June 24: vs Seattle 5-3 W. WP-Baz (2-1, 6 7 2 2 2 3). S-Fairbanks (12). HR-J.Lowe (5), P.Meadows (1/5). The new guys contributed to the win as
Parker Meadows had a 2-run homer and
Spencer Torkelson a 2-run double to lead the Rays to a series-opening win.
June 25: vs Seattle 3-1 W. WP-Pepiot (7-4, 6 5 1 1 3 3). S-Fairbanks (13). HR-J.Lowe (6).
Josh Lowe homered for the third straight day and fifth time in as many games, Paredes was 4-4 and Pepiot was excellent in a tidy win.
June 26: vs Seattle 4-5 L. LP-Littell (3-4, 5.1 5 4 4 4 6). HR-Paredes (16), B.Lowe (6), Diaz (6). Yandy had 3 hits including a homer but it wasn't enough today.
June 27: Off Day.
June 28: vs Washington 5-3 W. WP-Bradley (3-2, 7.2 1 0 0 4 8). S-Fairbanks (14). HR-Campusano (1/3).
Taj Bradley pitched the game of his MLB career, finishing four outs short of a no-hitter before Nasim Nunez's single ended his day. On the other side Campusano hit his first homer as a Ray, a 2-run shot, to spark the offense. Yandy continues to heat up with another 3-hit game.
June 29: vs Washington 10-2 W. WP-Maton (3-2). Starter-Civale (5 3 2 2 3 6). HR-Paredes 2 (18).
Isaac Paredes should be the Rays' All-Star representative as he's having a great year and today's 2-homer, 5-RBI performance punctuated that. This was actually a 2-2 game in the 7th before they got a 2-run single from B.Lowe before breaking it open with 6 in the 8th including a 2-run J.Lowe double.
June 30: vs Washington 2-6 L (10). LP-Fairbanks (1-4). Starter-Baz (6 5 2 2 2 10). Once again they couldn't complete the series sweep as Fairbanks gave up a 2-out go-ahead hit in the 10th and then
Colin Poche relieved him only to give up a 3-run homer to Keibert Ruiz. As a result a dominating start from Baz was wasted.
Record: 38-46. Next week: After an off day we hit the road for 3 in Kansas City and 3 at Texas.
Players of the Week:
AL: Giancarlo Stanton (NY), 9-27, 6 HR, 10 RBI
NL: Wilmer Flores (SF), 11-25, 3 HR, 6 RBI
Players of the Month for June:
AL Batter: Aaron Judge (NY), .333-17-37
NL Batter: TJ Friedl (CIN), .393-6-26
AL Pitcher: David Festa (MIN), 4-1, 1.52, 32 Ks in 29.2 IP
NL Pitcher: Kodai Senga (NY), 5-0, 2.04, 28 Ks in 35 IP
AL Rookie: Festa
NL Rookie: Gordon Gracetto (STL), 3-0, 1.62, 24 Ks in 33.2 IP
Since we're at the halfway mark of the season, time to look at the MLB standings and Rays stats to date:
If someone had told me when the season began that the Rays would have a better record than the Dodgers at midseason, I'd have said "Yay, great!".
Nothing but ugly here, and Pythagoreas says they've overachieving.
As mentioned, Paredes is far and away the club's MVP with nobody else really distinguishing themselves although B.Lowe has been very good since coming off the IL.
The starters have actually pitched decently this year, except for the departed Eflin, and have mainly been the victims of the team's uncharacteristically horrid defense. The bullpen on the other hand has been dreadful on its own.
At least the future looks semi-bright as Williams, Isaac and Keegan look to join Caminero to form a potentially exciting core for the second half of the decade. We'll have to get the pitching up to snuff somehow but if the likes of McClanahan, Springs and Rasmussen can regain health and effectiveness they'll form quite a formidable rotation with holdovers like Taj, Baz and Pepiot. The bullpen will need a lot of work, though.