Game 1: Behind the arm of Nate Thompson and the bat of Jeff Baez, the Rays took a 7-1 win over the Yankees in their series opener at Publix Park. Thompson continues to round into form, going 6 6 1 1 1 8 for his second win in three starts since coming off the IL. Tim Gates pitched the 7th and Billy Hoyte went the final two innings for his first save after staying in when the lead grew. And it grew thanks to Baez, who homered in the 5th to make it 3-1 and then homered again with 2 men on to break it open in the 8th as he now has 5 for the season. Eric Titcombe drove in the first two runs with a single in the 4th and Jon Jimenez added a solo shot (#7) in the 8th after Baez's 2nd blast. Toronto continues to win so the Rays continue to trail them by a game.
Game 2: Kevin Kerstetter went 6 strong innings and the bats provided just enough offense in a 4-2 win over the Yankees. The lefty went 6 5 2 2 2 7 to improve to 5-2, 3.57, surviving a rough first inning with the bases loaded and nobody out allowing just one run. Tim Gates continued to impress with 2 scoreless innings as the pen still recovers from Sunday's game, and Tim Siqueiros took the 9th for save #2. Eric Titcombe and Omar Rodriguez each hit HR #8 of the season with O-Rod's solo shot in the 5th putting the Rays ahead to stay 3-2. Jeff Baez continues to be in the thick of things, driving in the other two runs with a bases-loaded walk and a sac fly. The Jays won as usual, so it's status quo in the division.
Game 3: The Rays had to endure another lengthy extra-inning game as it took them 13 innings to finally dispatch the Yankees 6-5 when Omar Rodriguez doubled in Jaiden Hardaway, who had singled and stolen second, for the game-winner. But the big news of the day came in the top of the 10th when Mike Wherry walked the first two Yankees to lead off the inning. This brought up New York SS Mike Milliken, and he lined one to Jim Gebers at SS as the Yankees put on the hit-and-run and Gebers flipped to Hardaway who flipped to Daniel Vasquez for A TRIPLE PLAY!!! This is the 18th season in this save which has seen nearly 3,000 games played and the first time I've ever had the Rays turn a triple play (or hit into one for that matter):
We got to extras thanks to a Rays comeback as Ron Adams put them in a first-inning 4-0 hole, and left down 5-2 after going 6.1 10 5 5 1 7. Tony Rey ended up with his first Rays win after pitching the 13th. Vasquez's 2-run single in the 7th tied it up, Bo Angeac was 3-4 with 2 walks and an RBI and Hardaway was on base 5 times with 3 hits and 2 walks. The Blue Jays of course never lose and stay 1 up on the Rays.
Game 4: The Rays completed the sweep of the Yankees 8-0 behind a dominant outing from Josh Carsello. The ace lefty was 7 1 0 0 2 8 as he improves to 4-1, 1.93 and he and Tony Rey, who went the final 2 innings, combined on a 2-hit shutout. The offense was led by Danny Ayala, who smacked a 2-run HR (#5) as he seeks to get going with only a .193 BA, Jaiden Hardaway (of course) who was 2-4 with a walk and a 2-run double, and Daniel Vasquez, who launched HR #7 as part of a 3-hit day. Toronto refuses to lose, beating Houston 3-2 in 16 innings today, so no change in the division.
Team record: 25-11. Next up: 3 games in Minnesota.