July 22: at NY Yankees 3-2 W. WP-Pepiot (9-6, 6 5 2 2 1 5). S-Fairbanks (18). HR-P.Meadows (2/6). Rays ended up taking 3 of 4 in the Bronx as Meadows was 3-4 with a 2-run homer and Yandy was 3-4 with the other ribbie.
Transaction: Curtis Mead was sent back to Durham again and
Alex Verdugo had his contract purchased as we'll see if the veteran OF can give us a boost.
July 23: at Toronto 8-9 L. LP-Littell (5-5, 0 6 7 7 1 0). HR-Torkelson (3). You score 5 runs in the top of the 1st you have to feel pretty good about things but then Littell couldn't get anyone out and Toronto answered with 8 in the bottom of the inning. Consequently a big game from Tork was wasted as he had an RBI double in that first and a 3-run homer to get them within one.
July 24: at Toronto 6-9 L. LP-Baz (2-5, 4.1 8 7 6 1 4, 3 HR). HR-Pinto (9), Caballero (5). Caballero had a monster game with two doubles, a homer and 3 RBI but Baz's woes in the rotation continued and the Rays couldn't outscore their pitching once again.
Transaction: After the game we decided we've seen enough of Baz for now and he was sent to Durham with
Jacob Lopez back up until we need to replace Baz in the rotation with either
Drew Rasmussen or
Jeffrey Springs.
July 25: at Toronto 1-4 L. LP-Bradley (5-3, 4.1 9 3 3 1 7). The pitching was a little better but the offense was non-existent as the Rays were swept north of the border to kill whatever momentum they had going after the successful series in New York.
July 26: vs Cincinnati 8-3 W. WP-Civale (8-6, 6 6 3 3 1 7). S-J.Lopez (1). HR-Verdugo (1), Y.Diaz 2 (12), Torkelson (4). Home cooking was good for Tampa Bay as Verdugo's first Rays hit was a 3-run blast and Yandy homered twice, driving in 4 and raising his BA over .280 as he has to be a contender for AL Batter of the Month. Lopez pitched 3 perfect innings for the save.
Transaction: We claimed P
Luis Contreras on waivers from Arizona. He's got a big arm and is rated 65/50/45. Our previous waiver claim
Andrew Saalfrank was optioned to Durham to make room. Also we made a trade:
This was a deal offered to us to by Arizona. Armstrong had lost his spot in our pen and was at Durham and while Curet has a live enough arm that he was added to the 40-man last winter to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, he struggled this year and doesn't project that well. The lure for us is Hitt, a lefty who was Arizona's 4th round pick last year out of the University of Alabama and who has 50/60/50 potential as a starter. Mabrey is a reliever who doesn't look too special.
July 27: vs Cincinnati 7-6 W. WP-Fairbanks (2-4). Starter-Pepiot (5 4 3 3 2 6). Yandy had a bases-clearing double and Pinto drove in 3 as they lost a 5-3 lead in the 8th but came back to win it late.
July 28: vs Cincinnati 0-6 L. LP-Littell (5-6, 5 5 3 3 3 1). For the umpteenth time this season the Rays won the first two games of a series but couldn't complete the sweep as the bats went to sleep against the Reds' Connor Overton. They did put some men on as B.Lowe and Paredes both left 7 on base.
Record: 50-56. Next week: An off-day, Miami visits for 2, another off-day and then we head to Houston for 3 games.
Not sure how active we'll be at the deadline as we made some trades (Eflin, Arozarena, Rosario) to clear out salary already but I'm not quite ready to part with potential $10M guys like Yandy and B.Lowe just yet. Nor do I want to part with Paredes, who's been our best player this year. Might listen on Civale, who's progged for $7M next year.
Players of the Week:
AL: Tyler O'Neill (BOS), 11-26, 4 HR, 12 RBI
NL: Austin Riley (ATL), 12-25, 5 HR, 13 RBI (including a 3-HR game against the Mets)