Game 1: Jaiden Hardaway rapped out 5 hits and the Rays routed the Red Sox 9-0 at Fenway Park in the opener of their 3-game series. Included among the hits were a pair of doubles and the second sacker drove in a run as well in his first career 5-hit game. Jeff Baez had the game's big hit, a 3-run homer which turned a 1-0 game into a 4-0 game in the 4th, his first circuit clout of the season. Dayle Jenkins also drove in 3 with a pair of knocks. Josh Hanna was excellent on the mound as well, going 7 3 0 0 3 7 to improve to 5-0, 2.35 while Bob Sirna is hopefully over his early-season struggles after going 2 perfect innings in relief.
Game 2: The rookie lefty-bashers had a big day, driving in 7 of the 11 runs the Rays scored in another rout of the Red Sox, 11-2. Jeff Hayes had a big 2-run double in the 6th to break open a 1-0 game and later drove in a run with sac fly, and Jim Gebers launched a 3-run homer over the Monster along with a sac fly to give him 4 RBI as they got to former Ray Jeremy Bowers. Will Quintana's 2nd HR of the year gave them the 1-0 lead, and Jon Jimenez was 3-5 with 2 RBI. Nate Thompson continued his Cy-caliber pitching by taking a shutout into the 9th before he put the leadoff man on and gave up a homer, so he finished 8 7 2 2 0 9 to improve to 5-0, 2.34. Willie Bertone remains unscored upon after a clean 2K 9th.
Hail Omar! He's leading the AL in all three Triple Crown categories.
Meanwhile all this guy does is hit.
Game 3: Ron Adams pitched his best game of the season and the Rays completed their own "Boston Massacre" with a 5-0 win to sweep the series by an aggregate score of 25-2. Adams went 6 4 0 0 2 9 on 107 pitches to up his record to 3-2 and lower his bloated ERA to 5.70. Tim Siqueiros, Jim Golunski and Vinny Willard all pitched a scoreless inning to complete the shutout. They took an early 3-0 lead on solo homers from Dayle Jenkins (#7), Jon Jimenez (#5, back-to-back with Jenkins) and Will Quintana (#3, second straight game for him), and Jeff Baez added a 2-run triple in the 8th to create some separation.
Team record: 25-5. Houston lost 3 straight to fall to 22-6, so the Rays now have MLB's best record. Next up: 3 games at Yankee Stadium.