August 23: at Oakland 3-5 L. LP-Springs (1-4, 5 5 4 4 3 2). HR-J.Lowe (15). Springs gave up a pair of homers in the 5th and a 3-1 Rays lead turned into a 5-3 loss.
August 24: at Oakland 4-5 L (12). LP-Bautista (10-4). Starter-Bradley (3.2 5 3 1 2 2). Another tough loss as the Rays scored in the top of the 10th but they couldn't in the 11th and 12th while Oakland got the ghost man home in the 10th and 12th to win it. Westburg had a 3-hit day including 2 doubles and 2 RBI in the losing effort.
August 25: at Oakland 7-3 W. WP-H.Smith (13-4, 5.1 6 2 1 2 4). HR-Rutschman (16), B.Jones (12), Mead (5), C.Williams (17). Rays got back in the win column thanks to the longball as they belted four homers include Rutschman's 2-run shot in the 2nd which sent them on their way.
August 26: at Oakland 6-2 W. WP-Gasser (12-7, 6 4 2 2 1 5). HR-Isaac (31). Rays got all the runs they'd need with 3 in the first including Isaac's 2-run shot which enabled him to reach the 100-RBI mark for the first time in his career, a total which also currently leads the AL, as they salvaged a split in Oakland.
Transaction: Manuel Rodriguez pulled his hamstring and will be out about a month so we purchased the contract of
Luis Contreras from Durham. Contreras of course was up for most of the first half of the season.
August 27: at LA Dodgers 8-4 W. WP-Hentges (4-0). Starter-McClanahan (6 4 2 1 3 6). HR-Morel (31), Caminero (25). Don't be fooled by the final score, this was a 2-2 game into the 8th when Morel drilled a 2-run homer to win it and they tacked 4 more on in the 9th including Caminero's 3-run blast.
August 28: at LA Dodgers 8-3 W. WP-Springs (2-4, 6 4 2 2 2 5). HR-Caminero 2 (27), B.Jones (13). A monster day from Caminero who hit a pair of 2-run homers and singled in another for a 5-RBI day while Springs pitched his best game in a while.
August 29: at LA Dodgers 7-6 W. WP-Bradley (10-9, 6 4 4 2 2 6). S-Bautista (23). HR-Caminero (28). Rays took a 7-2 lead and barely held on to complete the sweep in Tinseltown and make it 5 straight wins. Another big day from Caminero who doubled, homered and drove in a pair while Taj won for the first time in over a month.
Team record: 81-49. We remain 9 up on Baltimore with the magic number to clinch the AL East down to 23. Next week: The west coast trip concludes with 3 in Seattle before taking a day off to head home where San Diego awaits for 3 more.
Players of the Week:
AL: This guy:
NL: Jackson Merrill (SD), 13-27, 3 HR, 6 RBI