Game 1: Paul Mayes had a big game to lead the Rays to a 5-3 win over the Yankees in the opener to extend their win streak to 7 games. The rookie 3B belted a 2-run double in the 6th break a 3-3 tie after he had previously doubled in a run in the 2nd while Nesty de la Rosa was 2-3 with a solo homer (#4) and 2 runs scored. Randy Mastropietro was mediocre today at 4.2 7 3 3 0 4 but the bullpen was brilliant, holding the Yankees hitless the rest of the day with Victor Boria (2-1) getting the win and Adan Guardado recording his first save with a perfect 9th.
Game 2: The Rays were a hitting machine in the second game, belting out a whopping 21 hits in a 13-4 rout of New York. Amazingly they didn't hit a single homer but instead notched 16 singles and 5 doubles in the relentless attack. Ezequiel Avalos and Nesty de la Rosa each drove in 3 and Zeke was among 4 Rays who had 3 hits. Steve Swords improved to 3-0 despite a middling start of 5.1 9 4 4 1 4. There was one sour note though as Takayuki Tsujimura, off to a great start at 406/457/688 in part-time play, suffered a high ankle sprain and will be out 5 weeks.
May 3: Placed 1B Takayuki Tsujimura on the 10-day IL with a high ankle sprain, recalled 1B/3B Xavier Bush from AAA Durham.
Bush gets to make his big league debut as the 4th round pick from 2050 has done nothing but rake in the minor leagues as you can see from these stats the last few years:
He's a switch-hitter with no discernible platoon split so he'll take over Tsujimura's role as the 1B against LHP and pinch-hit other times. He has no speed nor is much of a defensive player so his bat will have to carry him.
Game 3: The Rays wasted a 3-homer game from Ezequiel Avalos and fell 7-5 to the Yankees in 11 innings to see their 8-game win streak (all on this homestand) come to a halt. They dramatically tied in the 9th when Xavier Bush drew a walk to lead off the inning in his first MLB at-bat and pinch-runner Brian Whittaker scored after stealing second, but Mario Berumen (1-2) probably shouldn't have been pushed to a third inning of relief (we had an off-day tomorrow) and gave up a 2-run homer in the 11th on his 37th pitch. Before all that Avalos went hog-wild at the plate but unfortunately only one of his three homers came with a man on as he drove in the first four Rays runs and upped his season total to 10 dingers. Dave Rose had a lousy start by his standards at 5.2 9 4 4 2 7.
Team record: 20-11. As usual no ground gained on Baltimore, which also took 2 of 3 and stayed 3 1/2 ahead as it seems we're chasing the 1984 Tigers at this point. Next up: An off-day then the Rays will look to duplicate their home success on the road starting with 3 in Toronto.