Game 1:
This game marked the end of Yandy Diaz's stint in Tampa Bay, where he had been a fixture since 2019 as we made the following deal:
Despite being below us in the standings, the Jays made us the best offer for Yandy, sending us the versatile Schneider, who is out for the next few weeks with a sprained elbow. When he joins the club he'll gives us someone who can play the OF as well as 2B/3B, making him the quintessential Ray. More importantly for now, the trade of Diaz opens up the DH spot for slugging prospect
Xavier Isaac, who was hitting 276/389/650 with 28 HR in 246 AB and might even be an improvement on Yandy, who wasn't having his best season. He'll primarily play against right-handed pitching.
Game 2:
Well we won the game and Isaac came off the bench to single in his first MLB at-bat before drawing a couple of intentional walks as the Cubs showed the fear of his power. Unfortunately though we lost our closer (or our trade bait closer) Fairbanks to a hamstring injury severe enough to shelve him for 3 months, or essentially the remainder of the regular season.
To that end, we put him on the 60-day IL and recalled veteran RP
Kevin Kelly from Durham. Cleavinger and Stewart will likely be the co-closers going forward.
Game 3:
Sweeping the up-and-down Jays at home was one thing but sweeping a Cubs team which was 49-29 coming in at Wrigley is another and suddenly the Rays have won six straight, moved back to .500, and most importantly are now only 1 1/2 games out of the third wild card (albeit a tie between the Angels and Boston so they're fifth overall). Along with the exciting callup of Isaac, who came through off the bench for the second time in as many nights, this time drilling his first MLB homer which was a 426-foot shot to center in the 9th, there's suddenly room for optimism. We dealt off Yandy but in classic Rays sell and buy tradition we're hanging onto the red-hot B.Lowe for now and will see where July takes us.
Next up after a day off is a return home for 3 big games against that Angels team we're chasing for a wildcard.
Players of the Month (June):
AL Batter: Kyle Tucker (BAL), .362-7-19
NL Batter: Michael Harris II (ATL), .423-6-15
AL Pitcher: Mason Miller (ATH), 4-0, 2.02, 6 SV, 22 K in 13.1 IP
NL Pitcher: Joe Musgrove (SD), 4-0, 2.03, 27 K in 31 IP
AL Rookie: Spencer Giesting (SEA), 3-2, 2.59, 19 K in 31.1 IP
NL Rookie: Reid Schaller (CHI), 3-0, 0.00, 6.2 IP