Game 1: The Rays came into this series having gone through their first rough patch of the season, losing 5 of their previous 8. Tonight they took a step back in the right direction with a 14-2 pasting of the Royals. Despite all the offense Ron Adams stole the show with a dominant 6 4 0 0 2 11 performance to improve to 3-3, 3.27. But there were plenty of offensive heroes of course: Ben Hill doubled and tripled among his 3 hits and 4 RBI, and the Rays got homers from Danny Ayala (who else? #13, a 3-run shot), a 2-run shot from Mike McKee (#7), and solo blasts from Quincy Siegle (#3) and Daniel Malone (#8) who scored four runs. Jimmy Leonard added a 2-run double as well.
Game 2: As if last night's carnage wasn't enough the Rays went out and waxed Kansas City 17-3 for an encore. Ben Hill can't stop hitting as he went 4-5 with 3 RBI, Danny Ayala knocked in 3 more including a 2-run double, Jim Gebers had their only homer of the night, a 3-run shot (#5) to go with a 2-run double for a 5-RBI night, and Daniel Malone did this:
His batting line in the boxscore was an unusual 0 5 0 0 as he was twice hit by a pitch and walked 3 more times. Jon Harbour did his usual thing on the mound, getting the win (5-0) and scattering a bunch of hits (6 9 2 2 1 4).
Game 3: After the offensive orgies of the last two nights things calmed down considerably at Publix Park but the result was the same as the Rays claimed a 4-2 win behind Danny Romero. Unlike Josh Carsello last year, the Rays' ace lefty is showing no Cy Young hangover as he went 7 7 1 1 0 10 to improve to 6-2, 2.96. Ken Neil pitched the 8th and gave up his obligatory homer - he's now allowed 4 longballs total in his 4 appearances since coming over from Oakland, surprising because he's rated 50 for movement - and Kikuo Kawase got the 9th for save #8. Daniel Vasquez broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th with a 2-run HR (#11) for the game's big hit and Jimmy Leonard doubled in a run later in the inning.
Game 4: The Rays made it a clean sweep of Kansas City with another low-scoring triumph, riding the emergency long relief outing of Steve Abeles to a 3-0 win. He was pressed into action after Nate Thompson had to leave two batters into the 1st with back stiffness which will probably not keep him from missing his next start. Abeles went 5.2 5 0 0 1 7 on 88 pitches to deservedly earn his first MLB win, and Ken Burgess and Kikuo Kawase (with save #9) took it from there in the 7th. Ben Hill supplied the offense with a sac fly in the 1st and a solo shot (#10) in the 3rd and Daniel Vasquez went deep for the second straight (#12) to provide some insurance. As you may have surmised from reading these recaps Hill is on a ridiculous tear, having gone 16 for his last 26 with 2 HR and 14 RBI. He's now hitting 381/394/650 and leads MLB in RBI with 43, on pace for 188. And he's tied with teammates Daniel Malone and Jimmy Leonard for the AL WAR lead at 2.0.
Team record: 29-8. Next up: A weekend at Fenway Park.