The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 32

Art Deco · 01-30-2021, 12:00 AM

First of all, we had only one injury of significance in Spring Training, and that was to Victor de Jesus, slated to make the team but will miss the first month of the season with a strained abdominal muscle. So as a result, here's the opening day roster:

C: G.Moreno, C.Perez
1B: Barker
2B: Kirkley
SS: Widmar
3B: B.Witt
IF: DeLeon
IF/OF: Ayers
OF: Clark, Jenkins, Dominguez, Jhon Diaz, Hodges
SP: Little, Sachais, Hayes, Leiter, Money
MR: Morfin, Saldana, Godwin, Mooney, Aparicio

SU: Alvarado, Jordan Diaz
CL: De La Cruz

A couple of odd names on the roster. First of all, D'Andre Hodges makes the team as the 5th OF in place of de Jesus. He had a monster spring with 5 HR and 13 RBI and slugged over 1.000. He has big-time power and came over in the Rodolfo Rivas-for-Hayden Johns deal last winter. The next surprise is David Saldana, the fine prospect acquired along with Jaiden Hardaway in the deal that sent Cole Patten and Jose Gonzales to the Giants last winter. I wasn't planning on him making the team but he is out of options so he has to. Morfin, acquired in the Judson Fabian trade, is also out of options, so this means I have 5 lefties in the pen, one more than I want, so I will explore a trade for Saldana or Morfin before the season starts.

Because we're using the 2013 schedule in order to play the NL Central as scheduled, our "opening day" is March 23 because the Dodgers and D-backs are playing in Japan (or was that Australia that year?). We actually don't start until April 1.

Here are the preseason predictions:

Yeesh. 341 HRs for us this season? 62 from Joe Barker? This has to be Publix Park, I think I'll fiddle with the HR factors. The MLB record for HRs in a season is 309 by Minnesota in 2019, it's possible it was broken during the decade of this save. We hit 293 last season. Of course the Trop suppresses homers by about 10-15% while PP increases them by about 10% so just moving to a neutral park would give us a bump.

Update: I didn't realize the Publix Park settings increased HRs by 33%, not 10%. I brought them back to a more reasonable 10%, and our wins went up from 107 to 113. Barker and Clark are now projected for 50 with Dominguez 54, which is reasonable considering the change in ballpark. We're also still projected for a 4.19 team ERA, which is about 0.30-0.40 higher than last year, also to be expected.

Art Deco · 01-30-2021, 10:21 AM

Game 1: History was made as a new decade dawned for Tampa Bay Rays baseball with the team now playing in the open-air, natural-grass Publix Park in downtown Tampa. And before a sellout crowd, the Rays delivered a 3-2 win in a game that didn't see Publix Park as the hitters' paradise it was expected to be. Instead it was the domain of Christian Little, who served notice he'll be taking back the Cy Young as long as he stays healthy as he went 6 2 1 1 0 9. Evan Godwin took over for him in the 7th and ran into some trouble, giving up a run, but Daniel Morfin in his Rays debut got a grounder to first to end the inning and keep the lead at 3-2. Jose Alvarado came on for the 8th and did this, the first time it's happened for the Rays in now the 11th season of this save:

Yes, he struck out the side in the 8th on 9 pitches. He stayed on to get the first out of the 9th and then Jasseel De La Cruz got the final two for the save. Offensively it was a slow start to things with only Ricky Widmar looking in midseason form as he rapped out 3 hits. Jhon Diaz and Connor Kirkley had RBI singles in the 2nd to give them a quick 2-0 lead, and Joe Barker had an RBI groundout in the 3rd but after that the offense could only manage a handful of hits. Still, on a day Little was pitching it was enough. Here's the box score to commemorate the first game in Publix Park:

Game 2: The Rays finally flexed their muscles in their new playground as they rode a pair of homers to a 7-3 win over Toronto. Let the record show Joe Barker's 1st inning 2-run homer off Carmen Mlodzinski was the first-ever longball hit at Publix Park, and it gave the Rays an early 2-1 lead. The Rays made it 3-1 on a Connor Kirkley pop-up on the infield that fell for a single after some miscommunication among Jays fielders, and Jasson Dominguez went yard for the 2nd homer in Publix Park history to make it 4-1 in the 4th. This was all more than enough offense for Alec Sachais, who nearly duplicated Christian Little's dominant opening day performance with a 6 3 2 1 1 9 line of his own. Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney had scoreless innings, and David Saldana made his MLB debut in the 9th. It was a bit of a rude greeting for him as Skyler Messinger took him deep for the first opponent homer in Publix Park but he got the next three batters out to finish the game. Dayle Jenkins and Gabriel Moreno added RBI singles for the Rays' cause. Elsewhere Shane McClanahan continues to help out the Rays as in his Houston debut he went 7.1 5 0 0 1 12 to beat the Yankees 3-0.

Game 3: The Rays will not be going 162-0 this year as Jon Hayes had a brutal debut for the Rays and the Jays belted four homers to beat the Rays 6-3. Hayes was not sharp at all, uncharacteristically wild and running deep counts, and 3 homers off him didn't help either as he went 3.1 6 5 4 5 4. The same-handed Riley Greene took him deep twice as well as the same-handed Matt Olson (Olson later homered off Andy Aparicio as well). Aparicio was his usual impressive self in long relief, going 3.2 1 1 1 0 7, and David Saldana was much stronger today than yesterday, whiffing 5 in 2 1-hit innings, but all that did was keep it close. Of course it didn't help that after the first 3 Rays batters of the game had hits to produce 2 runs (both on a Nate Clark double), they only managed one hit the entire rest of the game on Jasson Dominguez's 2nd HR in the 6th as Kenta Maeda recovered from his rough 1st inning. To add insult to injury, Mack Anglin - the guy Hayes replaced in the rotation - went 6 5 1 1 3 5 and won his Phillies debut (which also featured a 2-run HR from Judson Fabian).

Game 4: Publix Park lived up to its advance billing as a hitter's park today as the Rays and Jays combined for 7 homers in a wild, wild game that saw Toronto pull off the most miraculous of comebacks yet still fall short as Isaac DeLeon's 2nd HR of the day in bottom of the 9th gave the Rays a 9-8 walk-off win. I mentioned the most miraculous of comebacks because the Rays led 8-5 going into the 9th and Jasseel De La Cruz came in. JDLC struck out the first two Jays then gave up a single to Skyler Messinger, his fourth hit of the day including a 2-run HR in the 1st off Jack Leiter. JDLC then gave up a homer to Matt Olson to make it 8-7 and the next batter Nestor Ramirez went deep as well as a stunned sellout crowd watched in horror. But this set the stage for DeLeon to drive a Jonathan Pence pitch over the LCF wall to give the Rays the win after all. The Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first against Leiter after Bobby Witt Jr's two-out error opened the door. But the Rays came back on a 2-run Jhon Diaz HR and a 3-run 3rd inning which feature DeAndre Hodges' first MLB hit, a double, and a 2-run single from Joe Barker and an RBI single from DeLeon, who later hit his first homer in the 6th to make it 6-4 Rays. Dane Ayers delivered a 2-run single in the 7th to make it 8-4 before Luis Garcia homered off Mike Mooney to cut it to 8-5 before the real drama began. JDLC picked up the most undeserved of wins, one that should have gone to Leiter despite a mixed bag line of 5.2 8 4 2 2 5.

Team record: 3-1. Next up: 3 more at home against Texas.

Art Deco · 01-30-2021, 03:54 PM

Game 1: Gabriel Moreno had his first big day as a Ray, and the heroic relief work of Andy Aparicio helped Tampa Bay to a 7-5 win over Texas today at Publix Park. After Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first off Blake Money, Moreno's 2-run single in the 2nd broke a 1-1 tie after Connor Kirkley had driven in a run. And after Texas tied it again at 3 in the 5th, Moreno led off the bottom of the inning with his first Rays homer, giving them a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Money had an up-and-down outing, going 5 4 3 3 5 6 and with JDLC and Aparicio showing tired and only one rested righty in the pen it was going to be a tough 4 innings against Texas's almost exclusive right-handed lineup. Mike Mooney got them through the 6th, and righty Jordan Diaz started the 7th but had to come out with one on and one out with a sore elbow. So I turned to lefty Daniel Morfin to see if he could get through the inning but he allowed 3 straight hits which brought Texas within 6-5 and with two men on. So the call was made to Aparicio who was only "slightly tired" and he came in and got a big strikeout and ended up getting 5 outs in a gutty effort. Jasson Dominguez added HR #3 for some insurance and Jose Alvarado made it through the 9th for his first save with Money getting the win. Bobby Witt Jr added his first HR of the year, a solo shot in the 6th, and Dayle Jenkins had a sac fly as the Rays improve to 4-1. Elsewhere, the Yankees were shut out by Toronto today as they've started 0-4 and scored only 4 runs total in those games.

April 6: Placed P Jordan Diaz on the 15-day IL with a sore elbow, recalled P Malachi Benford from AAA Durham.

Our lefty-heavy bullpen imbalance becomes even more pronounced with the loss of Diaz, even though we're replacing him with a righty in Benford. I will be re-intensifying my efforts to flip Daniel Morfin for a righty reliever.

....and done:

Corbin Martin's been a good starting pitcher over the last decade, even winning 21 games back in 2022. He's kind of become a middle-of-the-road 2 WAR starter over the last few years but the Phillies have been using him in relief this year. And that's what I intend to do as he plays well there with 65 stuff, 55 movement and 55 control. He's not going to be Daniel Espino 2.0 (I tried seeing if I could pry him from the Pirates but their asking price was too high) but he should be an improvement. And he can always start down the line if we need him to. So Morfin goes back to his old team as we make yet another deal with Philly, which is paying all but $4M of Martin's $16M salary (he's a free agent at year's end).

Game 2: It was over barely after it started as the Rays scored 7 in the first inning on their way to a 15-3 drubbing of the Rangers. In fact they scored all 15 runs in the first 4 innings and ended the game with 20 hits. Speaking of hits, Wander Franco went 5 for 5 in a losing effort and drove in all 3 Texas runs. The 7 runs in the first all came with two out, kicked off by Joe Barker's 2-run homer off Tyler Mahle, Bobby Witt Jr and Jhon Diaz added RBI singles, and Gabriel Moreno capped it with a 3-run homer, his 2nd of the season. Barker hit a 2nd HR to give him 3 and added a triple, Nate Clark hit his first, a 3-run shot, Dayle Jenkins and Connor Kirkley each had 3 hits, etc etc. Christian Little said "thank you" for all the run support and was a solid 6 5 2 2 1 7 to pick up his second win in as many starts. Malachi Benford made his season debut with 2 innings, allowing 1 run, and David Saldana pitched a scoreless 9th.

