While the Rays took 2 of 3 from Angels it was still a series of aggravation as bullpen meltdowns and a serious injury kept us from enjoying the wins.
The real bullpen meltdown came in the opener as the Rays lost a 2-1 lead in the 8th allowing two runs, tied it back up in the bottom of the inning and then gave up 6(!) runs in the 9th to lose 9-3 to the Angels.
John Swanda pitched his best game as a Ray (6 3 1 1 0 6) and
Cristian Hernandez had a solo homer (#10) to put them in position to win, but
Mike Moore started the follies by allowing 2 runs in the 8th to put them behind. A
Wander Franco RBI single tied it back up but then the once-reliable
Kevin DiCostanzo (3-3) gave up 5 hits and 5 runs in the 9th to make it an ugly loss.
The Rays got a
James Hays start and won 3-0. The recap pretty much writes itself, right? Nope. In his first game back from missing a week with a dead arm Hays lasted one batter before leaving with bone chips in his elbow and will be out 6 weeks. Only one reaction to that:
Fortunately the much-maligned bullpen came through with 8 2/3 innings of shutout relief, begun by
Seth Elledge (2-1) who got the win after going 1 2/3.
Mason Feole capped things by going the final 2 1/3 for his 1st Rays save and he's been great since being acquired with 12 scoreless innings over 7 appeareances.
Raimfer Salinas' 4th Rays homer and 15th overall in the 2nd inning proved to be all the offense they'd need.
Transactions: So there's some stuff to unpack now with the Hays injury. He goes on the IL of course and we recalled
Cody Adcock from Durham who will hopefully pitch better this time around. In a shock move to shake up the pen and the rotation
Kevin DiCostanzo is going to be a starter now. He has the goods to do it - 65/65/60 ratings as a starter with 60 stamina.
Nathan Dettmer will now be the closer with
Codi Heuer moving into Dettmer's righty setup role.
The Rays took the finale but not without more bullpen shenanigans as they downed the Angels 7-4. A big 5-run 4th featuring a 2-run
Cristian Hernandez double and a 3-run
Chris Gutierrez homer (#4), both with two out, was the key to victory as well as a truly dominant performance from
Joe Marlette. The lefty improved to 5-2, 2.35 after a 6 2 1 0 1 10 outing. But the pen was up to its old tricks again as
Cody Adcock looked just as bad as he did before his demotion and
Dax Fulton looked just as bad as he pretty much has all season with the pair combining to allow 3 runs to let LA back within 5-4. Fortunately
Codi Heuer had a 1-2-3 8th on 8 pitches and Dong-hwan Kim homered (#7) for insurance before
Nathan Dettmer closed with a 1-2-3 9th for save #3. Enough drama already.
Team record: 32-24. Baltimore dropped 2 of 3 so we're up a game in the division. Next up: The homestand continues with 4 games against Toronto.