[Art Deco]

The Rays returned to action after the break and their old bugaboo, the bullpen, cost them a pair of games leading to a split of the 4 games with the Orioles.

Shane Panzini's name has been floated as the odd man out of the rotation with James Hays set to return next week and tonight he did all he could to maintain his place as he pitched the Rays to a 4-2 win. The righty improved to 8-2 (albeit with a 4.39 ERA) with a fine 5 3 1 1 2 6 outing and Nathan Dettmer closed it out for save #11. All the scoring for Tampa Bay came via the homer with Joshua Baez resuming his pre-break hot streak by hitting #22, Dong-hwan Kim unloaded with a man on for #15, and JT Realmuto returned from the ASG to hit #17.

In what seems like every year in every one of my Rays saves there's a bullpen meltdown at Camden Yards and today was the latest as Nathan Dettmer served up a grand slam to Gunnar Henderson (who just kills us) with two out in the bottom of the 9th to turn an 8-5 win into a 9-8 loss. Dettmer dropped to 3-3 and suffered his 5th blown save out of 16 opportunities, not a great percentage. Before the 9th it looked like it'd be a day to celebrate for JT Realmuto. Not only did he have a 3-hit day including HR #18 and 2 RBI but the first of those hits, an improbable infield single for a 40-year-old catcher, was the 2000th of his Cooperstown-bound career. Kelly Crumpton also had a big day, homering twice and driving in 3 to give him 25 and 74 and it looked like they'd overcome a poor Michael Prosecky start (4.1 8 5 5 1 5, 3 HR). But Dettmer hit a man to load the bases with two out and Henderson, who is hitting 366/391/610 with 2 HR and 13 RBI in 10 games against the Rays this year, made him pay.

The bullpen was not their friend in the third game either, and although it was another large implosion it wasn't the gut punch yesterday's game was. Kevin DiCostanzo left after going 5 2 1 1 3 4 on 93 pitches with a 2-1 lead thanks in part to yet another Kelly Crumpton homer (#26), but that lead evaporated as soon as he left the mound. Mason Feole (1-2) put 2 men on in the 6th which Codi Heuer allowed to score and then in the 7th Heuer, Dax Fulton and Joan Adon combined to allow 5 more runs in the 7th and Baltimore ended up romping 8-2.

With Hays' return imminent there are a lot of moving parts in the Rays rotation but one piece that's going to stay in place is the newest one as Matt Manning was brilliant again, hurling 8 shutout innings in a 4-0 win over Baltimore to salvage a split. After a complete-game 3-hitter in which he allowed 1 run in his Rays debut, Manning was at it again, going 8 4 0 0 1 5 on 106 pitches. Raymells Rosa took care of the 9th to complete the shutout. Manning pitched the entire way with only a 2-0 lead thanks to a blast with a man on from Wander Franco (#13) in the 6th. Ramifer Salinas unloaded his own 2-run blast in the 9th for some insurance, his 13th as a Ray and 24th overall.

Team record: 53-39. The Yankees took 2 of 3 while we split so they pull within 1 game of us in the AL East. Next up: We head north of the border to play 2 against the Jays.