Game 3: The Rays fell behind early 3-0 but chipped away at the reigning AL Cy Young winner Wil Diaz and broke all the way through to another high-scoring win at Publix Park, 10-6. Keston Hiura's bases-clearing double off Alec Sachais with 2 out in the first gave the Rangers the lead, but Dayle Jenkins (#1) and Joe Barker (#4) homered in the bottom of the 1st to make it 3-2. After an Adrian Ramos homer made it 4-2 Texas, Jhon Diaz's solo HR (#2) made it 4-3 in the 5th and then the Rays took the lead for good in the 6th. Diaz hit Diaz for an RBI single to tie it and Nate Clark belted a 3-run HR (#2) to give the Rays a 7-4 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Sac flies from Dane Ayers and Diaz around a Carlos Perez RBI single added 3 more runs in the 7th. Sachais got the start and settled down nicely after the 1st, only allowing the Ramos homer and finishing 6 6 4 4 1 8 to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Corbin Martin made his Rays debut in the 7th and nearly gave the lead back, allowing a run and getting out of a 1-out, bases-loaded jam after he walked three. He allowed another run in the 8th thanks to Ricky Widmar's error and was relieved by Jose Alvarado, who got the final five outs to grab his 2nd save of the young season. The Rays ended up with 17 homers in the 7-game inaugural homestand at Publix Park, and one thing is for sure: it ain't the Trop.

Team record: 6-1. Next up: We hit the road starting tomorrow with 3 in Kansas City.

Art Deco · 01-31-2021, 09:29 AM

Game 1: Jon Hayes, who was supposed to be an upgrade to the rotation, turned in his second poor-to-mediocre start in as many outings and Kansas City dealt Tampa Bay a 5-4 loss. It was 3-0 Royals after the first inning and although two of the runs were unearned due to a Bobby Witt Jr error, Hayes did all the rest of the work, walking the leadoff man and allowing two hits including a Triston Casas RBI double. The Rays fought back to tie it by the 3rd on Witt's sac fly, a Dayle Jenkins RBI groundout and Nate Clark's 3rd HR of the season, but Hayes gave it right back in the bottom of the 3rd when he let Casas take him deep. And after the Rays once again equalized in the 4th on Jasson Dominguez's 4th HR, you guessed it: the Royals scored off Hayes again on 3 hits. Although Hayes did strike out the side in his final inning, he still ended with a mediocre 5 7 5 3 1 5 line. Three Royals relievers shut down the offense the rest of the way, while on the Rays' side, Andy Aparicio threw 2 perfect innings and Evan Godwin got through the 8th.

Game 2: The Rays bounced back from last night's loss to take a 7-3 win over Kansas City behind a solid outing from Jack Leiter and 3 more homers. The first of those homers came from the red-hot Joe Barker, who blasted a 2-run shot (#5) in the first inning. After KC got a run back the game stood 2-1 through 5 innings before the Rays started breaking it open. Bobby Witt Jr, who had a 3-hit night, doubled in a run in the 6th and Jhon Diaz brought him home with a triple to make it 4-1, and in the 7th Ricky Widmar (#1) and Dayle Jenkins (#2) went back-to-back before Witt added a run with an RBI single. Leiter meanwhile wasn't his absolute sharpest, going 6 4 1 1 4 4 with a hit batter but it was more than good enough to get him his first win of the season. Malachi Benford came on and walked two with two out in the 7th, so David Saldana came in. Saldana got him out of the inning, had a rough 8th with 2 runs allowed on 3 hits, but stayed on for the 9th and struck out the side in a 1-2-3 inning. It seems like the bullpen might be an adventure this year.

Game 3: Former Ray Triston Casas had another huge day against his old team and Blake Money was worthless today in a 10-5 loss as the Rays dropped their first series of the season. Money was hit for 6 runs in the first 3 innings and although he pulled a Jon Hayes and struck out the side in his final inning of work he still finished an atrocious 4 7 6 6 3 6, putting the Rays in a hole out of which they were never going to climb. Casas did most of the damage, with a 2-run HR in the 1st, an RBI double in the 2nd and a 2-run double in the 6th, giving him a 5-RBI day and continuing his ludicrous start to the season which sees him with 5 HR and 16 RBI in 35 AB over 8 games. The other guy acquired in that Bobby Witt Jr deal, Hunter Bishop, also drove in 3 runs with a pair of doubles. Malachi Benford came in and got the Royals 1-2-3 in his first inning, but got torched for 4 runs in his 2nd, while Evan Godwin and Mike Mooney at least acquitted themselves well with a scoreless inning apiece. The bulk of the offense came from Carlos Perez, who hit a pair of homers and drove in three against yet another former Ray, Daniel Lynch. Ricky Widmar and Dayle Jenkins had RBI singles in the 8th.

Team record: 7-3. Next up: An off-day then we travel to Cincinnati for 3.

Art Deco · 01-31-2021, 01:28 PM

It was opening day for the Rays AAA, AA, A+ and A affiliates today.

AAA Durham: An incredible game and incredible comeback as the Bulls overcame a 7-0 deficit to win 9-7 in the most dramatic fashion as Mike Lammers hit his 3rd homer of the game (yes, 3 homers), a 3-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 9th. Lammers had 4 hits in total and drove in 7 of the 9 runs with the other 2 coming on a Caleb Picciotti double. The news wasn't all good, though: Gil Wayne, one of our top pitching prospects, pitched 2 scoreless innings in his AAA debut but on his last pitch tore his triceps and will miss most of the rest of the season (late August return date). Our top prospect, 2B Jaiden Hardaway, had a nice game in his AAA debut as he was on base 4 times in 5 trips with 2 walks and 2 singles.

AA Montgomery: The Biscuits' game against Chattanooga featured a number of premium prospects. Chris Martin, the #1 overall pick in the 2029 draft and the #1-rated prospect by BNN got the start for the Lookouts and lived up to billing with a 6.2 5 1 1 0 5 performance in a 3-1 loss for Montgomery. #8 and #13 prospects Bo Angeac and Omar Rodriguez started to the Biscuits, Angeac going 0-4 and Omar 1-4 with a double off Martin.

A+ Port Charlotte: The Stone Crabs fell 4-0 to Palm Beach. Nothing of note to report except starter Mike Kester left after two batters with a herniated disc and will miss 5 weeks.

A Bowling Green: The Hot Rods fell 8-2 to Fort Wayne. #68 overall prospect Jon Jimenez had a double for Bowling Green.

Art Deco · 01-31-2021, 02:54 PM

Game 1: It was bad news all around as not only did the Rays lose to Cincinnati 3-2 on a 9th-inning walk-off for the Reds, but they lost Joe Barker for a month and a half with a broken hand. Barker, who was off to a red-hot start and had singled in his first at-bat, was hit by a Hugo Beltran pitch on his right hand in the 3rd and suffered the break. It will now be time for Rodolfo Rivas, the #45 prospect in baseball, to show his stuff. The rookie shares Barker's 40-HR power but not Barker's speed as he's a slow-as-molasses 20 runner, something we haven't had for a long, long time. As for the game the Rays wasted another great start from Christian Little. He allowed a base hit to lead off the game and then the #2 batter Robert Hassell III took him deep to center, but he gave up nothing after that and went 7 5 2 2 0 10. Little even had a double, but unfortunately he ended up out-hitting most of his teammates tonight as the Rays had both their runs in the 1st on a Ricky Widmar triple and Jasson Dominguez ground out, and then later a sac fly from Bobby Witt Jr. Jose Alvarado got the Reds in the 8th and stayed on in the 9th, gave up a 2-out single to Ryan Noda, who stole second, and with a righty due up and Alvarado on 25 pitches, JDLC came in. The Reds countered with a lefty pinch-hitter, and instead of putting him on with 1st base empty I pitched to the hitter who of course doubled in the winning run. So bad on me and JDLC.

April 13: Placed 1B Joe Barker on the 10-day IL with a fractured hand, optioned P Malachi Benford to AAA Durham. Recalled 1B Rodolfo Rivas and P Tim Siqueiros from AAA Durham.

Benford just can't seem to find any consistency in the bigs, mainly due to wildness, so we'll replace him with the power arm (80 stuff in relief) of Siqueiros, who isn't exactly known for his control either.

Game 2: Unbelievable. For the second straight night, Emmanuel Guiterrez walked it off for the Reds, as the Rays bullpen continues to be a time bomb this year. The final was 5-2 as Guiterrez drilled a 2-out, 3-run homer off Mike Mooney to give Cincinnati the win and for the second straight day they wasted a brilliant outing from a starter. Today it was Alec Sachais who had nothing to show for a 7 3 1 1 1 10 outing. The Rays led 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, and Evan Godwin had pitched a fine 8th with 2 Ks. JDLC, who's been basically unreliable since mid-season last year, walked the first two batters, gave up a single to the third batter to tie it up, and with a lefty due was pulled for Mooney, who got a double play to put a man on 3rd with 2 out. With a righty due up and 1st base open, I wasn't going to make the mistake I made yesterday and intentionally walked him so the lefty Mooney could face the lefty Gutierrez. And we know what happened from there. Of course all of this could have been moot had the offense scored its customary # of runs but they were held to 2 runs and 6 hits with both scores coming in the 5th when Ricky Widmar tripled in a run and scored on Jasson Dominguez's sac fly. Rodolfo Rivas made his MLB debut and went 0-4, but he twice reached on errors. The loss is now the team's 3rd straight and 4th in 5 games, and as a result Toronto with a win today has climbed into a first-place tie with them at 7-5.

Game 3: Jon Hayes pitched like the ace he was in Minnesota, the Rays got just enough hitting, and for once they survived the 9th-inning drama in a 4-2 win over the Reds to salvage the final game of the series. Hayes was brilliant, except for a brief sequence in the 5th when he allowed two walks and a single for a Cincinnati run, finishing 7.2 5 1 1 2 6. Andy Aparicio got him out of the 8th, but ran into trouble in the 9th after Jasson Dominguez dropped a fly ball and he gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases. And who should Cincinnati send up than Emmanuel Gutierrez, who delivered walk-off hits the last two nights? Jose Alvarado was summoned this time and he got Gutierrez on a fly ball which brought home a run, but after a walk re-loaded the bases Alvarado got the final 2 outs to nail down the save, his 3rd of the year as he's probably our closer now until and unless JDLC figures things out. Hayes picked up his first win. The offense came primarily from two guys: Dominguez singled in the Rays' first run in the 1st inning and then broke the 1-1 tie in the 6th with an RBI double. And Connor Kirkley supplied the big blow of the game, a 2-run HR in that 6th inning, his 1st of the year. This at least gave the Rays some margin for error unlike the previous two nights. Rodolfo Rivas got his first big league hit, a single to center in the 8th.

