Game 1: The Rays came from behind and took a 5-4 win in Chicago against the White Sox tonight. Danny Ayala's pinch-RBI double in the 7th broke a 3-3 tie, and Jeff Baez added a run-scoring single to get the Rays in position for win #20 of the season. Vinny Willard started, and once he learns how to get through the first inning the sky might be the limit for him. After giving up 3 in the 1st inning in his last start and later settling down, he did it again, throwing 30 pitches while Chicago put 3 on the board. But he went the next 5 scoreless, finishing 6 5 3 3 3 5 and picked up his first major league win thanks to the 7th inning rally. Jim Golunski struggled against his old team in the 7th allowing a run on 3 hits, and Tim Siqueiros had to pitch around a pair of walks to lead off the 8th before Kikuo Kawase had a 1-2-3 9th with two whiffs for save #8. Eric Titcombe and Jim Gebers each drove in a run earlier, and Omar Rodriguez went 3-4 with a steal to extend his hitting streak to 20 games and raise his average to .411.
April 26: Activated P Jon Soranno from the 10-day IL, optioned P Jose Espinoza to AAA Durham.
Espinoza was impressive in his 4 appearances and will be in line for the next callup, while Soranno will take Vinny Willard's place in the rotation although the way Ron Adams has been going it might be his spot, we'll see how Adams does today.
Game 2: The Rays brought out the boomsticks tonight as they clubbed 5 homers in an 8-4 win over the White Sox. Bo Angeac's 2-run shot in the 1st (#7) got them going and Jaiden Hardaway (#3) and Dayle Jenkins (#5) went back-to-back in the 5th. Also going back-to-back were Jon Jimenez (#4, a 2-run homer) and Danny Ayala (#6) in the 7th. Ron Adams started and wasn't entirely convincing, going 6.1 8 4 4 2 7 for win #2 and bringing his ERA
down to 7.12 in the process. Billy Hoyte went 1 2/3 with 3 strikeouts and Willie Bertone remain unscored upon with a clean 9th. One negative note: Omar Rodriguez's 20-game hit streak was snapped.
Game 3: The Rays failed to score in 7 of the 9 innings today, but still put 15 runs on the scoreboard in a 15-2 rout of Chicago. They actually trailed 2-0 going into the 5th inning when they erupted for 8 runs with the big blow an Omar Rodriguez grand slam, his 10th homer already. Then they put 7 more on the board in the 8th with Dayle Jenkins crushing a 3-run homer (#6, quite a few already for a guy who averages them in the teens) and Danny Ayala going deep for #7. Jenkins drove in 4 on the day, Ayala 2, Daniel Vasquez added a 2-run double and Will Quintana was 3-3 with an RBI as they pounded out 19 hits in total. Jon Soranno made a triumphant return to the rotation in his first start in over a year, going 6 5 2 2 4 3, although it was his 2nd win. Danny Medina went the final 3 scoreless for his first save of the year.
O-Rod also leads the AL in WAR with 1.9.
Game 4: Tampa Bay dropped the series finale 5-4 thanks to another inconsistent outing from Josh Carsello. The lefty went 6 8 5 5 3 4 and took his first loss of the season as he lost a 4-2 lead in the 5th allowing a 3-run homer. Willie Bertone struck out the side in the 7th and Mike Wherry did likewise in the 8th to keep it close, but the bats couldn't get over the hump with Danny Ayala being thrown out at home in the 8th trying to score the tying run. Omar Rodriguez drove in a pair with a single and a groundout, and Daniel Vasquez was 2-4 with an RBI but it wasn't a big day for the offense.
Team record: 22-5. Next up: The road trip continues in Fenway for 3 against the Red Sox.