Game 1: Nate Thompson starred again and Alex Buitrago hit a big homer to propel the Rays to a 4-2 win over Baltimore. Thompson went 7 3 2 2 2 5 to mark his third straight start of 7 innings with 2 or fewer runs allowed and improved to 10-4. Mike Wherry pitched the 8th and allowed a Thompson runner to score while Kikuo Kawase bounced back from some recent shakiness to retire the Orioles 1-2-3 in the 9th for save #19, including two lefties. Bo Angeac hit an RBI single in the 1st and Danny Ayala an RBI double in the 3rd but it remained a tense 2-1 game until the 6th when Buitrago unloaded #23 with a man on to give the Rays some breathing room. Jaiden Hardaway had a rare 0-5 game and failed to reach base.
Durham Playoff Update: Although the final score was 8-5, the Bulls took Game 1 of the International League Finals over Buffalo at Durham Athletic Park tonight behind an absolutely dominant performance from Ron Adams. The #1 prospect in baseball lived up to that pedigree with a 7 3 0 0 0 11 line as the Bulls built a 5-0 lead. Then things got a little too interesting for the tastes of Bulls fan as the Bisons first got 3 off Josh Hader (another late-season vet signing) in the 8th to make it 5-3 before Durham scored 3 times in the bottom of the 8th to make it 8-3. Bulls closer Eric Carter had come on to get the final out of the 8th but was sat back down to preserve him tomorrow with the lead 5 again and that almost backfired when Joel Lee gave up 2 runs on 3 hits without retiring anyone. Edgar Rios (acquired on waivers earlier this year) ended up finishing things for the save. Ricky Widmar finally broke his duck with 3 hits, a walk and two steals tonight while Brandon Applebee homered and Nate Boesel and Mike McKee each drove in a pair.
Charlotte Playoff Update:
Congrats to the Charlotte Stone Crabs, 2033 Florida State League champs, thanks to a 3-2 win over Daytona. Bob Yusaf Khel's 2-run first inning homer put the Stone Crabs ahead to stay, and 2033 3rd round pick Jeremy Masek delivered a big RBI double to back 6 innings of 1-run ball from Chris Powell and a 2-inning save from closer Harry Enriquez in a tight, tense affair.
Game 2: A tough loss for Leo Ortega and the Rays at Camden Yards today when the Orioles rallied for 2 in the bottom of the 9th to edge the Rays 2-1. Dane Ayers hit his first homer of the year leading off the game and that run stood until the bottom of the 9th inning. Ortega took an 88-pitch, 2-hit shutout into the 9th and retired the first batter on a fly ball but gave up a rare walk and then a single on which Victor de Jesus made the poor choice to try to get the lead man at 3rd, allowing the hitter to move into 2nd. In need of a strikeout, Kikuo Kawase came in and whiffed Druw Jones for out #2, but lefty-hitting Tim Steele singled off Kawase to bring both runners home and Baltimore had the walk-off win. It was Kawase's 5th blown save and his fourth in the last 26 days. Ortega took the hard-luck loss, going 8.1 3 2 2 1 9 and dropping to 17-5, effectively ending any hopes of winning 20 games. Baltimore's quality lefty Zack Farese held a full-strength Rays lineup (sans Jaiden Hardaway, but Ayers homered as his replacement) to 4 hits and 0 walks in 7 innings.
Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls rallied to take a 2-0 series lead with a 4-3 win thanks to a 3-run Danny Roush homer and great bullpen work which featured an old, old face returning. Mike Fields started for Durham and although he whiffed 8 in 4 2/3 he left down 3-0 and with men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. With a lefty due the Bulls turned to 38-year-old Matt Krook, who pitched for the Bulls all the way back in 2021 (ha!) but spent the last 10 years pitching for the Yankees' AAA affiliate in Scranton. Krook got a whiff and out of the inning without further damage, had a 1-2-3 6th and got the win as Edgar Rios and Eric Carter combined to pitch the final 3 innings. The four Bulls runs came in the bottom of the 5th on a Ricky Widmar RBI single (his only hit today) and Roush's homer. Mike Champagne will look to pop the bubbly in two nights in Buffalo.
September 24: Optioned OF Danny Ayala to AAA Durham, recalled C Mike McKee from AAA Durham.
Luis Corpus got food poisoning and is completely unavailable for 3 days, so we needed a catcher to back up Will Quintana. Durham loses their star catcher for the playoffs but gains a major slugger for Game 3 of the IL championship series.
Game 3: A wild-scoring game in the early innings calmed down in the Rays' favor as they bounced back from last night's loss with a 9-4 win over Baltimore. Nate Schultz was hit hard over the first three innings, allowing four runs on three Oriole homers and trailing 4-3. But former Ray Steve Givens got off to an even worse start, walking 8 Rays hitters in his 3+ innings, as Tampa Bay scored 3 times in the 4th to go ahead to stay 6-4. Omar Rodriguez had the big hit in that inning, a 2-run double. Dane Ayers homered for the second straight day and second time this year with a 2-run blast in the 5th and Bo Angeac added his 43rd homer, a shot that made him the 5th member of the 100-RBI club for the Rays this season. This makes the 2033 Rays only the second team in MLB history to have 5 100-RBI guys, joining the 1936 Yankees in the record books. Alex Buitrago is next at 81 so they won't be setting the record. Schultz meanwhile settled down after his rough first 3 innings with 3 really good ones to finish 6 6 4 4 1 9 and improve to 21-2. Kevin Kerstetter, who hadn't pitched in 15 days, tossed 3 shutout innings with 4 whiffs to pick up his first save of the season.
Game 4: The Rays took a 5-3 win over Baltimore today with the star of the game being rookie catcher Mike McKee. McKee's 2-run homer in the 4th, his 2nd in the bigs, broke a 1-1 tie and put Tampa Bay ahead to stay. Danny Medina started, and while he wasn't super-sharp he was good enough to go 5.1 6 2 2 2 4 and earn his 4th win of the season. Bob Sirna got the final two outs of the 6th, Jim Connors went 1 2/3 and allowed a run, Mike Wherry got the final out of the 8th and Jordan Diaz did his usual 9th inning thing putting a couple of men on but getting out of it for save #15. Nate Clark hit HR #50 in the 8th, joining Victor de Jesus in that club. The Rays now need to win 4 of their 6 final games to break their own record of 127 wins set in 2031.
Team record: 124-32. Next up: An off-day then 3 games at Yankee Stadium.
Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls won their third straight Governor's Cup as they swept the International League finals from Buffalo with a 7-1 win tonight. Mike Champagne was lights-out once again as he was in his 2 starts in the previous round, going 8 4 1 0 2 9 for the win. Ricky Widmar was 2-4 with an RBI and after an 0-fer in the first round was named MVP of the finals having gone 6 for 12 with 3 steals in the 3 games. They broke open a 2-0 game with a 5-run 6th that was death by 1000 cuts for the Bisons, with a couple of infield singles and an error leading to a parade of Bulls baserunners. After the game a couple of vets playing for Durham this season, Miguel Andujar and Josh Hader, announced their retirements.