August 19-21, 2025: at NY Yankees (3)
Game 1: 5-9 L. LP-Castillo (3.1 8 6 6 4 2). HR-Arozarena (17), J.Lowe (15). Rays fell behind big early as Castillo turned in his third poor start in his last five outings, and the Yankees pulled to within 3 of the division lead.
Game 2: 7-4 W. WP-Sears (2-0). S-Taylor (7). Starter-Rasmussen (4.2 7 4 4 3 2). HR-Tucker (28). Rays put all 7 on the board in the first 5 but Ras couldn't get it done to get the win. Instead the bullpen went 4 1/3 scorless allowing only 1 hit led by former Yankee JP Sears, who went 2 2/3 and hasn't allowed a run in 13.1 IP since being recalled. The win was costly though as we lost our keystone combo of Wander (herniated disc, 4 weeks) and Albies (back stiffness, 10 days) once again.
Transactions: The middle infield shuffle returns with Wander and Albies going on the IL and Alika Williams and Brett Wisely back up from Durham. Unfortunately Jeremiah Jackson re-injured himself so we can't go with him as we've been snakebit at 2B and SS.
Game 3: 4-3 W (12). WP-Gau (12-3). Starter-Swanda (6 7 3 3 0 6). HR-Schmitt (19). The pen came through again with 6 scoreless innings, including two by Gau who has 3 more wins than anyone else on the staff. Arozarena's RBI single in the 12th was the winner in an extremely important game, and Schmitt was 3-5 with his 2-run HR and now has 83 RBI in a successful rookie season.
Team record: 73-48, now 5 up on New York after this pivotal series. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Toronto.
|