Game 1: 3-2 W. WP-Fairbanks (2-3). Starter-McClanahan (4.1 4 2 0 2 3, 96 pitches). Rays walked it off in the 9th when Josh Mears hit a pinch-double and scored on Rene Pinto's RBI single. Unfortunately we lost standout lefty reliever Jovani Moran for the year with recurring back spasms; he had 102 whiffs in 64.2 IP, a 1.67 ERA and 1.9 WAR. He was a weapon who will be missed.
Transaction: Moran goes on the IL and to replace him with another lefty we brought up a blast from the past, Josh Fleming, who had been operating as Durham's closer.
Game 2: 1-4 L. LP-Swanda (13-10, 4.1 6 3 3 4 3). HR-Albies (13). Corbin Burnes shut down the Rays to the tune of 8 4 1 1 2 7, allowing only the Albies homer.
Game 3: 2-1 W. WP-Pressly (7-3). S-Fairbanks (28). Starter-Rasmussen (5.1 5 1 1 2 1). Curtis Mead's 2-run double in the 8th pulled out the win for the Rays who, combined with the Yankees being swept in Cincinnati, clinched the AL East with 7 games to go. Unfortunately the win was once again costly as this time we lost Mead, who suffered a concussion on the game-winning hit and is also out for the playoffs. We've now lost Luis Castillo and Taj Bradley from the rotation, Moran from the pen, and both our 1B, Mead and Andrew Vaughn. It's getting ridiculous.
Team record: 94-61. Next up: This series closed out our regular season home schedule; barring a complete collapse the next game at the Trop will be Game 1 of the ALDS. We will close things out on the road with 4 in Baltimore and 3 in Boston, a pair of teams long out of it.
Going into the final week of the season the wild card races in both leagues remain wide open:
The divisions are spoken for in the AL but in the NL Atlanta is only 1 up on Philly and San Diego 2 on the Dodgers so there's intrigue there as well.