Game 1: 12-2 W. WP-Castillo (8-6, 6 3 1 1 2 4). HR-Cartaya (21), Franco (34). Rays routed the Yankees and hurt their playoff hopes a bit. Wander doubled, homered and drove in 3, Mead was 3-5 with 3 RBI and DeLoach was 3-5 with a ribbie.
Game 2: 2-6 L. LP-Gau (4-4). Starter-Eldridge (5.2 3 1 1 1 6). Bullpen lost a 2-0 lead with Gau getting tagged for 4 runs on 4 hits in the 7th.
Game 3: 6-8 L. LP-Andrews (0-1). Starter-Swanda (5 6 4 4 1 8). HR-Albies (18), Wood (20). Swanda's Cy hopes took another hit as the bullpen faltered again after the Rays took a 5-3 lead and his ERA ticked above 3. Clayton Andrews gave up a big 3-run homer to Juan Soto to lose it. Wood meanwhile became the 6th Ray in the regular lineup to hit 20 homers with Albies & Luciano at 18 and Santana at 15 as anyone can homer on any given night. Wander had 4 hits in the loss.
Game 4: 1-0 W. WP-Fairbanks (4-6). S-Doval (14/33). Starter-Orze (5 6 0 0 0 7). HR-Franco (35). Wander's solo homer in the 8th was the game's only run as the Rays salvaged a split and won their 99th game. The stamina-challenged Orze's final batter in the 5th was Juan Soto, whom he whiffed with two on and two out in one of the game's biggest moments.
Team record: 99-60. Next up: We close out the regular season with 3 at the Trop against Kansas City.
Playoff race update: The Yankees and Guardians remain tied for the 3rd AL wild card going into the final weekend, with New York holding the season series tiebreaker. In the NL Arizona pulled away from San Diego to all but clinch the West and the Cards (who have now won 10 straight) did likewise with the Cubs, leaving the only suspense over there with the third wild card as well, with Atlanta up 1 game on Philly and holding the tiebreaker. Not only that but Philly has to play the 102-win Mets so they're quite the longshot at this point.
And some recognition for one of our guys:
