A sweep for the Rays as their stingy pitching got even stingier, allowing only 3 runs to Oakland over the whole series. Meanwhile the Yankees took 2 of 3 from Toronto but all that did was drop them 7 1/2 behind the Rays. And we made a trade (see below):
Ironically it was the game
James Hays started which saw the Rays allow 2 of the 3 runs they did in the series but it wasn't really Hays' doing as Tampa Bay prevailed 6-2 over Oakland in the opener. Hays was ridiculously good as usual, going 7 5 1 0 0 13 to improve to 11-3, 1.67 with Tampa Bay, 13-3 overall, and his season strikeout total eclipsed the 200 mark here in late July.
Osvanni Gutierrez made a mess in the 9th after being entrusted with a 6-1 lead so
Yasunari Uehara got the final two outs for his 5th save. Meanwhile
Adley Rutschman had perhaps his best game of the season, going 4-4 with 2 doubles, a 2-run HR (#17) and 4 RBI while
Kody Hoese added a solo shot (#14) and
Alex Kirilloff was 2-3 with 3 runs scored, a double and an RBI.
Dustin May was brilliant again but had to be flashing back to last year as the bats didn't support him although he and the bullpen were effective enough to hold the line until the Rays scored in the bottom of the 11th to take a 2-1 win. May was 7.1 6 1 1 2 6 in the no-decision and lowered his ERA to 2.74 with
Yasunari Uehara (2-2) picking up the win after striking out the side in the top of the 11th.
Victor Robles' RBI single off former Ray Ryan Yarbrough (who bedeviled them otherwise over 5 1/3 in relief of an injured Jesus Luzardo) brought in their regulation run, and
Yoelqui Cespedes won the game with a single in the 11th.
After the second game we swung a deal to upgrade the bullpen:
Scott is a flame-throwing lefty (75 stuff) who saved 33 games for the Phillies two years ago before they moved him into a setup role. He had a 3.19 ERA with 52 whiffs in 42 innings this year and is an upgrade over the guy we traded, Dacosta. I liked Dacosta for the future but couldn't pass up this chance especially with the Phillies picking up 100% of Scott's remaining salary (he's a free agent at year's end), keeping our options open over the next week before the deadline. Gomez is a marginal prospect and Horos is something less than marginal.
The third member of the Rays' big 3 starters,
Joe Ryan, wasn't going to be upstaged by the other two and pitched 7 shutout innings in a 2-0 win over Oakland to complete the sweep. Ryan lowered his minuscule ERA to 1.88 and improved to 13-4 after a 7 6 0 0 2 8 outing, and
Diego Castillo took care of the 9th for save #14 despite scaring everyone by putting a couple of runners on. The bats only squeaked out 4 hits, but one of them was a 2-run single by
Kelly Crumpton in the second, and those two runs stood up for the duration.
Team record: 66-35. Next up: We take our longest (by distance) road trip of the season to play 3 in Seattle.