OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Art Deco · 08-20-2025, 06:10 PM

Another Meat Loaf series as the Rays took two of three and reduced their magic number to clinch the AL East to 9 while they did clinch at least a wild card.

The opener was billed as a premium pitching matchup with the Rays' Danny Morales squaring off against Cleveland's Wayne Weir (who last year led the league with 7.2 WAR and has 5.5 this year). It lived up to the hype until the 5th when Tampa Bay got 3 off Weir and added on against the Guardian bullpen to take a 7-0 win. Morales (15-3) had the upper hand in an excellent 7 4 0 0 0 8 outing and Danny Arroyave broke the ice in the 5th with a solo shot (#35) off Weir before his teammates tacked on two more. And then Frank Duron left no doubt as to the outcome when he belted a 3-run homer (#13) in the 8th.

The Rays dropped the middle game 6-4 to Cleveland. Mike Blake (9-7) had one of his bad outings, going 4.2 10 5 5 1 6 and although the offense put four on the board they didn't sustain any rallies as the runs came on 2-run homers from Jeremy Begley (#34) and Billy Doughty (#21).

Tampa Bay prevailed in the rubber game 8-6 although a 3-run Cleveland homer in the 9th made the final score look more competitive than the game was. Ruben Cerrillo (12-7) was touched for 2 runs in the first but settled in to go 7 5 3 3 1 9 in the win and the Rays tied it in the 4th on run-scoring hits from Tony Fisher and Frank Duron, who each had 3 hits on the day. Fisher's RBI single in the 5th broke the deadlock and then Sal Garza broke it open with a 3-run shot (#10/33) which put him over the 100-RBI mark for the seventh time in seven full MLB seasons. Entrusted with an 8-3 lead going into the 9th Ken Battle made a mess, giving up that 3-run homer so Walt Kelly had to get the final two outs for save #25.

Team record: 91-55. Next up: Minnesota visits for 3 games.

Durham update: The Bulls are in the playoffs after a fine 84-56 season but have their backs to the wall after blowing a 7-2 lead in the late innings of Game 3 of the opening round best-of-five playoff series against St. Paul, down 2-1. The inconsistent (with the big club) Danny Mauricio was the Game 3 culprit, giving up 3 runs in the 9th to lose it.

08-20-2025, 06:10 PM	#1570
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,392	September 13-15, 2039: vs Cleveland (3) Another Meat Loaf series as the Rays took two of three and reduced their magic number to clinch the AL East to 9 while they did clinch at least a wild card. The opener was billed as a premium pitching matchup with the Rays' Danny Morales squaring off against Cleveland's Wayne Weir (who last year led the league with 7.2 WAR and has 5.5 this year). It lived up to the hype until the 5th when Tampa Bay got 3 off Weir and added on against the Guardian bullpen to take a 7-0 win. Morales (15-3) had the upper hand in an excellent 7 4 0 0 0 8 outing and Danny Arroyave broke the ice in the 5th with a solo shot (#35) off Weir before his teammates tacked on two more. And then Frank Duron left no doubt as to the outcome when he belted a 3-run homer (#13) in the 8th. The Rays dropped the middle game 6-4 to Cleveland. Mike Blake (9-7) had one of his bad outings, going 4.2 10 5 5 1 6 and although the offense put four on the board they didn't sustain any rallies as the runs came on 2-run homers from Jeremy Begley (#34) and Billy Doughty (#21). Tampa Bay prevailed in the rubber game 8-6 although a 3-run Cleveland homer in the 9th made the final score look more competitive than the game was. Ruben Cerrillo (12-7) was touched for 2 runs in the first but settled in to go 7 5 3 3 1 9 in the win and the Rays tied it in the 4th on run-scoring hits from Tony Fisher and Frank Duron, who each had 3 hits on the day. Fisher's RBI single in the 5th broke the deadlock and then Sal Garza broke it open with a 3-run shot (#10/33) which put him over the 100-RBI mark for the seventh time in seven full MLB seasons. Entrusted with an 8-3 lead going into the 9th Ken Battle made a mess, giving up that 3-run homer so Walt Kelly had to get the final two outs for save #25. Team record: 91-55. Next up: Minnesota visits for 3 games. Durham update: The Bulls are in the playoffs after a fine 84-56 season but have their backs to the wall after blowing a 7-2 lead in the late innings of Game 3 of the opening round best-of-five playoff series against St. Paul, down 2-1. The inconsistent (with the big club) Danny Mauricio was the Game 3 culprit, giving up 3 runs in the 9th to lose it.