August 25: vs St. Louis 7-5 W. WP-McClanahan (8-1, 5.1 2 4 4 5 7). S-Bautista (29). HR-B.Jones (13). Rays built a 6-0 lead and almost saw it completely disappear before holding on. Yandy was 3-4 with 2 RBI and P.Meadows was 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.
August 26: vs St. Louis 14-5 W. WP-Pepiot (11-9, 6.1 4 4 4 3 5). HR-Rutschman 2 (22), Yanier Diaz (1), Westburg (5). A massive game for Adley (3-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI) as well as a big one for Yandy (3-4, 3 RBI) as the Rays demolished the Cards.
August 27: vs St. Louis 4-2 W. WP-Senga (3-1, 5 7 2 2 1 9). S-Bautista (30). HR-T.Hernandez (25). A more sedate affair at the Trop tonight but the result remained the same, another Rays win. Rutschman was big again with a 2-run double in the first and Teoscar went deep.
August 28: vs Seattle 7-6 W. WP-Bautista (7-4). Starter-Springs (4.1 7 4 4 1 7). A wild one that the Rays trailed at one point 4-1 before going up 5-4 in the 8th on a 2-run Paredes single. Bautista then blew the save in the 9th giving up a 2-run homer to former Ray Willy Adames, but the Rays tied it on a Yandy HBP with the bases loaded and then won it on a wild pitch to cap the high drama and make it five straight wins.
August 29: vs Seattle 18-1 W. WP-Bradley (11-6, 6 4 1 0 2 6). Rather than try to recap the offensive highlights here's the applicable section of the box:
Teoscar with one of those "better than the cycle" games - instead of hitting a triple, he hit a second homer.
August 30: vs Seattle 6-5 W. WP-Robertson (6-4). Starter-McClanahan (3.1 7 5 3 2 4). HR-Rutschman (23). Just another one of those "refuse to lose" games for Tampa Bay of late as they were down 5-1 at one point tonight. J.Lowe, who had 3 hits, tied with an RBI single in the 6th and Paredes' sac fly in the 9th brought home the winner.
August 31: vs Seattle 6-3 W. WP-Pepiot (12-9, 5.1 5 3 3 3 7). S-Bautista (31). HR-T.Hernandez (28). A sweep of the series, the homestand and the week for the Rays and 8 wins on the trot as the English say. Teoscar's 2-run homer was big, as was a 2-run triple from Mead.
Team record: 78-54. We have crept to within 4 of Baltimore with a month to go, so who knows? Otherwise we're 3 1/2 ahead of Minnesota in the first wild card and 10 1/2 up on the fourth-place team in that race for a playoff spot. Next week: Time to hit the road starting with 4 in Toronto and then 3 in Kansas City as we go another week without an off-day.
Players of the Week:
AL: Wyatt Langford (TEX), 10-21, 7 HR(!), 12 RBI
NL: Michael Harris II (ATL), 10-27, 4 HR, 12 RBI
Players of the Month (August):
AL Batter: Wyatt Langford (TEX), .374-13-31
NL Batter: Nolan Gorman (STL), .343-11-23
AL Pitcher: Jhoan Duran (MIN), 12 SV, 2.02 ERA, 18K in 13IP
NL Pitcher: former Ray Brendan McKay (PHI), 4-0, 1.78, 35K in 30.1IP
AL Rookie: Tyler Thornton (CLE), 2-1, 2.02 ERA, 42K in 26.2IP
NL Rookie: Dylan Lesko (SD), 4-1, 3.46 ERA, 41K in 39IP