Team record: 8-5. Next up: The road trip continues with two in Baltimore which are sandwiched around an off-day.

Art Deco · 01-31-2021, 11:37 PM

Game 1: Another come-from-ahead loss in which the offense was pedestrian by Rays standards as they fell to Baltimore 5-3. The Rays had taken a 3-0 lead on an RBI single from Nate Clark in the 1st and a 2-run HR by Clark (#4) in the 3rd. Jack Leiter was rolling, two-hitting the Orioles through 4 2/3 innings. Then he suddenly lost it, giving up a hit, and homer and another homer before getting the final out of the 5th and it was 3-3. And in the 6th he went walk-single-single for a run to start off the inning and departed 5 8 4 4 1 5. Corbin Martin came on and got him out of the inning without further damage, but then gave up a double with one out in the 7th which Evan Godwin allowed to score. And meanwhile the offense completely dried up after Clark's homer in the 3rd as Kevin Abel held them to 8 6 3 3 2 3 with a couple of double play balls to kill budding rallies. They've only scored 11 runs in their last 4 games and are now on a run where they've lost 5 out of 7. Losing Joe Barker hurts (Rodolfo Rivas is now 1-11) but he isn't keeping his teammates from hitting.

Game 2: Last time out I called Blake Money "worthless" after a bad outing and that was a play on his name, not a nasty reaction. Well today the dollar was strong as he turned out his best outing of the young season, going 7 3 0 0 1 7 in a 7-0 Rays win. Don't let the scoreline fool you, though. Until the 9th inning this was more of the same recent Rays' inability to hit as it was 2-0 before a couple of homers broke it open, making Money's performance all the more valuable. They grabbed a second-inning lead when Bobby Witt Jr walked, stole second, went to third on Adley Rustchman's bad throw and then scored on a Griffin Canning wild pitch. Gabriel Moreno, whom the Orioles couldn't get out tonight (2-2 with 2 walks) homered to double the lead in the 5th but it was primarily on the back of Money, pitching in a hitter-friendly park. Andy Aparicio came on for the 8th and got a 1-2-3 2K inning, and then the bats finally awoke in the 9th after only managing 4 hits through 8. First, after a Jasson Dominguez infield single, Witt delivered a 2-run shot (#2) to double the lead again. Then after a couple of more Rays reached, Ricky Widmar hit his 2nd to make it 7-0. With the large lead, we saved Aparicio for another day and gave some work to Tim Siqueiros. And it was the full Tim Siqueiros experience as he walked two but struck out the side to end the game.

Team record: 9-6. Next up: Back home to Publix Park for four games against the Yankees.

Art Deco · 02-01-2021, 10:43 AM

Game 1: This game did not get off to a very good start for the Rays as Derek Crum took Christian Little deep to lead off the game and Little gave up another run in the 2nd on 3 hits. Meanwhile, Yankee phenom pitcher Eric Peterson 2-hit the Rays through the first 5 innings. But in the 6th the Rays strung together 4 straight hits to score two runs and tie it after Little had settled down, and in the 7th they got a leadoff solo HR from Jhon Diaz (#3) and a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#5) to take a 6-2 win over New York. After the early struggles Little turned in a vintage Christian Little performance, going 7 5 2 2 1 10. Evan Godwin got 2 outs in the 8th before giving up a triple with Vlad Jr due, so Corbin Martin came in and looked like the electric reliever we thought he'd be by striking out Vlad and getting two more whiffs in a perfect 9th to finish the game off. Gabriel Moreno continued to wield a hot bat with 2 more hits today to up his average to .375 with 3 HR and 8 RBI as we say "Keibert who?", but on the other side of the ledger Rodolfo Rivas was 0-4 again and is off to a brutal 1-19 start in the majors. He did lose a shot at his first RBI when Clark was thrown out at the plate on his fly ball in the 6th.

Game 2: For a change the bullpen picked up the starter today, and Rodolfo Rivas picked a fine time to hit his first major league homer as the Rays made it 2 straight over the Yankees with a 4-2 win. Alec Sachais got the start but was far from his sharpest, and although he left ahead 3-0 in the 6th he left with men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Evan Godwin came in to face the lefty Joe Allen and gave up a double to score the runners, but whiffed 4 of the next 5 men faced, Andy Aparicio got 4 up, 4 down to get through the 8th, and we held our breath and turned to Jasseel De La Cruz to pitch the 9th. There was definitely a feeling of "here we go again" when he allowed a leadoff single to Miguel Sano but he got the next 3 batters for his first save since opening day. Sachais went to 3-0 despite a pedestrian 5 5 2 2 3 2 line. Offensively it was another subpar performance but it was enough. They picked up 2 runs in the 1st on RBI singles from Jasson Dominguez and Bobby Witt Jr with help from a Yankee error, Jhon Diaz singled in a run in the 3rd, and then right after the Yankees pulled within 3-2 Rivas went deep the opposite way down the RF line and put one in the Publix Park seats to give the team some much-needed insurance.

Game 3: After some early hiccups Jon Hayes was excellent again and the Rays clawed out a 3-2 win over the Yankees to make it three straight in the series and four in a row overall. Hayes had a rough first inning which included two triples allowed and saw the Yankees score both their runs, but was locked in after that and was only in trouble at the very end in the 7th when he gave up a Jo Adell double with 2 out and then a single on which Adell tried to score but was thrown out at the plate by Jhon Diaz. Hayes ended 7 8 2 2 0 9 to win his second straight start. Once again it was a struggle on offense and once again they did just enough. Connor Kirkley led off the 3rd with his 2nd HR of the year and three singles later in the inning, with the last one coming from Rodolfo Rivas (who had a 2-hit game), tied the game at 2. And in the 6th Bobby Witt Jr led off with a double and came around to score on a D'Andre Hodges sac fly as the rookie got a rare start. Jose Alvarado was dominant in the 8th, whiffing 2 around a single, and for the second straight day JDLC came in to close things out and he had a 1-2-3 9th for save #3 as he may be over his early-season yips.

April 21: Activated P Jordan Diaz from the 15-day IL, optioned P Tim Siqueiros to AAA Durham.

Game 4: Despite the best efforts of the bullpen to blow the game, the Rays came away with a 7-6 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th to sweep the 4-game series and extend their winning streak to 5. With the game tied at 6, Ricky Widmar led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, went to third on Dayle Jenkins' double and Nate Clark singled off Yankee closer Mike Tudor to bring home Widmar with the winning run. This was after Andy Aparicio, who can hit 102 on the gun, gave up a 3-run homer to (relative) banjo hitter Cade Horton in the 8th, who had all of 7 last season to allow the Yankees to tie it up. Before that the Rays had built a 6-3 lead on four homers: Ricky Widmar's 3rd to lead off the game, a 2-run shot from Isaac DeLeon (#3) in the 3rd, Dane Ayers' 1st of the year with a man on in the 4th, and Rodolfo Rivas' 2nd in 3 days in the 6th. This backed the 13-strikeout effort of Jack Leiter, who allowed 3 runs on 2 Yankee HRs among the five hits and one walk he had in 6 innings as the ball was flying out of Publix Park like it did in the first week of the season. Corbin Martin got two outs in the 7th but walked a pair before Mike Mooney got him out of that, and Mooney put a man on with two out in the 8th. Enter Aparicio, and after he walked a man to bring the tying run to the plate he served his gopher ball to Horton. Jose Alvarado took over with one out in the 9th and put two men on of his own, but got out of it and ended up with his 1st win of the season after the walk-off rally. Rivas is finally coming around - including the homer he was 3-3 today with a walk.

Team record: 13-6 (10-1 at Publix Park). Next up: An off-day then Minnesota comes to town for 3.

Art Deco · 02-01-2021, 10:13 PM

Game 1: The Rays battled back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-4 win over the Twins, the team's 6th straight victory. Blake Money started, and although he pitched decently he gave up back-to-back homers in the 4th to none other than Chris Sharp (his first of the season as he came in struggling at .208) and Julio Rodriguez. He stuck around long enough for win #3 with a 6 4 3 2 3 5 performance. Jordan Diaz pitched for the first time since opening week with a perfect inning and Andy Aparicio followed likewise in the 8th. With the score 5-3, we turned once again to JDLC to close it out, and hoo boy it was an adventure again. He gave up a leadoff homer and two more hits, but managed to get out of it for save #4. Offensively the comeback began as soon as Minnesota went up 3-0 with a Rodolfo Rivas sac fly and Isaac DeLeon RBI single cutting the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the 4th. A Jasson Dominguez sac fly tied it in the 5th and Ricky Widmar went deep off Zac Gallen leading off the 6th with #4 to give the Rays the lead, and a Gallen wild pitch gave them another run later in the inning, a run which would prove to be decisive.

Game 2: The Rays keep on rolling as they downed the Twins 7-4 to make it 7 straight wins and improve their record to 12-1 at Publix Park. Nate Clark was the star today, driving in the Rays' first four runs on a pair of homers (#6 and #7) and a sac fly, with his second homer breaking a 3-3 tie in the 6th. The Rays tacked on 3 more in the 8th on a 2-run Jhon Diaz single and an RBI single from Connor Kirkley. Christian Little started and went to 4-0, 2.81 with a 6 3 3 3 2 10 outing that saw him yield a pair of homers and twice lose the lead before Clark got him the win after he left. Evan Godwin was great for 1 1/3 and Jordan Diaz got 2 outs in the 8th. With the lead expanded to 7-3, David Saldana came in and got some work but gave up a homer and put another man on with two out so Andy Aparicio was summoned to face righty Royce Lewis, whom he whiffed to end the game and get save #1. Haven't mentioned the standings much so far, but for a frame of reference the Rays are 3 up on Toronto with the Red Sox, Yankees and Orioles all 4 games under .500 or worse.

