Game 1: 11-0 W. WP-McClanahan (3-2, 5 6 0 0 2 5). S-Gau (1). HR-H.Ramos 3 (8), Vaughn (4). It was the Heliot Ramos show as he tied the team single-game record for homers with 3 and drove in 6. Andrew Vaughn was no slouch either, driving in 4 on a 3-run homer and sac fly. Chris Gau went the final 4 innings for the save.
Game 2: 5-1 W. WP-Baz (2-1, 6 3 1 1 3 9). HR-Walls (2). Baz was electric and Taylor Walls continued to do his best Wander impression with a homer, double, steal and 3 runs scored.
Game 3: 10-3 W. WP-Patino (1-0, 6.1 2 2 2 1 7). HR-H.Ramos 2 (10), Vaughn (5). Luis Patino no-hit the Orioles through 6 1/3 and Heliot Ramos made it 5 homers in 3 games with another pair. A 7-run 4th inning broke the game open, including a 2-run double from Curtis Mead, who twisted his ankle on the play and will head to the IL.
Transactions: Mead was put on the 10-day IL and Royce Lewis optioned to Durham while Wander Franco was activated and Alec Bohm was recalled.
Game 4: 5-1 W. WP-Glasnow (1-3, 6 2 1 1 1 10). Glasnow couldn't help but give up a homer but was otherwise dominant in his first win of the year and he's looked like his old self the last two starts as the Rays swept Baltimore by a combined 31-5 score. Wander was 1-4 with an RBI double in his return.
Team record: 21-10, now 3 games up on Boston in the East and #1 in the power rankings. Next up: An off-day then 3 at home vs Cleveland. Also impressive - our rankings among all of MLB:
Not sure I've ever had a team 1st in DE. I blame the low team batting average on Brandon Lowe, who's not only not flirting with the Mendoza Line, he's been put in its friend zone with a .120 average (13-108). At least 8 of those 13 hits are homers and he has 22 RBI in 27 games.
News and notes: We signed veteran 1B Yuli Gurriel to a minor league contract with a $340K bonus. Lord knows we have enough 1B types (Mead, Vaughn, Bohm, Nootbaar) in MLB or Durham but he was too good to let sit out there and be picked up by someone else. He still has a 75 contact tool (although only 45 power and eye).
Also Alika Williams can't stop raking as he extended his hitting streak to an astounding 37 games with AA Montgomery.
And some recognition from the league office:
