Game 1: The Rays rode Nate Thompson's arm and Danny Ayala's bat to a 4-1 win over Boston in the series opener. Thompson was outstanding at 6.1 7 1 1 1 8 to improve to 13-6, 3.74 with Kikuo Kawase picking up save #28. Ayala meanwhile homered twice and doubled to give himself 37 HR and 102 RBI and Daniel Malone was 2-4 with an RBI. Ayala has been rapidly moving up the WAR charts and is now right with Jimmy Leonard at 6.0.
Game 2: I decided to give Jose Mendoza another start and it didn't go so well in a strange game that saw him give up 5 in the first inning on 46 pitches, the Rays come back and take the lead, then lose 8-6 despite outhitting the Red Sox 19-8. Mendoza did settle down after that rough first but still put up a very busy line of 4 6 5 5 5 6 as the walks with him are a problem. But Jaiden Hardaway's 2-run HR among 3 RBI (#19) sparked the comeback and Ben Hill's RBI single put the Rays up 6-5 after 5. However Vinny Willard gave up a game-tying homer in the 6th and a costly Jim Gebers error allowed 2 runs to score with 2 out in the 7th and that turned out to be the ballgame. They hit into two double plays and had a man thrown out at 3rd, but otherwise the Rays just couldn't get the big hit and yesterday's hero Danny Ayala left 7 men on base, going 0-4 as the only starter without a hit.
Game 3: Tampa Bay was up against Boston's Cy Young contender Rory Knopp, who came into the game 9-8 but with a 3.01 ERA, 195 whiffs in 151 innings and 3.7 WAR. The Rays were unimpressed though as they jumped on Knopp for 6 runs in the 1st on 3 homers, sending him to the showers after only 1/3 of an inning as they went on take a 9-6 win. Jimmy Leonard started things off with a 3-run shot (#30), Danny Ayala went back-to-back with him for the first of his two homers on the day (#s 38 & 39, and he now leads the AL in WAR at 6.1), and Daniel Malone had the kill shot, a 2-run blast (#22) that ended Knopp's day. Tim Gates couldn't stand prosperity though, and was unable to get through the 5th to pick up the win, going 4.2 10 6 6 2 4. Cue super-middle reliever Steve Abeles, who went 2 1/3 scoreless to improve to 7-0 with Kikuo Kawase closing things down in the 9th for save #29.
Team record: 103-47. Next up: An off-day then the Cubs visit for 2 games.
MLB News: Former Rays great Shane McClanahan announced his retirement today. Mac was 92-37 in a Rays uniform from 2022-2029 and won the 2027 AL Cy Young with a 20-5, 2.88, 4.9 WAR season. The 30s weren't as kind to him as after leaving the Rays via free agency to Houston, he had a few middling, injury-plagued years with them and spent the last several seasons of his career as a nomadic lefty reliever, playing for 7 different teams (not counting Arizona, whose organization he was late this year).
Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls are on to the championship round of the International League playoffs after winning Games 3 and 4 in Syracuse. They scratched out a 2-1 in Game 3 when Pat McKinney homered in the 8th inning to break a 1-1 tie and came from behind to win Game 4 7-4 on a 2-run homer from Marco Recinos in the 8th to go ahead 5-4. Quincy Siegle had a pair of homers and drove in 3 as well. Durham will play Buffalo for the title.
No shock here:
