July 27: Placed OF Manny Flores on the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring, purchased the contract of OF Ji-Hoon Kim from AAA Durham.
Flores will miss about a month. Kim, signed as an IFA from South Korea last winter, has absolutely raked at Durham (326/422/690) with 28 HR in 309 AB and boasts 60 power and a 60 eye, along with 45 contact. A righty bat, the 29-year-old will primarily play against lefties.
Game 1: The Rays took a 3-2 lead into the 6th but Arizona bulldozed them for 6 runs in the inning and went on to beat Tampa Bay 8-4. Paul Mayes' RBI double keyed a 3-run second but things fell apart for Tony Guzman (4-2), who couldn't get anyone out with two down in the 6th and ended up an ugly 5.2 8 7 7 1 4 and wasn't helped by Victor Boria, who gave up three more hits and allowed 2 of Guzman's men to score.
Game 2: Jorge Barraza stayed on his excellent roll, taking a no-hitter into the 6th and pitching the Rays to a 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Barraza (10-9) was a bit on the wild side but effectively so in going 6.1 1 0 0 5 8 with Devin Tadlock nailing down save #19. An RBI double from Ryan Rivera and a Jesus Avalos RBI single were the game's big hits.
Game 3: The finale was quite the strange affair as the Rays were outhomered 5-0 by Arizona, trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the 7th and still wound up winning 9-7 to take the series. All of the Rays runs came in a 9-run 7th which looked like the Bugs Bunny cartoon with the runners marching around the bases. Jayden Woodard was star of the show, getting the scoring going with a 2-run double and capping the inning with a 2-run single as he was 3-4, and Paul Mayes added a 2-run double in the inning. Dave Rose (15-2) got the win despite giving up a pair of homers in a 7 7 4 4 1 9 outing and then things got kind of silly in the 9th. Josh Meenach had pitched a scoreless 8th and came out of the 9th, only to give up solo homers to the first two men he faced, and then Devin Tadlock came in and gave up a solo homer of his own but managed to get the final 3 outs for his 20th save.
Team record: 72-35. Next up: We hit the road for 3 in Milwaukee, where we haven't played in a long time.
After the finale on Sunday we made a deal to add one missing piece: a left-handed reliever. Jake Cid was the only guy we could rely on with Randy Mastropietro constantly hurt and not exactly someone who could get us a strikeout against a tough lefty hitter. Hence this trade:
Alexander has 75 stuff, 70 movement, and..well 40 control but he gives us the power arm from the left side we needed in middle relief. The 34-year-old had a 2.89 ERA and 19 whiffs in 18 innings for the Astros and hadn't allowed a homer. To make room for him we put Mastropietro on the IL with his nagging strained ab, which he tried pitching through but wasn't doing well, and DFA'd OF Angel Vigil, who had been up briefly in the past, to make room on the 42-man. Villagomez was our 2nd-round pick five years ago but had only made it as far as High-A Charlotte, where he was having a good season but only has 2-star potential and looks like a backup outfielder.