Before I get into the recaps I have to share these consecutive emails I received regarding one of our farmhands, kind of a "how it started/how it's going" meme in action:
Game 1: The Rays and Bob Riley keep rolling as the team won its 8th straight game and the lefty had his fourth straight excellent start in a 3-2 win at Yankee Stadium. Riley (3-2) went 8 3 1 1 2 5 and has allowed only four runs in his last four starts covering 29 innings and more amazingly he's only allowed 15 hits in that span for a guy who usually gives up 200 hits+ a season. Juan Davila's 2-run homer (#9) in the 7th erased a 1-0 Yankees lead and Jon Morales added a bases-empty blast in the 8th (#12) which proved to be important when Steve Falcon gave up a solo shot in the 9th but still held on for save #9.
Game 2: Defense and the bullpen betrayed the Rays as they squandered a 5-1 lead and lost 7-6 to New York, seeing their win streak snapped at 8. Tomas Laboy had a pair of solo homers (#5 & 6) and Melvin Delgado was rolling through four but in the 5th a pair of errors led to 3 unearned runs and Delgado left with a weird 5 4 5 1 3 0 line. Steve Morris (0-3) then allowed a Delgado runner leading off the 6th to score and his own man scored when the guy he was traded for, old friend Jose Castillo, hit a 2-run homer off Willie Navarro in the 7th.
Game 3: The Rays blew a 4-run lead for the second straight day, with the bullpen the primary culprit but Mario Saro rode to the rescue and his solo homer (#9) in the 8th gave the Rays a 7-6 victory in the rubber match of the series. Yuji Morioka had a 2-run single to help lead the Rays to a 6-2 lead behind Greg Bookhart but the lefty put a couple of men on to start the 6th and Angel Roig proceeded to walk three men to force in both those runners and then in the 7th Mel Mejia put a couple men on whom Abelaldo Gray allowed to score to let the Yankees equalize. But Saro's homer made a winner of Gray (2-1) and Steve Falcon had a perfect 9th with two whiffs for his 10th save as the Rays are now 6 up on the second-place Yankees.
Team record: 28-13. Next up: Off to Houston for 3 where we reunite with old friends Doug Johns and Gordie Ager. The Astros are tied for first in the AL West with in-state rivals Texas at 24-17.