July 23: Off-Day.
July 24: vs Baltimore 5-3 W. WP-Bradley (9-6, 6.1 1 1 1 2 10). S-Klein (25). HR-C.Williams (15). Ramos' 2-run double was the big hit as the Rays jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held on to beat Baltimore in the opener of their crucial series, just as the Orioles had cut the Rays' division lead to 1.5 games. Taj of course was terrific.
July 25: vs Baltimore 2-0 W. WP-Horton (5-2). Starter-Misiorowski (5.2 3 0 0 1 4). S-Klein (26). HR-Cermak (23). The good Mis showed up today and Cermak's 2-run homer in the 7th was all Tampa Bay needed to beat back Baltimore again.
July 26: vs Baltimore 8-6 W. WP-McGee (11-5, 5.1 5 4 4 3 9). S-Yan (2). HR-Isaac (19), Montes (20), B.Taylor (4). Taylor's 3-run homer in the 4th gave the Rays an 8-2 lead, then they had to watch as Baltimore chipped away before hanging on to complete the sweep and suddenly have their lead back up to 4 1/2 games.
July 27: vs LA Angels 10-1 W. WP-Sheehan (8-5, 5 3 1 1 2 6). S-Mercedes (2). HR-Isaac 2 (21), C.Williams (16). The Rays kept the good times rolling with a rout of the Angels led by Isaac (2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and Williams (3-4, HR, 2 RBI). Sheehan was solid and Mercedes went 4 perfect innings for the bulk save.
Trade time!
One thing the Rays badly needed was a consistent second lefty in the pen as
Jacob Lopez has been anything but, and we got that with Kim, who actually will become a key late-inning guy for us. He has outstanding 70/65/50 ratings and had saved 24 games for Seattle with a 2.45 ERA after saving 70 games the two seasons before with Texas after coming over from South Korea as an IFA. He's making $19.8M and is arb-eligible, so odds are we're just renting him for now and will try to flip for something in the offseason. The rookie Lara was up and flopped in his extended stint with the big club but is still a 60-contact hitter and has good speed so Seattle will get some use out of him. Lopez was DFA'd for make room.
And another trade:
We also wanted another RH OF bat with
Austin Hays not terribly impressive this season (240/311/355, -0.2 WAR) and got a pretty decent one in Dunn, who has having a career year (262/343/437, 16 HR, 45 RBI, 27 SB) for St. Louis and on course for a 4-WAR season. He's a 65-rated defender in left and had a +4.1 ZR. He'll definitely play against lefties and also seem AB against righties with Montes DHing some. The slumping Kjerstad will lose some playing time. Suarez was been in the system for several years and could be a decent back-end starter as a control guy. Hays was DFA'd to make room.
July 28: vs LA Angels 6-2 W. WP-Kim (1-0). Starter-H.Smith (4.2 1 1 0 4 7). HR-Dunn 2 (2/18), Westburg (13). Talk about instant impacts! Dunn homered leading off the game and then went yard again in his next at-bat in the 3rd, ending 3-4 with the two homers, 3 runs scored, and an HBP. Meanwhile Kim pitched a perfect 8th and got the win when the Rays scored 4 times in the bottom of the inning with Westburg's 3-run homer the key blow.
July 29: vs LA Angels 1-0 W (10). WP-Maldonado (3-2). Starter-Bradley (7 5 0 0 1 8). What a difference a week makes. Losers of five straight the Rays saw their division lead dwindle to 1 1/2 games. A sweep of the Orioles followed by a sweep of the Angels, combined with two more Baltimore losses over the weekend and the Rays have restored an ample 6 1/2-game lead in the division. Today's win was hard-fought with Bradley brilliant again but unsupported; finally in the 10th they got the ghost runner to third with one out and he scored on Kjerstad's grounder to 2nd with the throw to the plate too late to get the runner.
Team record: 66-41. Next week: A northeast AL East road trip with 3 at Yankee Stadium, a day off, and then 3 more in Boston. The trade deadline is Tuesday and after the two deals this week we're probably set but you never know.
Players of the Week:
AL: Bobby Witt Jr (KC), 12-25, 3 HR, 7 RBI
NL: Ronny Mauricio (NY), 13-24, 2 HR, 8 RBI