Game 1: 6-1 W. WP-Khattak (1-0, 6.1 6 1 1 0 7). HR-DeLoach (21). The Walt Khattak era has begun in Tampa Bay and it was a most impressive debut by the 2026 1st round pick. The only blemish against him was a Juan Soto homer and he struck out Soto later (as well as fanning Jose Ramirez twice) as the rookie showed ice water in his veins. He had ample support keyed by DeLoach's 2-run homer and Albies' 2-run triple.
Game 2: 2-5 L. LP-Eldridge (9-7, 6 6 4 4 0 2). The bats were dominated by Cleveland's Logan Gilbert (7 4 1 1 1 9).
Game 3: 6-5 W. WP-E.Diaz (2-4). Starter-Bradley (6 5 5 5 0 6). HR-Encarnacion (7), Santana (25). The game couldn't have started off any worse after Taj was hit for 5 runs in the 1st inning, but he was unhittable after that and the offense kept chipping away. After tying it in the 7th Freili Encarnacion, who started the comeback with a solo homer in the 2nd, singled in the walk-off winner in the 9th. In an interesting quirk Ozzie Albies walked in all 5 of his plate appearances, tying the team single-game walk record held by Matt Joyce and Steven Souza Jr. in the mid-2010s.
Team record: 83-47. Of course the Jays won 2 of 3 as well so the teams remained tied at the end of a series once again. The Rays and Jays will play each other 7 times in September but all of those games will be in Toronto. Next up: 4 games in Baltimore.
Down on the farm:
Robby is raking at Durham after he was acquired from the rival Jays for Clayton Beeter and may very well be up with us in a few days with September roster expansion.