Game 3: Alec Sachais was masterful and Dane Ayers had a career day as the Rays beat the Twins 4-1 to sweep the series (and the homestand) and extend their winning streak to 8. Sachais went 7 7 1 1 1 11 with the lone run coming on a Chris Sharp homer in the 1st inning (the normally homer-prone Sachais has only allowed 2 in 31 innings so far), and went to 4-0, 2.61 and is now 32-7 in his MLB career. He left with two on and nobody out in the 8th after an Isaac DeLeon error and a walk, but Corbin Martin came in and got the next three batters to preserve a 3-1 lead at the time. After it went to 4-1 Martin stayed in about got the side 1-2-3 in the 9th to pick up only the 2nd save in his 10-year career. Ayers, meanwhile, led the offense with a 4-4 day driving in a pair of runs including the tiebreaker in the 4th on a double and the insurance run in the 8th. In his limited playing time (19 AB), he's now hitting .526. Bobby Witt Jr had an RBI single in the 1st to tie the game and extend his hitting streak to 13, and Carlos Perez had an RBI single to drive in Ayers in the 4th as several regulars got a rest today yet the bench came through.

Team record: 16-6. Next up: The Rays hit the road, where they'll look to do better than the 3-5 on their first road trip of the season. The action starts in Chicago where they play the White Sox in a 4-game weekend wrap-around series. Despite losing 10-0 today Chicago is off to an impressive 15-8 start so it will be a challenge.

Art Deco · 02-02-2021, 10:03 AM

Game 1: A scoreless game into the 6th inning turned into an 8-2 Rays win after White Sox starter Mike Daniel lost the plate and the Rays ended up scoring 7 times to extend the winning streak to 9. Until the 6th Daniel was baffling Rays hitters, holding them to 2 hits and one walk. But Gabriel Moreno led the inning off with a single, Daniel walked the next two, and Nate Clark's sac fly made it 1-0. Daniel whiffed Jasson Dominguez but gave up an RBI single to Bobby Witt Jr (extending his hitting streak to 14) then issued two more walks with Isaac DeLeon's forcing in a run, Connor Kirkley singled in a run, and then Daniel walked Moreno to force in another run. He got the long-overdue hook, but then Ricky Widmar singled in two more to make it 7-0. Rodolfo Rivas added an RBI double in the 7th. Jon Hayes started and won his third straight start after two clunkers to start his Rays career, going 6 6 1 1 1 4. David Saldana pitched the final 3, allowing a run on 4 hits to grab his first career MLB save.

Dude, your timing is terrible:

Game 2: The Rays had their 9-game winning streak snapped in a tough loss at Guaranteed Rate Field 4-3. They had plenty of baserunners couldn't manage to get them home in large part due to an uncharacteristic 15 strikeouts from Rays batters today. Trailing by a run, they had a pair of men on in both the 8th and 9th with 0 or 1 out but couldn't get them home, and a Connor Kirkley error in the 5th opened the door for a pair of RBI singles off Jack Leiter that put the White Sox ahead to stay. Things got off to a good start when Ricky Widmar led off the game with HR #5 and Nate Clark followed with #8 to give them a quick 2-0 lead, but they had 2 more on in the inning and couldn't drive them in, which was an omen for the rest of the game. The one hit they did get with RISP was in the 4th when Widmar singled in a run to put them up 3-1. Leiter was battling runners all game long but pitched OK, going 6.2 8 4 2 3 6 and Evan Godwin was brilliant in relief striking out 3 of the 4 hitters he faced. But the lack of the big hit doomed them. Bobby Witt Jr did get an 8th-inning single to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Game 3: It was a strange game which saw the Rays not even get a baserunner until the 5th inning and only manage 2 hits through 7 innings yet one they won 9-4. They were befuddled by White Sox starter Danny Knight until Bobby Witt Jr. led off the 5th with a triple, extending his hitting streak to 16 games. Jasson Dominguez's sac fly scored Witt to tie the game at 1 and in the 6th Knight walked two men in front of Rodolfo Rivas, who hit an opposite-field homer just inside the RF foul pole to make it 4-1 Rays. But Blake Money, who had been pitching well through 5, got into trouble, allowing a run and leaving two on with nobody out. Corbin Martin came in and was great, striking out 3 in the inning but the third one came on a wild pitch and the White Sox got another run to make it 4-3. And Evan Godwin, normally homer-prone but yet to allow one this season, regressed to the mean by allowing Collin Montez's 2nd of the game to tie the score in the 7th (there was no way we were getting through a White Sox series without Montez homering against us). But in the 8th Ricky Widmar extended his own hitting streak to 11 with a single, stole second, and then scored on a Dayle Jenkins homer, the 3rd of the year for the second-year man who had gotten off to a quiet start. Rivas then followed two batters later with his second dinger of the game to make it 7-4, doubling his total for the year coming in, and the rally continued with a 2-run single from Dominguez. Jordan Diaz took over in the 8th and loaded the bases for lefty slugger AJ Austin, so Jose Alvarado came in and whiffed him. To save Alvarado with a 5-run lead in the 9th, Mike Mooney came on and struck out the side to end the game.

Game 4: Don't think anybody had Christian Little giving up 8 runs on 3 HRs in 4 1/3 innings on their bingo card, but that's what happened in an 8-5 loss to the White Sox, making the Rays a mediocre 5-7 on the road this season. Little gave up a 3-run HR to Collin Montez in the first inning (of course) after walking a man and hitting another, and then served up a grand slam to Arturo Jimenez in the 2nd before yielding another one to Jimenez in the 5th. David Saldana and Corbin Martin combined to mop up the final 3 2/3 but after coming back in the middle innings the bats ran out of gas in the final 3. Both Ricky Widmar (who took a 9th-inning walk in his last chance) and Bobby Witt Jr failed to keep their hitting streaks alive. Most of the offense came from Nate Clark, who provided a 2-run double and a sac fly. Isaac DeLeon had an RBI double but foolishly got himself thrown out at 3rd when it was 7-0, and Jasson Dominguez hit his first HR in a while (#5) in the 6th to give us the final scoreline.

Team record: 18-8. Next up: The road trip continues with 3 in Boston.

Art Deco · 02-02-2021, 05:22 PM

Game 1: The Rays visited Fenway to face the only AL East team they've yet to play this season and came away with a 15-4 blowout win. It was a 3-3 game after 4 with a pair of Eric Knatz homers off Alec Sachais offsetting a 2-run Dayle Jenkins double and a run off a wild pitch. But in the 5th the Rays exploded for 8 runs off Alex Santos and Bobby Carman, first on a 3-run HR from Bobby Witt Jr (#3) and then on a grand slam from Gabriel Moreno (#4) that went over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street. They tacked on four more in the 7th which included a 2-run shot from Jasson Dominguez (#6). Jenkins ended up with a 4-hit, 3-RBI with a pair of doubles, Rodolfo Rivas was 3-4, and Moreno had 3 hits including the slam. Sachais was quite good after the two early homers, leaving a man on in the 7th who scored after he left the game as he improved to 5-0, 3.11 with a 6.2 7 4 4 0 9 line. Mike Mooney went the final 2 1/3 to wrap things up. After a rough 1-19 start to his MLB career, Rivas has been on fire going 17-39 with 4 HR and 9 RBI in his last 11 games.

Game 2: Two nights in Boston, two 11-run wins as the Rays blasted Boston again 11-0. Jon Hayes was so masterful tonight (7 3 0 0 2 8) that he didn't allow a runner past first base the entire night. He's now 4-2 and his ERA dips to 2.75. And Jasseel De La Cruz got some work in, pitching the final two innings in perfect fashion with a pair of whiffs so the Red Sox did not manage a single runner in scoring position. Meanwhile the Rays were in scoring position when they entered the batter's box tonight and it started in the 1st with a 2-run HR by Nate Clark (#9), giving him 27 RBI and putting him among the league leaders. The game was broken open with a 5-run 2nd which saw RBI singles from Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins and Bobby Witt Jr and capped off with a 2-run double from Rodolfo Rivas. Connor Kirkley had a sac fly and Widmar another RBI single in the 7th, and the red-hot Rivas completed a perfect night at the plate with a 2-run HR (#5) for the final 2 runs. Rivas ended up 3-3 with the HR, 4 RBI, a walk and a hit-by-pitch, now making him 20-42 with 5 HR and 13 RBI in his last 12. Joe Barker isn't going to be Wally Pipped in 3-4 weeks but I could see a scenario where he DHs, Clark moves to LF and Jenkins moves over to RF taking ABs away from Jhon Diaz, who's 212/297/362 in the early going.

Trade time:

Baker, our supplemental 1st rounder in 2026, is a polished lefty starter in his 2nd year at Durham who should be pitching in the majors now, but as usual there's no room at the inn. Hopefully Cincinnati will put him on the MLB roster. Flores has a decent arm, but is a bit homer-prone so it didn't break my heart to give him up. That's because the return is Medina, the 14th-ranked prospect by BNN and the #4 overall pick in 2028. For some reason the Reds put him on the MLB roster at one point which is probably why they were willing to part with him. He's been used in relief at AA but I'm going to put him back in the rotation at Montgomery. This is what he looks like under the hood and what Metzler has to say about him:

Game 3: The tables were turned tonight as the Red Sox jumped out to a big early lead and went on beat the Rays 6-2. Jack Leiter had the roughest of starts, giving up a double to lead off the game which scored, and then after giving up another leadoff double in the 2nd put another man and gave up a 3-run HR before still another run scored after Carlos Perez's throwing error. And the bats didn't respond to being in a 5-0 hole early, with only a couple of RBI hits from Perez getting runs in. Leiter settled down after those rocky first 2 innings to go 5 6 5 4 2 6, David Saldana pitched 2 innings and allowed a run and Corbin Martin had a scoreless inning. Ricky Widmar's 17-game streak of scoring a run came to an end, as did the hot hitting of Rodolfo Rivas who was 0-3 with 3 strikeouts.

Team record: 20-9. Next up: The road trip continues a little farther south and west in New York to play the Yankees for a 3-game weekend set. The Bombers are off to a brutal 9-18 start which wasn't helped by us sweeping 4 from them in Publix Park a couple of weeks back.

Art Deco · 02-03-2021, 08:27 AM

Game 1: The Rays wasted Blake Money's best start of the year and were shut out by Deivi Garcia and the Yankees 4-0 to drop to 7-9 on the road this season. In his second tour of duty with the Yankees, Garcia had his best start of the year as well, holding the Rays to 7 4 0 0 3 9. Money was 6 3 1 1 2 7, allowing only a Tyree Reed homer in the 2nd but it was for naught as naught is what the bats did. Jasson Dominguez and Rodolfo Rivas were particularly bad at the plate today, each going 0-4 with 3 whiffs. The bullpen was terrible as well, with Jordan Diaz allowing a run in the 7th and Andy Aparicio two more in the 8th. The Rays' division lead is now down to 1 1/2 over Toronto.

