[Art Deco]

September 24: Optioned IF Kevin Padlo to AAA Durham, activated IF Wander Franco from the 10-day IL.

We can definitely use Wander back in the lineup.

Game 1: The Rays' September not to remember continued with a 5-3 loss to Miami, making it 5 straight defeats and 16 in the last 20 as they continue to limp to the finish line. Chris Archer followed the recent trend of his rotation mates by getting hit hard early as he gave up a triple, single and then homer to former Ray Corey Dickerson to quickly fall behind 3-0 in the 1st. The Rays battled back to tie it on a Randy Arozarena RBI double in the bottom of the first (Arozarena had to immediately leave with a mild calf strain, he's DtD for a couple) and a 2-run HR from Mike Zunino (#18) in the 5th. But the deadlock didn't last long as in the top of the 6th Archer got into trouble, putting 2 on with 2 out and a lefty due, so Colin Poche was summoned from the pen. Miami countered with a righty, whom Poche walked and then he surrendered a 2-run single to Miguel Rojas to restore the Marlin advantage. That was it as the Rays couldn't rub two sticks together the rest of the way despite the efforts of Poche in the 7th, Rafael Dolis in the 8th and Pete Fairbanks in the 9th to keep it close. Wander Franco's return was one to forget as he went 0-4, striking out and grounding into a pair of double plays, including one to end the game. The good news is that the magic number is down to 1 after Toronto lost last night while the Rays were idle; the Jays did win tonight to keep us from backing into the division title.

Game 2: 2021 AL EAST CHAMPS! The Rays clinched their second straight AL East title and they came in through the front door, taking a 9-6 come-from-behind win over Miami to snap their 5-game losing streak. They took an early 2-1 lead behind Ryan Yarbrough but Yarbs coughed it up in the 4th by allowing a grand slam to non-power hitter Jon Berti and when Brian Anderson took him deep in the 5th to make it 6-2, the thought on everyone's mind was "here we go again". But they bounced back in the bottom of the 5th with 3 runs on an RBI single from Brandon Lowe, an RBI double from Ji-Man Choi, and an RBI single from Wander Franco for his first hit since his lengthy absence. Andrew Kittredge took over for Yarbrough, who ended an ugly 5 8 6 5 1 1, and pitched two scoreless innings including getting out of a jam in the 6th. This bought time for the offense to come all the way back which they did in the 7th. Franco came through big again with a 2-run triple to give them the lead and then Willy Adames followed with his 11th homer of the season and it was suddenly 9-6. Diego Castillo took care of the 8th and Nick Anderson the 9th for save #29 while Kittredge notched his 7th win. Toronto did win today so the Rays had to win to clinch, and so they did.

MLB News: Former Rays superstar Evan Longoria, winding down his career with San Francisco, had a 5-hit game at Coors Field tonight as the Giants went nuts in a 23-4 win which saw them score 10 times in the first inning. All five of Longo's hits were singles and he drove in a run.

Game 3: The Rays reverted to losing ways in the most heartbreaking of fashions as Nick Anderson gave up a 3-run homer to Magneuris Sierra with 2 out in the 9th inning to doom them to a 5-4 loss. Anderson's 13th HR allowed in 53 innings is just not cutting it as closer and he may soon find himself out of that job. He wasted a fine Tyler Glasnow performance (6.2 5 2 2 2 5) and a come-from-behind performance from the offense which saw Mike Brosseau and Willy Adames get infield RBI singles along with a clean RBI single from Yandy Diaz. Pete Fairbanks went 2/3 of an inning and got in trouble but Colin Poche got him out of it before Anderson went strikeout, single, single, strikeout, 3-run homer, strikeout in the 9th. That's his 5th blown save and 6th loss of the season.

Team record: 94-62. Next up: An off-day then we go to Houston for 3. It could be a playoff preview but we're all but assured of playing the Twins in the ALDS so we'd have to get by them first.