faith by drilling a 2-run homer into the LF stands (#12) to put the Rays back ahead. And I didn't fool around with the pen, bringing Kikuo Kawase in for the bottom of the 8th. He gave up a couple of singles but got three whiffs around those and stayed on for the 9th to strike out 2 more in a 1-2-3 inning for save #9. Despite the homer allowed in 2/3 of an inning, Connors was credited with his 2nd win of the season. And yes Jaiden Hardaway got a hit (to go with 2 more walks) to make it 25 straight with a safety.
A minor trade:
We needed to make room on the 40-man for Nate Thompson (who was on the 60-day IL) and Bejerano was too good to just waive so I was able to turn him into Yusaf Khel (or is that just Khel?), Arizona's #1 pick in the 2031 draft (#27 overall) who has 30-HR power right now but has had some contact issues. He's probably ultimately a DH too.
June 19: Activated P Nate Thompson from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned P Eric Carter to AAA Durham, sent IF/OF Dane Ayers to AAA Durham for rehab assignment.
Seriously considering putting Thompson into the rotation in the Sachais spot currently held by Kevin Kerstetter and moving Kerstetter to long relief. Also it's rehab take 2 for Ayers, who broke his wrist on the last assignment after he missed the first month and a half with a concussion. The shortstop job is waiting for him if he can get 20-25 AB without getting injured on an HBP again.
Game 4: The Rays made it 3 in a row with an 8-3 win over Detroit and I'm betting nobody had "Erik Batchelder grand slam" on their bingo card. The rookie SS's big fly with the bases loaded in the 2nd, his first MLB homer, was the key hit which helped Tampa Bay to a 7-0 lead in the 2nd and they coasted from there. Nate Clark got them on the board with #25 in the 1st, and they added a pair of runs in the 2nd after Batchelder's slam on a balk and a Victor de Jesus RBI single. Bo Angeac hit #21 in the 5th for their final run. Nate Thompson, just off the IL and back in the bigs for the first time in 11 months, got the surprise start as we decided to give Andy Aparicio an extra rest day. Thompson was very good through 5, allowing just one run, but put two men on to start the 6th and finished 5 5 1 1 3 2 to get the victory. Danny Medina got him out of the 6th on 3 pitches - a double play and a grounder - and pitched 3 innings in total, allowing a 2-run Spencer Torkelson homer. Jordan Diaz got some work in with a perfect 9th (he's only thrown 15 innings this year which might also have something to do with his inconsistency, as the majority of Rays wins have been blowouts). Sadly Jaiden Hardaway's hitting streak came to an end at 25 even though he still reached base 3 times on a pair of walks and an HBP. He popped out and struck out in the two plate appearances he didn't reach.
Team record: 57-15. Next up: Back home for some interleague play as Cincinnati visits for 3 games.
Durham Update: The Bulls crushed Lehigh Valley 12-4 to improve to 44-17 but the big news was that Jon Jimenez hit 3 homers in the game as we have yet
another 1B prospect in the pipeline. He's ranked the #41 overall prospect and is hitting 332/402/608 with 14 HR and 52 RBI in 59 games at Durham. Jimenez is clearly ready to play in the bigs but we have, you know, Victor de Jesus at 1B, Rodolfo Rivas DHing and Mike Harms on the bench.