Game 2: The Rays were one out away from another dispiriting loss, trailing 3-2 in large part due to an Ivan Vega inside-the-park homer for the Yankees. But down to their last at-bat DeAndre Hodges picked the most opportune time to hit his first MLB homer off Yankee closer Mike Tudor and tie the game and thanks to solid work from the pen and massive wildness from Yankee reliever Darwinzon Hernandez, they took an 8-3 win in 12 innings. Christian Little, coming off one of the worst starts of his career, got off to another bad start, walking a man and then allowing Vega to circle the bases after hitting one into the RF corner that eluded Jhon Diaz and rolled around the outfield wall. That seemed to anger Little, who then went on a tear, striking out Yankees left and right and not allowing another hit through the 5th. Meanwhile the Rays had picked up solo homers from Dayle Jenkins (#4) and Connor Kirkley (#3) to tie the game. But Vega struck again as Little was running out of gas in the 6th and his RBI double put the Yankees back ahead as Little finished 6 4 3 3 1 10. After Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 7th, the Rays had a golden chance in the 8th to tie it up or take the lead but Nate Clark hit into a 6-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to end that threat. Corbin Martin had a 1-2-3 8th and that set the stage for Hodges' dramatic homer. But there was still work to do, and Jordan Diaz got through the 9th OK but ran into trouble in the 10th, putting two on with two out. Evan Godwin came in and got the final out, pitched a 1-2-3 11th and in the 12th the Rays finally broke through. Hernandez actually got the first two batters out but he proceeded to walk the next 5 Rays, including Isaac DeLeon and pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno with the bases loaded. And then Diaz hit a 2-run single, breaking out of his slump with his 3rd hit of the day, and Kirkley singled in another as well. With a low pitch count through his 1 1/3, Godwin stayed on and got the Yankees in the 12th, picking up his 2nd win with 2 1/3 scoreless on only 19 pitches. The Blue Jays won again (off to an impressive 19-11 start) to stay 1 1/2 back.

Game 3: No late-inning heroics needed today as the Rays pounded the Yankees 11-1 behind the strong pitching of Alec Sachais and a strong offense. Sachais was in control with a healthy lead for most of the game, going 7.1 4 1 0 2 3 and improving to 6-0, 2.60. Mike Mooney went the final 1 2/3 to wrap it up. The offense came fairly early today with the big blow a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#10) in the 3rd inning, and they added 4 more in the 5th to really open it up on RBI outs from Clark and Bobby Witt Jr and a 2-run HR from Rodolfo Rivas (#6). The lead later grew with RBI hits from Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins, Dane Ayers and Rivas. The win now gets them to .500 on the road at 9-9, and with Toronto being shut out in Pittsburgh the lead is up to 2 1/2.

Team record: 22-10. Next up: An off-day then finally back to Publix Park to take on the Orioles in a 3-game series to start a homestand.

And for his troubles, Dayle Jenkins gets AL Player of the Week:

Art Deco · 02-03-2021, 03:49 PM

Game 1: The Rays continue to rack up the wins at their new home field as they came from behind to beat Baltimore 4-3 to improve to 14-1 at Publix Park. Jhon Diaz's 2-out RBI single in the 8th scored Jasson Dominguez with what proved to be the winning run, and Andy Aparicio, who came on in the 8th to get Jose Alvarado out of a bases-loaded jam, had to get out of his own jam after putting two on with two out for Adley Rustchman. But AA whiffed the superstar catcher to end the game and pick up his first win of the season. Jon Hayes got the start and wasn't very good at the outset, allowing runs in each of the first 3 innings (including HRs to Rutschman and ex-Ray Yusniel Diaz) but settled in to go 7 6 3 3 1 5. The Rays answered the two Oriole homers with a pair of their own from Rodolfo Rivas (#7) and Jasson Dominguez (#7) to get within 3-2, and then Dominguez hit his 2nd of the game and 8th of the year in the 6th to even it up, before reaching on an error in the 8th and scoring on the Diaz single. Toronto split yesterday and today in Philadelphia so the lead grows to 3.

MLB Note: Seattle's Kannon Handy threw a 1-hit shutout against Oakland, and the remarkable thing was that he did it on 78 pitches (!). He walked none and only struck out 3.

Game 2: No need to come from behind today as the Rays walloped the Orioles 13-4. Rodolfo Rivas was the man again, hitting a pair of homers and driving in 3, and also walking twice as he's up to 345/417/714 with 9 HR in 84 AB. Nate Clark had an RBI double and a 2-run HR to give him 11 HR and 34 RBI already, Gabriel Moreno drove in 3, and Dayle Jenkins drove in a pair to pace the offense. Jack Leiter pitched very well early although he tired in the 6th, allowing 3 hits and ending with a 5.1 9 2 2 0 6 line to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Corbin Martin pitched the final 3 2/3 for save #2 and although he allowed a 2-run HR he walked 0 and whiffed 7 giving him 22 Ks in 14 2/3 innings since joining the team. The Rays gained further ground on Toronto thanks to a pair of old friends with the Phillies. Judson Fabian was 3-4 with a HR and 4 RBI and Mack Anglin pitched 7 strong innings in a 10-2 Philadelphia win over the Jays. As predicted, Anglin is flourishing with Philly and is now 4-1, 1.93.

Perhaps the most bizarre linescore I've seen happened today:

Game 3: The Rays tried valiantly to come back but fell short, losing 6-5 to the Orioles and for only the second time in 17 games at Publix Park. Blake Money was awful tonight, putting them in a 6-2 hole after the Rays took an early 2-0 lead. He gave up HRs to Yusniel Diaz (of course) and Ryder Green and went 3.2 8 6 6 0 5. David Saldana, Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney did great work going a combined 5 1/3 scoreless and it was almost enough to get the Rays back into it. They grabbed a 2-0 lead off Baltimore ace Kevin Abel (now 7-0) on RBI singles from Connor Kirkley and Ricky Widmar, and then they added an RBI triple by Jhon Diaz in the 5th to cut the lead to 6-3 but couldn't get Diaz home. Abel wasn't great (5 8 3 3 3 7), but Roaldo Carajval was as he no-hit them for 2 2/3. The Rays rallied against closer Benvenuto Patitucci in the 9th as Dayle Jenkins walked and Nate Clark tripled him home, but Jasson Dominguez and Bobby Witt Jr struck out before Rodolfo Rivas doubled in Clark to make it 6-5. But Diaz whiffed as well and that was the game. The Blue Jays won so the lead is back down to 3.

Team record: 24-11. Next up: The homestand continues with Cleveland coming to town for 3 over the weekend.

Art Deco · 02-04-2021, 08:59 AM

Game 1: Judging by the score, it looked like a pitchers' duel between Christian Little and Luis Castillo as the Rays edged Cleveland 2-1. But it was more of a LOB duel as both pitchers put a number of runners on but the teams couldn't capitalize on them. Fortunately for the Rays, Nate Clark capitalized twice on RBI singles in the 3rd and 5th as part of a 3-hit day. Little was better than his previous few outings, which had seen his ERA balloon in the neighborhood of 4.50, going 6 7 1 1 1 7 and improving to 5-1. The Rays had 10 baserunners off Castillo in his 6 innings but outside of Clark couldn't do much. The bullpen was solid, especially Evan Godwin. After Andy Aparicio put two on with two out in the 7th, Godwin got Cleveland's lefty slugger Austin Hendrick to line out to center to end that threat and was great through the 8th, striking out a pair as he continues to have one of his best season starts. Jose Alvarado came on for the 9th and struck out the leadoff man who reached on a wild pitch, but then had to leave with back spasms giving him a bizarre 0 0 0 0 0 1 line. Jasseel De La Cruz relieved him and whaddya know, he got Cleveland 1-2-3 with a whiff for save #5. Alvarado's injury was minor and he won't miss any time. Toronto won so they remain 3 behind.

Game 2: The Rays hung on for another one-run win at home, topping Cleveland 6-5 behind another big game from Nate Clark. Clark broke a 3-3 tie with a 2-run HR in the 2nd and then added what turned out to be the margin of victory with a solo shot in the 5th to give him 13 HR, tying him for the AL lead with former Ray Triston Casas. Alec Sachais got off to the roughest of starts, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in the first inning but ended up giving Cleveland very little after that and is now 7-0 after going 7 8 3 3 1 9. The bullpen made it an adventure though as Evan Godwin, whom I praised yesterday, didn't have it today and left with a run in and 2 on in the 8th, only for Jose Alvarado to give up an RBI double to cut it to 6-5 and put men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. But Alvarado got a whiff and got out of it and followed that up with a 1-2-3 9th to get his 4th save. After Sachais gave up the 3 runs in the top of the 1st the Rays answered right back in the bottom of the frame to score 3 of their own on RBI singles by Jasson Dominguez and Isaac DeLeon and a bases-loaded walk to Jhon Diaz. DeLeon had just been put into the game when Bobby Witt Jr injured his shoulder on a throw. Witt's going to be DtD for a week and with DeLeon a more-than-capable replacement Witt will probably just sit for the week. We were also treated to the sight of a Rodolfo Rivas triple. Yes, you read that right, he tripled when he went the opposite way into the RF corner and Cleveland had him shaded to pull. Even the play-by-play noted the incongruity of a 20 runner like Rivas getting a triple by saying "believe it or not". The Blue Jays lost so the lead grows to 4.

Game 3: Another one-run thriller, another one-run Rays win at Publix Park. Like in Game 1 the Rays came out on top 2-1 but this time it really was a pitchers' duel especially on the part of Jon Hayes who was dominant today. Hayes went 7.2 4 1 1 1 12 with the only damage a homer in the 7th from former Rays farmhand Jordan Evangelista (part of the Daniel Espino deal a few years back). He's now 5-2, 2.66 after two rough starts to begin his Rays career and is pitching like the ace he was advertised to be. Andy Aparicio came on in the 8th with a man on, gave up a single, but got a big whiff of Cleveland slugger Austin Hendrick and stayed on through the 9th despite allowing a 2-out double to pick up save #2. The bats only managed 4 hits but squeaked out the two runs on a Ricky Widmar RBI double (another old friend, Julio Cedillo, threw Connor Kirkley out at home on the play), and a wild pitch in the 6th. Another Blue Jay loss has expanded the division lead to 5.

Team record: 27-11. Next up: We hop on the plane to take a west coast road trip starting with 3 in Seattle.

