April 3: at San Francisco 5-7 L. LP-Gasser (0-1, 4 11 6 6 0 5). Rays took a quick 4-0 lead in the 2nd on J.Lowe's bases-clearing double but it all went wrong after that as Gasser was hit hard.
April 4: at San Francisco 9-3 W. WP-H.Smith (2-0, 6 8 2 2 0 6). HR-Caminero (2). Smith dazzled again and the Rays broke open a 3-2 game with a 5-run 8th keyed by Caminero's grand slam which capped a 5-RBI day for the slugging 3B.
April 5: at San Francisco 5-4 W. WP-Bradley (1-0, 5 5 2 1 2 4). S-Bautista (2). HR-Isaac 2 (3), C.Williams (1). Isaac and Carson were the offense today, with the former hitting 2 HR and driving in 3 while the latter was 3-4 with a homer and 2 RBI. Bautista came in and rescued a struggling Maldonado in the 8th, getting a 5-out save all via the strikeout.
April 6: Off-Day.
April 7: vs NY Yankees 12-4 W. WP-Pepiot (1-1, 7 3 3 3 0 8). HR-Morel 2 (3). Rays made it a home opener to remember by scoring 9 times in the first inning including 5 before making their first out to rout the Yankees. Morel was 4-5 with a 2-run double in that 1st before adding a pair of solo homers while Caminero was 3-4 with 3 RBI.
April 8: vs NY Yankees 8-2 W. WP-Horton (1-0, 5 5 2 1 3 7). HR-Morel (4), Isaac (4). Another comfortable win over the Yankees but they didn't put this one away until 7th when they made a 5-2 game an 8-2 one. Morel stayed hot going 3-5 with another homer while Horton picked up his first Rays win in his home debut.
April 9: vs NY Yankees 4-0 W. WP-Gasser (1-1, 6 2 0 0 2 7). Gasser rebounded from his poor start in Frisco with a dominant performance and his battery mate Heim was 3-4, driving in the first two Rays runs before Meadows created some separation with a 2-run double to cap a 3-run 6th.
Team record: 7-3. The Rays are tied with Boston atop the AL East, 1/2 game ahead of Baltimore. Next week: Atlanta visits for 3 games before a day off to travel to Chicago to play 3 against the White Sox.
Players of the Week:
AL: This guy:
NL: Jordan Walker (STL), 12-28, 3 HR, 7 RBI
MLB News: Texas lost star OF Evan Carter for 3 months with a torn abdominal muscle and Atlanta signed superstar OF Ronald Acuna Jr. to a 4/148 extension.
Rays News: We added to our rotation depth by signing veteran free agent SP
Freddy Peralta to a minor league contract with an MLB option which will pay him a shade over $2M if he makes the big club. He went 6.1 4 3 3 0 11 in his Bulls debut and is coming off a mixed bag of a season with Houston and Philly last year, combining to go 7-12, 4.67 but with 164 whiffs in 165 IP and worth 1.6 WAR.