August 5-7, 2032: at Miami (3)
The Rays ran their winning streak to 7 by taking the first two games in Miami before dropping the finale. The Yankees lost 2 of 3 so the division lead is now up to double digits.
Tampa Bay raced out to an 8-0 lead in the opener before the bullpen made things dicey and held on to beat Miami 8-6. They put 6 runs on the board in the opening frame on three homers: Kelly Crumpton's 3-run shot (#34), a back-to-back solo blast from Nate Strickland (#14), and a 2-run Orlando Tosado tater (#21). That was plenty at first for Kevin DiCostanzo (12-4) who was a solid 6 5 2 2 1 7. But Eddie Yean and Mason Feole combined to allow 4 runs, necessitating DeMarcus Evans coming on in the 9th to close it out, which he did for save #2/32 but not before putting a couple on to really make it a nail-biter
Transaction: Tosado pulled an ab muscle and it was serious enough to put him on the 10-day IL after which he should be able to return. Caleb Hampton was summoned from Durham and Chris Gutierrez will temporarily regain the full-time CF job.
Things were much more comfortable in the second game as the Rays mauled Miami 12-3. A 5-run 3rd and a 6-run 5th did the damage with the big blows a 3-run Arturo Gutierrez homer (#31) and a Chris Gutierrez grand slam (#4). Dong-hwan Kim added his fifth homer of the week, a solo shot (#26). Michael Prosecky (8-5) amazingly took a no-hitter into the 7th before giving up a couple, whom Christian Little allowed to score by giving up a homer, to finish 6.1 2 2 2 2 4.
It briefly looked like a sweep might be in the offing when Kelly Crumpton (#35) and Nate Strickland (#15) went yard back-to-back in the 2nd for the second time this series to give the Rays a quick 2-0 lead, but that was the apex of the game for Tampa Bay as Miami went on to an easy 8-2 win. After a quick 1st Wes Mendes (10-6) was awful, struggling with his control and finishing 3 3 3 3 5 4. Slade Cecconi kept them in the game with 3 scoreless innings, but Tommy Burpee and Ruben Abeyta combined to allow 5 runs in the 7th and 8th to put it out of reach.
Team record: 75-37. Next up: We travel to New York to play 4 against the Yankees and the only way the Bronx Bombers can make the division race marginally interesting would be to sweep and cut the lead to 6.
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