Art Deco · 02-04-2021, 04:56 PM

Game 1: The Rays used three solo homers and a strong outing from Jack Leiter to defeat the Mariners 4-2 at T-Mobile Park. After Evan White's longball off Leiter put the M's up 1-0 in the 4th, Connor Kirkley equalized with #4 of the season in the 5th. The game stayed at 1-1 until the 7th when the Rays caught a break as Kirkley's grounder, which should have been a double play ball to end the inning, was thrown away allowing the go-ahead run to score. Leiter meanwhile made it through 7, going 7 6 1 1 1 5 on 104 pitches and evening his record at 3-3. Jasson Dominguez's 9th HR of the season made it 3-1 in the top of the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz came on in the bottom. He got the first 2 out but gave up White's second HR of the game to cut it to 3-2, making it 4 homers allowed in only 8 1/3 innings for JDLC. Jose Alvarado relieved him at that point, getting the final out of the 8th to go with a 1-2-3 9th to nail down save #5 as he's become the preferred 9th inning option unless key lefties are due up earlier. Isaac DeLeon's 4th HR in the 9th gave Alvarado a little more breathing room. Toronto won so the lead stays at 5.

Game 2: I'm not sure how long this is sustainable but the Rays keep winning tight, low-scoring games and today was no exception in a 2-1 win. Blake Money was outstanding today against his old team, except for a homer allowed to Carlos Correa, his one bugaboo (he's allowed a whopping 10 dingers in 42 2/3 innings this year). Money went 6 4 1 1 2 7 to improve to 4-3, and in relief Evan Godwin was outstanding again, getting 5 outs. Jordan Diaz got the final out of the 8th, and Andy Aparicio was given the ball in the 9th and made it an adventure, allowing 2 hits to put men on 1st and 3rd with one out, but got a shallow fly ball and a grounder to end the game and get save #3. The less said about the offense the better, as they only managed 4 hits but did push across a pair of runs. Ricky Widmar singled to lead off the game, stole second and scored on a Jasson Dominguez single, and in the 6th the deadlock was broken when Nate Clark led off the inning with a triple and was brought home via Rodolfo Rivas's sac fly. The Blue Jays lost so the lead continues to grow, now at 6.

Game 3: We just had Groundhog Day IRL and it seems to have infected this save as the Rays take yet another low-scoring, one-run game from Seattle, this time by the score of 3-2. Christian Little got the start and he looked pretty rough in the early going, like Blake Money he's had a problem with the longball this year and he gave up his 9th in 55 innings and for the second straight day it was Carlos Correa who homered for Seattle. But he shut it down after that and ended with a 7 5 2 2 0 10 night, looking like the Christian Little we've become accustomed to. He's now 6-1 and gets his ERA back below 4 at 3.90. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 2K 8th and has his ERA down to 0.63 (the man is ageless), and with Andy Aparicio unavailable I went back to JDLC for the save and he had a perfect inning with a whiff to get #6. So about the offense. It looked great through the first three innings, with Nate Clark singling in Dayle Jenkins who had doubled in the 1st, and they scored twice more in the 3rd on a Clark sac fly and an RBI single from Rodolfo Rivas. And they then stopped scoring. And stopped hitting. And stopped reaching base, as Seattle pitchers retired the final 19 Rays batters in order. Fortunately the pitching was strong enough to hold on, but man is this team is in an offensive funk except maybe for Clark. The good news is both that the hitting will come around and that Toronto lost again, so the lead is 7.

Team record: 30-11. Next up: 4 games at The Big A in Anaheim.

Art Deco · 02-05-2021, 12:03 AM

Game 1: The pitching staff continued on its roll and tonight the hitters held up their end (well at least a couple of 'em) as the Rays ended up shellacking the Angels 8-1 to make it 7 straight wins. Alec Sachais keeps on keepin' on, going to 8-0 with a 7 8 1 1 0 5 performance and lowering his ERA to 2.59. Corbin Martin shook off the rust to close the game out with two scoreless innings. On the offensive side of things, Gabriel Moreno snapped out of a recent slump with a huge night, hitting a 2-run double in the 3rd to get them on the board and a solo homer in the 7th (#5) as part of a 3-3, 4-run, 3-RBI game. Ricky Widmar drove in 4 runs with an RBI groundout, RBI single and 2-RBI double. All of this despite the Rasy going down in order in the first 2 innings to extend their streak to 25 straight batters retired before breaking out in the 3rd. Elsewhere, Toronto continues to circle the drain with another loss so the lead is now 8 games. It's still early, but we might not have a race again this season.

May 17: Placed Bobby Witt Jr on the 10-day IL with a sore shoulder, retroactive to May 11, recalled 3B Mike Lammers from AAA Durham.

Witt had already been out 5 days, but he just had a setback which will keep him out 5 more, hence the move and barring another setback he can be activated as soon as he's healthy. Lammers you may recall contributed nicely down the stretch and in the playoffs in 2028 when Witt was hurt back then. He spent all of 2029 at Durham and wasn't happy, hitting barely over .200 with moderate power but has snapped back this year and was 308/343/562 with 8 HR and 23 RBI, including that 3 HR, 7 RBI game on Opening Day. We'll give him a start or two.

Game 2: After yesterday's 8-run interlude, we're back to our recent pattern of tight low-scoring games in which the Rays come out on top and today's 3-2 win over the Angels was another example. Jon Hayes continued his blistering-hot run going 7 5 2 2 1 9 with LA's two runs scoring on a bloop single and an infield single. He's 6-2, 2.65 having won six straight. Jordan Diaz had a scoreless 8th for a hold and Jose Alvarado grabbed save #6 with a 10-pitch 1-2-3 9th. The 3 runs they got off Shohei Ohtani were enough to win with Nate Clark singling with two out in the 1st, stealing second and scoring on Jasson Dominguez's RBI single. Then a lineup hunch paid off. I decided to give Dayle Jenkins a day off and give D'Andre Hodges a start and he came through with a 2-run HR in the 6th which turned out to be the game-winner. It was the 2nd HR of the year for the seldom-used OF after his first tied a game with the Yankees with 2 out in the 9th which the Rays went on to win in extras. While we've won 8 straight now, Toronto has lost its fourth in a row and the lead is 9 as they disappear further back in our rear-view mirror.

Game 3: The bats came back to life, slugging 4 homers in an 8-4 win over the Angels that wasn't really that close and which extended the win streak to 9. Three guys who drove in early runs later homered to extend the lead: Dane Ayers' RBI single in the 2nd put them on the board and he later hit HR #2, Gabriel Moreno's sac fly that same inning made it 2-0, and he came through in the 4th with HR #6, and Rodolfo Rivas' 3rd inning RBI single was followed by a 2-run HR in the 7th (#10). Ricky Widmar also homered (#6), going back-to-back with Moreno in the 4th. Jack Leiter pitched a solid game (7 7 1 1 0 4) to go to 4-3, 3.35, Mike Mooney got some work in with a scoreless 8th and then there was David Saldana in the 9th. It looked like he'd follow Mooney with a scoreless inning after getting the first two Angels, but then he allowed 5 straight to reach on 4 hits and a walk with 3 runs in and Mike Trout due. It fell to JDLC to come in and he whiffed Trout to end the game and get a fairly easy save #7.

Game 4: It looked like the win streak was over as the Rays trailed the Angels 4-1 after 7 and were being 4-hit by Keider Montero. But they're too good to be counted out and a 4-run rally in the 8th led the way to a 7-4 win as the winning streak reaches 10 (not the longest current streak in MLB though, St. Louis won its 15th straight today). In the 8th Carlos Perez doubled in Connor Kirkley, who had walked to lead off the inning, before scoring after 2 wild pitches to get within 4-3, and then with a man on Nate Clark went deep off Montero (whom the AI should have relieved) for #14 to give the Rays a 5-4 lead. And in the 9th Mike Lammers hit his first MLB HR of the season and then Kirkley went back-to-back with him for #5 to give the Rays some insurance. Before all that their only run was a first inning HR from D'Andre Hodges (#3). Blake Money started and wasn't very good, going 5 7 3 3 2 4 and fortunate not to have allowed more runs. Mike Mooney had a scoreless 6th but Corbin Martin got into 7th inning trouble by allowing 4 hits for a run after retiring the first two batters. He got the third out and ended up with his first Rays win as a result of the rally. Andy Aparicio had a 1-2-3 8th but gave up a leadoff 9th inning single to Mike Trout so Jose Alvarado came in with lefties due up and struck out a pair for save #7.

Team record: 34-11. Next up: An off-day then back home for 3 vs Oakland (you'll have to ask the schedule maker why we didn't just stay out west and play them there).

Art Deco · 02-05-2021, 03:40 PM

Game 1: OK, this was going to be the game they'd finally lose. They were down 7-2 to Oakland going to the bottom of the 8th. Even though they were putting runners on base all day and failing to bring them home (12 LOB in total), this was too big a hole to climb out of. Right? Wrong. The Rays scored 7 times in the bottom of the 8th to beat Oakland 9-7 and extend the winning streak to 11 games. The decisive blow was a grand slam HR from Connor Kirkley (#6) with 2 out in the inning after RBI singles from Nate Clark, Rodolfo Rivas and Isaac DeLeon. Before that, all they had to show for 15 baserunners through 7 innings were a couple of runs on sac flies from Dane Ayers and Gabriel Moreno. The primary reason they were in the hole, though, was another bad start from Christian Little who has been wildly inconsistent this year. He walked the first two batters of the game and then gave up a 3-run HR to former Rays property Billy Benedetto, and then in the 3rd allowed another homer to Benedetto with a man on. To cap it off he gave up a 3rd homer to Chris Robles and it was 6-2. Little finished 5 7 6 6 3 8 as his ERA jumps back up to 4.48 with 12 HR allowed in 60 IP this year (ouch). Corbin Martin got 4 outs in relief, and then David Saldana pitched through the 8th, allowing another run but like Martin the other day got his first win as a Ray when the big late rally came. Jordan Diaz got the first two outs of the 9th but put a man on, so Evan Godwin got his first save retiring the lefty Robles to end the game.

MLB Notes: Bryce Harper hit his 600th career HR, and the Cardinals won again to make it 16 straight.

May 22: Activated 3B Bobby Witt Jr from the 10-day IL, optioned 3B Mike Lammers to AAA Durham.

