The Rays played like a team that had already clinched the division, especially against a team playing for its wild card life as they dropped 3 of 4 to the Yankees. More significantly they fell 3 games behind Houston in the overall race and therefore seem destined for the #2 seed with only six games left.
Transaction: He's back! The Rays got their #3 starter back as
Joe Scheu completed a rehab assignment at Durham, pitching twice in their opening playoff round as they fell in 5 games.
Jordan Rodriguez was optioned to Durham.
The Rays dropped the opener 1-0 to the Yankees in 10 innings as
Joe Scheu made a triumphant return from six weeks on the IL going an impressive 5.2 3 0 0 3 6 against a team in the thick of the playoff race. The bats only managed four hits, and
Jadon Smith (7-2) gave up the winner in the 10th.
The second game was downright ugly as the Yankees put a pair of 5-spots on the board and routed the Rays 10-3.
Duk-yoon Ko's 2-run homer (#5) got them within 5-3 in the 5th but the Yankees doubled their run total in the bottom of the inning with
Nick Wallerstedt (8-10) hit hard at 4 7 6 5 1 3 and
Jake Bridgewater giving up four more runs.
Tampa Bay dropped a tight one in the third game as they were edged 5-4 by New York.
Danny Mauricio (3-1) coughed up a 2-run homer in the 6th to erase a 4-3 Rays lead built in part on
Willie Gutierrez's 2-run double.
Danny Morales was 5 5 4 4 2 5 in the no-decision.
The Rays did at least salvage the finale, getting the better of the Yankees 4-2.
Leo Gutierrez (2-4) recorded his first win since April 27 (he did miss about three months) with a pretty good 5 4 2 2 4 8 outing and four relievers pitched a scoreless inning apiece with
Eric Lewis handling the 9th for save #36. The offense only managed four hits, but two of them were 2-run homers in the first inning from
Wander Franco (#17) and
Danny Arroyave (#29) which stood up for the duration.
Team record: 96-60, need to go 4-2 over the final week to win 100. That quest will start with 3 in Minnesota after a day off.
MLB Pennant Races: With one week left the Rays, Astros and Guardians have their divisions in hand, and the Jays and Angels are cinches for wild cards. This leaves a 4-team battle royale for the third wild card, which looks like this:
Good luck guys! Over in the NL the Marlins and Dodgers have clinched their divisions with St. Louis holding a 2-game lead on the Cubs and a 3-game margin over Memphis. The latter two, along with the Phillies, should be the wild cards as Memphis is 4 games up on San Diego.
MLB News: A couple of big milestone homers over the weekend. 35-year-old Julio Rodriguez, in his first season with San Diego after a career in Seattle, hit his 500th and is still going strong with 42 HR and 105 RBI this season. Meanwhile our old friend Kelly Crumpton who hit 286 longballs in his 7 seasons with us launched #400 playing for Arizona, his third team in three years since leaving Tampa Bay.