Game 1: The Rays rode a dominant Josh Hanna performance to a 4-2 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. The lefty pitched perhaps his best game of the season, going 6 3 0 0 1 10 on 98 pitches to improve to 14-4, 3.02. Edgar Rios got the call in the 7th but was shaky, giving up a couple of runs, and Tim Siqueiros had to bail him out with a couple of whiffs. Jim Golunski had a 1-2-3 8th, and Kikuo Kawase likewise with a pair of strikeouts in the 9th for save #32. Bo Angeac continued on his HR tear (4 in 3 games) with a solo shot for #20 in the 6th while Jaiden Hardaway and Danny Ayala singled in runs.
Game 2: Tampa Bay's latest win streak now sits at 8 games after a 7-1 romp over Baltimore. Nate Thompson was in good form tonight, if a bit wild at 7 5 1 1 4 5. The win ups his record to 18-3 (matching his record from last season) and ties him for the MLB win lead with Boston's Sean Nelson. His ERA is still a bit high at 4.23 but it's the lowest it's been since his 3rd start of the season back in April. Danny Medina went the final two innings scoreless. Mike McKee led the offense with a pair of solo homers to give him 7, Bo Angeac homered for the fourth straight game (#21) driving in 3, and Omar Rodriguez went deep with #24.
Game 3: The Rays tasted defeat for only the 27th time this season after dropping a 12-inning 3-2 decision to the Orioles. Nate Schultz had a fine outing going 8 6 2 2 2 5, and Jim Golunski and Tim Siqueiros had scoreless innings but Mike Wherry in his 2nd inning of relief put two men on, and Kikuo Kawase came in to face Baltimore's Jose Serrano who delivered an RBI single to walk it off. Fatigue meant Jaiden Hardaway, Danny Ayala and Omar Rodriguez had to sit, so that had a little to do with the 2 runs in 12 innings, but there were plenty of other quality hitters still in the lineup. Bo Angeac stayed scorching hot; although he didn't homer again he drove in both runs with a pair of RBI doubles.
Game 4: So this happened today, as if 12 innings yesterday wasn't enough:
This is the longest game I've played in 16 seasons of this save (I believe the record was a 21-inning game against Texas in 2021 or 2022). The box score above pretty much tells the story, and ironically it was all because of Jim Golunski's first bad outing as a Ray, preventing Kevin Kerstetter from going 17-0.
Team record: 105-27. Next up: Mercifully after playing 34 innings the last two days we get a day off, then it's 3 games in Houston, a possible ALDS opponent as they're entrenched in a wild card spot along with Boston.
Meanwhile, no surprise here:
