Game 1: The Rays looked dead and buried on Opening Day down 5-1 to Houston going into the bottom of the 8th. But a Danny Ayala 3-run homer in the inning and a two-run rally in the 9th gave the Rays an exciting 6-5 walk-off win at Publix Park to open the 2035 season. Nate Schultz got the start and had a couple of rough innings early, allowing 3 runs, but settled down to go 6 5 3 3 2 11. Danny Medina wasn't very good in the 7th, giving up a triple that led to 2 runs, but Billy Hoyte went the final 2 2/3 on an efficient 28 pitches and ended up with the win. That's because with one out Will Quintana singled, Jaiden Hardaway flew out, but pinch-runner Melvin Gutierrez stole second and scored on Dayle Jenkins' 2nd RBI single of the day to tie it, a bad pickoff throw allowed Jenkins to go to 2nd, and Victor de Jesus singled home Jenkins for the win. Here's the commemorative Opening Day boxscore:
Departed Rays News: Andy Aparicio made his Colorado debut today and he was brilliant, going 8 3 1 1 1 12, but ended up the losing pitcher as he allowed a leadoff single in the 9th which came around to score for Columbus in the bottom of the 9th and gave the Lightning a 1-0 win. We'll see AA next week as the Rockies come to town next. Among other departing Rays, Ricky Widmar homered in his Cubs debut but that was their only run in an 8-1 loss to Texas and Vlad Guerrero Jr. also went deep and drove in 3 although the Angels lost 7-5 to Oakland. And maybe Stan Melton will stick with the Braves after all, he got the OD start at 3B and hit a 2-run homer in the 8th to tie the game up for Atlanta as they went on to beat Philadelphia 4-2 in 10 innings. The Phillies were up 2-0 on a 2-run homer from - you guessed it - Alex Buitrago.
Game 2: No late dramatics necessary today as the Rays routed Houston 14-2. Chris Peters hit a bases-clearing triple in the 1st, Danny Ayala hit his 2nd homer in as many days, a 2-run shot in the 2nd as part of a 3-RBI day and Jon Jimenez had a 3-run homer in the 3rd (#1) to propel the Rays to a big early lead and they coasted from there. Victor de Jesus had a 4-hit, 2-RBI day and Dayle Jenkins had 3 hits and a pair of ribbies himself. Leo Ortega started and unusually for him ran a lot of deep counts, but went 5 7 2 2 1 4 to pick up the win. Impressive was Ron Adams, who came on and went 3 1 0 0 0 6 and will be a weapon out of the pen this year. Bob Sirna struck out the side in 9th to mop up. One big blow to the Rays, though - Daniel Vasquez, seeing his first action of the year, beat out an infield single in the 1st for an RBI but somehow on the play he broke a bone in his elbow and is done for the year, a shame for him after biding his time waiting for Vlad to play out his contract last year. This will pretty much make Eric Titcombe the full-time DH so it's not much of a setback for the team.
March 31: Placed 1B Daniel Vasquez on the 60-day IL with a broken elbow, activated 3B Bo Angeac from the 10-day IL.
Chris Peters gets to stay up for now as we don't need a 1B with Jon Jimenez, Victor de Jesus and Eric Titcombe all capable of playing the position. And since the latter two are outfielders as well, we don't need to call up an OF. Peters gives Angeac a legit backup at 3rd as Melvin Gutierrez was the only other one on the roster who plays it.
Game 3: Josh Hanna won his Rays debut and Danny Ayala homered again as Tampa Bay made it three straight wins to start the year, downing Houston 6-1. The lefty acquired from Colorado was in command most of the way, finishing 6.1 4 1 1 4 6. Mike Wherry went 1 1/3 and Tim Siqueiros whiffed 3 over the final 1 1/3 to finish it out. Ayala remains on pace for 162 homers after hitting his 3rd in 3 games, a 3-run shot in the 1st off Jose Delgadillo. Jon Jimenez hit his 2nd later in the inning to give the Rays a quick 4-0 lead and doubled in another in the 3rd. Dayle Jenkins had an RBI single a part of a 3-hit day and is 8-14 to start the season while Jaiden Hardaway got his first 3 hits of the season today.
Game 4: The Rays only managed 5 hits today, but that was four more than Houston as Nate Thompson and 3 relievers combined on a one-hit shutout in a 2-0 Tampa Bay win to start the year 4-0. Thompson was dominating, going 5 1 0 0 3 9 on 97 pitches for the win and Kevin Kerstetter went 2 innings with 3 whiffs. Tim Siqueiros gave us a scare in the 8th by walking the first two men but then struck out the next three to get through the 8th and Kikuo Kawase whiffed a pair around a Bo Angeac error to end the game and get his first save of the year as Rays pitching combined for 6 walks and 17 strikeouts. The bats didn't do much but they did strike two big blows in the 3rd on solo homers from Jaiden Hardaway and Victor de Jesus, the first of the year for each and all the offense they'd need.
Team record: 4-0. Next up: Colorado and Andy Aparicio come to town for 3 as I believe this is the Rockies' first trip to Publix Park as we've played them at Coors the last couple of times.