April 24: vs LA Angels 5-2 W. WP-Pepiot (3-1, 7 5 0 0 2 8). S-Bautista (5). HR-Morel (5), Isaac (9), Cermak (4). Issac (a 2-run shot) and Morel went back-to-back in the 1st inning and the Rays never looked back thanks to a gem from Pepiot.
April 25: vs LA Angels 3-2 W (10). WP-Bautista (2-0). Starter-Horton (5 3 1 1 1 5). Rays tied it with 2 in the 9th and then won it in the 10th on Westburg's RBI single.
April 26: vs LA Angels 10-6 W. WP-Gasser (3-2, 6 4 2 2 2 7). HR-Caminero (9), Morel (6). Caminero and Morel each had 3 hits and 4 RBI including their homers as the Rays romped. LA got 4 runs in the final 3 innings to make the score a bit more respectable for them.
April 27: vs LA Angels 3-5 L. LP-Baumeister (0-1). Starter-H.Smith (6 4 3 3 4 6). HR-Westburg (2), C.Williams (5). Rays tied this one at 3 in the 8th on Williams' solo shot but Baumeister gave up a pair of solo homers in the 9th including Mike Trout's second of the game to lose it and keep the Rays from sweeping.
April 28: at Pittsburgh 10-2 W. WP-Bradley (5-0, 6 3 2 2 3 6). S-M.Rodriguez (1). HR-Caminero 2 (11), Mead (2). It's Caminero's world and we're all living in it as the 3B is off to a league-best 2.0 WAR start and is hitting 361/436/722 after today's 4-5 game with a pair of doubles and a pair of homers. Isaac was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Mead drove in 3 including a 2-run shot.
April 29: at Pittsburgh 6-9 L. LP-Pepiot (3-2, 3.2 4 6 6 5 6). HR-Morel (7). A rough game for Pepiot and one that wasn't as close as it looked as the Rays trailed 6-1 much of the way against Paul Skenes before scoring 5 in the final 3 innings off the Pittsburgh bullpen while Tanner Scott gave up 3 runs in the 8th to make it so it didn't matter.
April 30: at Pittsburgh 5-8 L. LP-Maldonado (1-2). Starter-Horton (5 5 3 3 1 4). Some bad pitching in this one, especially from the pen, as a 4-2 lead in the 4th slipped away. Robertson gave up 2 runs in the 6th to put them behind 5-4, and after Caminero's RBI single in the 7th tied it Maldonado walked two to load the bases, walked another to force in the go-ahead run and then gave up a 2-run single.
Team record: 18-11, tied with Boston atop the AL East. Next week: 4 games in Toronto before returning home to play 3 against Kansas City.
Players of the Week:
AL: Samuel Basallo (BAL), 9-20, 5 HR, 8 RBI
NL: JJ Wetherholt (CIN), 12-25, 1 HR, 9 RBI
Players of the Month (April):
AL Batter: A familiar face:
NL Batter: Jordan Walker (STL), .364-9-20
AL Pitcher: Another familiar face:
NL Pitcher: Taijuan Walker (CIN), 4-0, 1.79, 36K in 40 IP.
AL Rookie: Dallas Macias (OAK), .358-1-8
NL Rookie: Jansel Luis (ARI), .242-4-10
Also on the farm:
McGee was our 1st-round pick out of North Dakota State last year and his rise has been meteoric, we may see him in the bigs before long.