Game 1:
Baz's injury was wrist soreness but he'll make his next start.
Game 2:
Game 3:
Transactions: At long last we're ready for the Rays debut of
Ha-Seong Kim, the biggest free agent signing by the club in a long time. He'll take over at SS and
Oswald Peraza will become the utility IF. Peraza hit quite well (294/353/486) but had poor defensive numbers at short.
Curtis Mead was optioned to Durham to make room.
Game 4:
The Rays may have resurrected their season with three wins out of four in Houston, and nearly pulled off the sweep but blew a 6-2 lead and couldn't capitalize on tying it up in the 9th and going ahead in the 10th. At least Kim had an impressive debut.
The good series didn't move them much in the standings though:
The Rays are tied with Toronto, 2 1/2 games out of the third wild card as Baltimore has gotten red-hot of late as this save diverges more and more from the real-life live start.
Players of the Month (May):
AL Batter: Jose Ramirez (CLE), .344-11-28
NL Batter: Bryce Harper (PHI), .351-13-23
AL Pitcher: Mason Miller (ATH), 2-0, 0.77, 9 SV, 18 Ks, 1 BB in 11.2 IP
NL Pitcher: Jordan Hicks (SF), 4-0, 0.86, 37 K in 42 IP
AL Rookie: Coby Mayo (BAL), .323-6-15
NL Rookie: Agustin Ramirez (MIA), .234-4-10
Players of the Week:
AL: Some guy we know:
What a season Aranda is having, leading the AL in batting average and OPS so far.
NL: Fernando Tatis Jr (SD), 10-19, 3 HR, 8 RBI
Remarkably the Rays are 3rd in MLB in runs scored; the problem is the pitching, 24th in MLB in ERA. The bullpen outside of Fairbanks is a problem with a collective 4.10 ERA, so I made the first Rays trade of this save:
Stewart gives us an upgrade in the 7th/8th inning over Uceta (whose big second half of 2024 looks like a fluke) and M.Rodriguez. He's rated 70/55/45 so we have another guy who can get the big strikeout when we need it ahead of Fairbanks. Urbina is a 19-year-old in A-ball who might be a 5th starter when he grows up.
The Twins are fire-saling their relievers having also dealt Griffin Jax to Baltimore for a prospect.