Game 2: Another starting pitcher put them in an early hole, and once again they climbed out of it to make it 12 straight with a 7-4 win. Alec Sachais had a rough first two innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, but he hung in there to go 6 9 4 4 1 6 while the offense kept chipping away via the home run - five times to be precise. First Jasson Dominguez hit #10 in the 2nd and they added a run to cut the Oakland lead in half on a Nate Clark sac fly. Rodolfo Rivas (#11) and Bobby Witt Jr (#5, in his first came back off the IL) went back-to-back in the 4th to tie it up, and Clark hit #15, a 2-run shot to put the Rays ahead to stay. Clark now has 48 RBI and leads MLB. Isaac DeLeon added #5 in the 8th inning to give us the final tally. After Sachais left, Evan Godwin got two outs in the 7th before giving way to Andy Aparicio, who went the final 2 1/3 with three whiffs for save #4. Sachais is now an MLB-best 9-0 as his ERA ticked up to 2.91. Speaking of winning streaks, St. Louis continued theirs and are now at 17.

Game 3: The streak is over, but not without another valiant comeback before they came up short in extras as Oakland took a 6-4 decision in 10 innings. Through 5 it was a 1-0 Rays lead on Nate Clark's 16th HR of the year and Jon Hayes was cruising. But with one out in the 6th inning, he walked a pair and gave up a 2-run double to Mark Vientos with Billy Benedetto following with a double of his own to make it 3-1 Oakland. Hayes made it through the 6th and ended 6 4 3 3 2 9. Jordan Diaz got through the 7th but Corbin Martin was greeted in the 8th by a Vientos homer which made it 4-1 and had to leave a couple batters later with back spasms. David Saldana got the final out of the 8th, and the Rays came to the plate with only 3 hits to show for the game. But Ricky Widmar doubled and Clark walked, bringing up Jasson Dominguez who blasted one to left center (#11) to tie the game. Jasseel De La Cruz took over and got a 1-2-3 9th but it turned out to be a mistake to bring him out for the 10th as he loaded the bases with nobody out on a walk, single and HBP. Jose Alvarado came in to face Benedetto but the Oakland LF managed a sac fly to give the A's the lead and Alvarado later gave up an RBI single. Although a 2-out Bobby Witt Jr single brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning, Jhon Diaz whiffed to end the game and end the 12-game win streak. Not ending their win streak was St. Louis, though, as they're now up to 18 after an 8-3 win over Arizona.

Team record: 36-12. Next up: The Red Sox visit Publix Park for the first time to play 3 this weekend.

Art Deco · 02-06-2021, 08:55 AM

Time for a trade:

Givens is someone I've had my eye on for a while now, at the moment he has 60 stuff and 60 movement with the potential for 70/65. Control at 45 is an issue but he's more of a power lefty than Saldana as you can see from their numbers above. Also Saldana being out of options kind of held me hostage to keeping him on the roster, while Givens has options so I have more flexibility. Villareal, acquired in the Bobby Witt Jr deal a couple of years ago, was expendable as he's not developed as I'd hoped so far and my scouting reports now talk about "a bench role".

May 24: Sent 1B Joe Barker on a rehab assignment to AAA Durham.

I get to kick the can of the Barker situation down the road a few days at least. Rivas is 3rd in AL in OPS so it would be kind of absurd to send him down. Therefore it'll probably be Hodges who goes to Durham.

Game 1: I've had the Rays hit 7 HR in a game in this save, but I'm not sure I've ever had 7 different players hit HR in a game but that's what happened today in a 12-3 rout of the Red Sox. Bobby Witt Jr and Gabriel Moreno were the only starters who didn't homer. It was a 1-1 game in the 4th with Dayle Jenkins hitting #5 before the Rays broke it open. Rodolfo Rivas (#12) and Jhon Diaz (#4) each hit 2-run homers to make it 5-1 Rays in the bottom of the 4th and the dingers kept coming from there. Nate Clark (#17) in the 5th, Connor Kirkley (#7) with a 2-run shot in the 6th, Ricky Widmar (#7) in the 6th, and Jasson Dominguez (#12) in the 6th all went deep as Publix Park definitely continues to play homer-friendly. On the other side of the ball Rays pitching didn't allow any homers. Jack Leiter won his fourth straight start to go to 5-3 with a 6 7 2 2 1 5 performance which saw those 7 hits come in two bunches that each led to a Boston run, and Mike Mooney went the final 3 innings to get his first save and become the 7th Rays pitcher this year to pick up one. Elsewhere in MLB, St. Louis is now up to 19 straight wins.

May 25: Sent OF Victor de Jesus on a rehab assignment to AAA Durham.

Tried optioning de Jesus to Durham but discovered he's out of options, so he's going to have to make the team once his rehab is up. This is definitely going to create a roster crunch when Barker comes back as well, so I'm exploring the possibility of trading Jhon Diaz. de Jesus is that good, expected by the editor to have an OPS of 1.008 with 40-HR power and 114-walk ability. As good as Diaz is (not counting this season), de Jesus is even better.

Game 2: Walk-off drama at Publix Park as Ricky Widmar's 9th-inning blast (#8) gave the Rays a 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Red Sox, their 18th in their last 20 games. The blow was Widmar's second big hit of the day, as his 5th-inning triple scored two to help the Rays out of a 3-0 hole with Dayle Jenkins singling him home to tie the game. After Jordan Diaz gave up 2 runs in the 7th to put the Rays behind again, another triple figured into the comeback with Nate Clark's 3-bagger in the 8th scoring Jenkins before he came home on Rodolfo Rivas's single to tie the game. Jose Alvarado got the Sox in the 9th and grabbed his 2nd win of the year thanks to Widmar's homer, also lowering his ERA to 0.49 in the process. Blake Money got the start and was his usual mixed bag, going 6 6 3 3 3 6. After Diaz's rough 7th, Steve Givens made his Rays debut and it was the type of outing that led Earl Weaver to call Don Stanhouse "full pack" back in the '70s. Givens loaded the bases with one out on two walks and a hit but then proceeded to strike out the next two batters to get out of it, which took him 33 pitches in all. Gabriel Moreno had a tough game, whiffing all 4 times up, but he wasn't even the biggest breeze-maker as Boston's Ryan Mountcastle struck out all 5 times he was up which the play-by-play commemorated with "BAD DAY!". Also the Cardinals' 19-game winning streak was snapped by the Reds today 4-3.

Game 3: It was HR derby again for the Rays as they belted five more in another 12-3 shellacking of Boston. But it was almost all overshadowed by Christian Little having to leave the game in the 5th inning and rubbing at his elbow. It turns out that it's just a sore elbow and should only sideline him about a week. We'll likely err on the side of caution and IL him. He had started the game by giving up a leadoff homer to Luisangel Acuna, his 13th in 65 innings, but he was in control from there before leaving 4 2/3 innings in, allowing only one more hit, walking none and whiffing 10. Corbin Martin relieved him and picked up win #2, going 2 1/3, allowing 2 runs and striking out 4. Evan Godwin and Jasseel De La Cruz each pitched an inning to finish the game. But the day belonged to Isaac DeLeon, who blasted a pair of homers. The first came in the 1st inning with a man on and broke a 1-1 tie after Bobby Witt Jr's RBI single, and the second (#7) came as part of a 5-run 6th inning that saw the Rays break open a 3-1 game. Dayle Jenkins had the big blow in that 6th, a 3-run HR (#6). D'Andre Hodges (#4) and Carlos Perez (#3) also homered in the 7th as the Rays put up 12 runs & 17 hits with the likes of Nate Clark, Jasson Dominguez, Connor Kirkley and Gabriel Moreno all rested. Also Boston's Ryan Mountcastle continued his lost weekend by striking out in all four plate appearances today, on top of yesterday's five. Going to back to Friday night's game log I see he whiffed his final time up so that now gives him 10 straight PAs with a strikeout. This might be an MLB record as some poking around Google seems to indicate Mark Reynolds was the most recent to tie the position-player record with 9*. If you count pitchers, Sandy Koufax as a batter struck out 12 straight times.

Team record: 39-12 (including 23-3 at Publix Park). Next up: We head north of the border for 3 games in Toronto.

*Further research shows this would be the MLB record for a position player, here's a blurb from a Baseball-Reference biography of Reynolds circa April 2020 which goes into detail on it:

Of course it's possible a streak of this length or greater has happened sometime else during the 10 1/2 seasons of this save as I only noticed this one because it came in games I was managing the Rays.

Art Deco · 02-06-2021, 03:46 PM

May 27: Placed P Christian Little on the 15-day IL with a sore elbow, recalled P Tim Siqueiros from AAA Durham.

Andy Aparicio goes into the rotation in Little's place and starts today, giving the other four starters an extra day's rest. Siqueiros will pitch long relief/mop-up.

Game 1: The Rays spent Memorial Day in a foreign country playing their closest pursuers (although at 12 games behind coming in, not much of a pursuit) the Blue Jays, and a 6-run first inning did in their hosts in a 7-2 win. And all that 1st-inning offense came after the first two batters were retired. Singles by Nate Clark and Jasson Dominguez put men on 1st and 3rd, and Clark scored on a passed ball. Rodolfo Rivas then singled in Dominguez, and after Bobby Witt Jr walked, Jhon Diaz hit a 2-run triple to make it 4-0. Then the next batter, Connor Kirkley, blasted HR #8 into the second deck at Rogers Centre and suddenly it was 6-0. This was more than enough for Andy Aparicio in his first start of the season, as he went 6.1 6 2 2 0 6 for win #2, only dinged for a couple of solo homers. Steve Givens went an inning and Jordan Diaz the final 1 2/3 to finish up. Dominguez later added an RBI double for the 7th Rays run. Also in our record watch, Boston's Ryan Mountcastle ended his strikeout streak of 10 plate appearances by grounding out in his first at-bat against Atlanta's Mike Soroka. In fact he was so encouraged by making contact that he went on to get hits in his next four at-bats. Alas, the Red Sox lost.

Game 2: The Rays followed up yesterday's 7-2 win with an 8-2 victory, although they only scored once in the 1st tonight instead of six times. Jasson Dominguez, who had a 3-hit night, singled in 2 runs in the third to make it 3-0 and scored on Bobby Witt Jr's single. Dominguez later had an RBI triple and Witt (#5) and Connor Kirkley (#9) added solo homers to pace the Rays. Alec Sachais went 6 3 2 2 2 5 to go to 10-0 as he seems to be going after Blake Money's 21-1 record in 2028. The only damage against Sachais was the first Blue Jay homer for an old friend, Seth Beer, who took him deep with a man on in the 5th. Mike Mooney had a pair of scoreless innings and Tim Siqueiros one as the Rays' new winning streak reaches 5 and they've now won 21 of their last 23.

