[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays mounted an exciting comeback win over the Rockies 7-6 at Publix Park tonight on Jon Jimenez's 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th, his 3rd of the young season. But the win was overshadowed by the fact Jon Soranno came out of the game after 2 innings holding his elbow, and an MRI confirmed the worst: he's done for the year with a torn elbow ligament. The Rays have played only 5 games this season but have already lost two regulars for the year with Soranno being a much bigger blow. Ron Adams is the likely choice to take his place in the rotation and he came on in the 3rd, but unlike his brilliant first relief outing this one wasn't so good as he allowed all 6 Colorado runs in 2 1/3 innings although Danny Medina allowed two of his runners to score. Medina ended up with the win with 2 2/3 scoreless, Willie Bertone, who himself missed the rest of 2034 after his first appearance last season, pitched the 8th and Kikuo Kawase got away with giving up a 2-out triple for save #2. Earlier Bo Angeac hit his first homer of the year, a 2-run shot which put the Rays up 4-0 and Dayle Jenkins continued his hot start to the season going 2-4 with an RBI.

April 3: Placed P Jon Soranno on the 60-day IL with a stretched elbow ligament, recalled P Raymher Costa from AAA Durham.

With Ron Adams getting a shot at the rotation, I've decided to call up Costa and see what he can do in long relief with his 70 stuff, 80 control and 25 movement. Expect some solo homers and not much else, I guess as last year with Durham he had an 11/120 BB/K ratio in 107 innings as a swingman (with only 8 homers allowed surprisingly). And good on him to make the majors after being a 35th-round pick in the 2029 draft.

Game 2: The Rays made it six straight wins to start the season with a comfortable 7-2 win over Colorado and Andy Aparicio. The Rays' ace of the last five years before his trade to the Rockies last winter, Aparicio started off impressively by retiring the first 5 Rays with 3 on strikeouts. But then he suddenly couldn't get anyone out. A pair of singles and a wild pitch brought a run home, Jeff Baez and Will Quintana singled in runs, and Jaiden Hardway capped the 5-run inning with a 2-run homer, his 2nd. And another man of his was on in the 4th before he left, and Quintana brought him home with a 2-run homer for his first of the year. Meanwhile Nate Schultz looked to cement his status as the Rays' new ace and went to 2-0 with a 6.2 4 1 1 2 4 performance. With the big lead, Raymher Costa came on for his MLB debut and was electric, striking out the first four Rockies he faced. He did allow a 1-out triple in the 9th and the runner scored on a groundout but Costa finished out the game.

Game 3: They weren't going to go 162-0 and now they definitely won't after losing 5-2 to Colorado today. They were done in by a couple of vets, on the pitching side Jeremy Odle went 6 5 1 1 2 6 for the win and on the offensive side Cody Bellinger had the game's biggest hit, a 3-run homer to cap a 4-run 5th against Leo Ortega, turning a 1-0 Rays lead into a 4-1 deficit. The homer was the 642nd of Bellinger's illustrious career and it made Ortega a loser as he finished 5 6 4 4 1 5 to drop to 1-1. For the Rays a few regulars like Victor de Jesus and Jeff Baez rested, which didn't help but wasn't the main reason they lost. Jon Jimenez continued his ridiculous start to the season with his 4th HR in 5 games (he sat Opening Day against a lefty) which gave the Rays that early lead and their other run came in the 8th when Dayle Jenkins tripled and Bo Angeac singled him home. Bob Sirna went 2 innings with 4 whiffs but gave up a run in relief of Ortega and Kevin Kerstetter pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 Ks.

Team record: 6-1. An off-day then we head west to visit San Francisco for the first time in many years for a 3-game weekend set. Marco Abrego, whom we dealt to them to make room on the 40-man over the winter, has won the CF job for the Giants.