Game 3: Remember when the Rays were 7-9 on the road this season? Well they're now 19-9 meaning they've won 12 straight away from home after today's 4-0 win over the Blue Jays, also their 6th straight overall. Jon Hayes was the story, dominating Toronto to the tune of 7 6 0 0 0 9 although he was aided by a Jasson Dominguez baserunner kill at home. Hayes is now 7-2, 2.55 and enjoying life as a Ray. Jasseel De La Cruz pitched the 8th and Jordan Diaz the 9th to complete the team shutout. Connor Kirkley was the star on offense today, as his RBI single in the 4th made it 2-0 and his 2-run HR in the 9th, his 10th of the season and his third in three days, turned a nail-biter into something more comfortable. The first run came in the first inning on a Jasson Dominguez sac fly. Tampa Bay now holds an imposing 15-game lead on Toronto so it's entirely likely the next four months are a warmup to the postseason. Perhaps the 2028 record of 122 wins will be something to play for.

Team record: 42-12. Next up: An off-day then a weekend at Fenway Park.

Art Deco · 02-07-2021, 09:11 AM

May 30: Activated 1B Joe Barker from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned OF D'Andre Hodges to AAA Durham.

We welcome back Barker, who's been out since mid-April with a broken hand and bid adieu to Hodges, who played well in limited action but whose window for playing on the active roster is probably now closed with Victor de Jesus healthy and the emergence of Rodolfo Rivas.

Game 1: The bats were relentless tonight as the Rays outlasted Boston 10-6 to make it 7 straight wins, scoring in every inning but the first and third and overcoming a lousy start from Jack Leiter. Joe Barker returned to the lineup tonight and it was like he was never gone as he singled in his first trip up and stole second and later tripled and drove in a run. Nate Clark had the big hit of the night, his 18th HR of the year in the 6th which broke a 6-6 tie. Bobby Witt Jr also homered to tie the game (#6) and had a sac fly while Connor Kirkley also drove in a pair with a double. Everyone but Jasson Dominguez had an RBI and everyone except Ricky Widmar (in an 0-20 slump) had a hit. They kept giving Leiter the lead and he kept giving it up, culminating in a pair of homers allowed in the 5th which put Boston up 6-5. He was hit hard with a 5.1 9 6 6 1 4 line. Corbin Martin relieved him in the 6th and was in the right place at the right time to get win #3, Evan Godwin pitched the 7th, and Tim Siqueiros was tabbed to pitch the 8th and stayed in when the lead grew to 4 which enabled him to get his first save (and become the 8th Rays pitcher to get one this year) with two scoreless innings.

From the league office:

And our never-ending pipeline of first basemen continues, with honors for the guy who was the key acquisition in the Mack Anglin deal:

Game 2: The Rays were dealt a rare loss by Boston today 7-6, as Blake Money was terrible again. Twice the Rays staked Money to leads and twice he gave them back, capped by a 3-run Bob Kelly homer off him in the 5th that turned out to be the final scoring of the game. He went 4 8 7 7 3 2, his ERA is now 5.46 and depending on how Andy Aparicio continues to look as a starter, he might be out of the rotation when Christian Little comes back. His ineffectiveness wasted a big day from Nate Clark, who was 3-4 with a homer (#19), double and 3 RBI. Joe Barker also hit his first homer since coming off the IL (#6 in only 48 AB), a 2-run shot in the 3rd which gave them an early 4-2 lead. Ricky Widmar broke out of his mini-slump with a hit, two walks, and two steals. Steve Givens had a wild day in relief, and I mean that literally as he somehow managed to walk 4 and allow 3 hits in 2 innings but didn't allow a run. A pair of double plays, including one where Jasson Dominguez threw a man out at the plate on a fly ball, along with Mike Mooney getting him out of the trouble in the 7th were the reasons why. The loss snapped their 13-game road winning streak and the current 7-game overall streak they had.

Game 3: Baseball is a team game, but today it was more of a two-man game for the Rays as Isaac DeLeon and Andy Aparicio were probably about 90% responsible for today's 5-2 win over Boston. DeLeon drove in all 5 Rays runs with a pair of homers, including a 3-run shot in the 6th that put them in front to stay. He later added an RBI single in the 8th for some insurance and now has 9 homers. And on the mound Aparicio got past some early struggles to go 7 4 2 2 2 7 to make it two-for-two in winning starts. Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 8th and Jose Alvarado nabbed save #8 with a scoreless 9th. Nate Clark stayed hot in June with two hits including a triple.

Team record: 44-13. Next up: 2 games in Columbus to play our "natural rival", the Lightning.

01-30-2021, 12:00 AM	#621
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	2030 Opening Day Roster & Preseason Predictions First of all, we had only one injury of significance in Spring Training, and that was to Victor de Jesus, slated to make the team but will miss the first month of the season with a strained abdominal muscle. So as a result, here's the opening day roster: C: G.Moreno, C.Perez 1B: Barker 2B: Kirkley SS: Widmar 3B: B.Witt IF: DeLeon IF/OF: Ayers OF: Clark, Jenkins, Dominguez, Jhon Diaz, Hodges SP: Little, Sachais, Hayes, Leiter, Money MR: Morfin, Saldana, Godwin, Mooney, Aparicio SU: Alvarado, Jordan Diaz CL: De La Cruz A couple of odd names on the roster. First of all, D'Andre Hodges makes the team as the 5th OF in place of de Jesus. He had a monster spring with 5 HR and 13 RBI and slugged over 1.000. He has big-time power and came over in the Rodolfo Rivas-for-Hayden Johns deal last winter. The next surprise is David Saldana, the fine prospect acquired along with Jaiden Hardaway in the deal that sent Cole Patten and Jose Gonzales to the Giants last winter. I wasn't planning on him making the team but he is out of options so he has to. Morfin, acquired in the Judson Fabian trade, is also out of options, so this means I have 5 lefties in the pen, one more than I want, so I will explore a trade for Saldana or Morfin before the season starts. Because we're using the 2013 schedule in order to play the NL Central as scheduled, our "opening day" is March 23 because the Dodgers and D-backs are playing in Japan (or was that Australia that year?). We actually don't start until April 1. Here are the preseason predictions: Yeesh. 341 HRs for us this season? 62 from Joe Barker? This has to be Publix Park, I think I'll fiddle with the HR factors. The MLB record for HRs in a season is 309 by Minnesota in 2019, it's possible it was broken during the decade of this save. We hit 293 last season. Of course the Trop suppresses homers by about 10-15% while PP increases them by about 10% so just moving to a neutral park would give us a bump. Update: I didn't realize the Publix Park settings increased HRs by 33%, not 10%. I brought them back to a more reasonable 10%, and our wins went up from 107 to 113. Barker and Clark are now projected for 50 with Dominguez 54, which is reasonable considering the change in ballpark. We're also still projected for a 4.19 team ERA, which is about 0.30-0.40 higher than last year, also to be expected. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-30-2021 at 12:13 AM.

01-30-2021, 10:21 AM	#622
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 1-4, 2030: vs Toronto (4) Game 1: History was made as a new decade dawned for Tampa Bay Rays baseball with the team now playing in the open-air, natural-grass Publix Park in downtown Tampa. And before a sellout crowd, the Rays delivered a 3-2 win in a game that didn't see Publix Park as the hitters' paradise it was expected to be. Instead it was the domain of Christian Little, who served notice he'll be taking back the Cy Young as long as he stays healthy as he went 6 2 1 1 0 9. Evan Godwin took over for him in the 7th and ran into some trouble, giving up a run, but Daniel Morfin in his Rays debut got a grounder to first to end the inning and keep the lead at 3-2. Jose Alvarado came on for the 8th and did this, the first time it's happened for the Rays in now the 11th season of this save: Yes, he struck out the side in the 8th on 9 pitches. He stayed on to get the first out of the 9th and then Jasseel De La Cruz got the final two for the save. Offensively it was a slow start to things with only Ricky Widmar looking in midseason form as he rapped out 3 hits. Jhon Diaz and Connor Kirkley had RBI singles in the 2nd to give them a quick 2-0 lead, and Joe Barker had an RBI groundout in the 3rd but after that the offense could only manage a handful of hits. Still, on a day Little was pitching it was enough. Here's the box score to commemorate the first game in Publix Park: Game 2: The Rays finally flexed their muscles in their new playground as they rode a pair of homers to a 7-3 win over Toronto. Let the record show Joe Barker's 1st inning 2-run homer off Carmen Mlodzinski was the first-ever longball hit at Publix Park, and it gave the Rays an early 2-1 lead. The Rays made it 3-1 on a Connor Kirkley pop-up on the infield that fell for a single after some miscommunication among Jays fielders, and Jasson Dominguez went yard for the 2nd homer in Publix Park history to make it 4-1 in the 4th. This was all more than enough offense for Alec Sachais, who nearly duplicated Christian Little's dominant opening day performance with a 6 3 2 1 1 9 line of his own. Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney had scoreless innings, and David Saldana made his MLB debut in the 9th. It was a bit of a rude greeting for him as Skyler Messinger took him deep for the first opponent homer in Publix Park but he got the next three batters out to finish the game. Dayle Jenkins and Gabriel Moreno added RBI singles for the Rays' cause. Elsewhere Shane McClanahan continues to help out the Rays as in his Houston debut he went 7.1 5 0 0 1 12 to beat the Yankees 3-0. Game 3: The Rays will not be going 162-0 this year as Jon Hayes had a brutal debut for the Rays and the Jays belted four homers to beat the Rays 6-3. Hayes was not sharp at all, uncharacteristically wild and running deep counts, and 3 homers off him didn't help either as he went 3.1 6 5 4 5 4. The same-handed Riley Greene took him deep twice as well as the same-handed Matt Olson (Olson later homered off Andy Aparicio as well). Aparicio was his usual impressive self in long relief, going 3.2 1 1 1 0 7, and David Saldana was much stronger today than yesterday, whiffing 5 in 2 1-hit innings, but all that did was keep it close. Of course it didn't help that after the first 3 Rays batters of the game had hits to produce 2 runs (both on a Nate Clark double), they only managed one hit the entire rest of the game on Jasson Dominguez's 2nd HR in the 6th as Kenta Maeda recovered from his rough 1st inning. To add insult to injury, Mack Anglin - the guy Hayes replaced in the rotation - went 6 5 1 1 3 5 and won his Phillies debut (which also featured a 2-run HR from Judson Fabian). Game 4: Publix Park lived up to its advance billing as a hitter's park today as the Rays and Jays combined for 7 homers in a wild, wild game that saw Toronto pull off the most miraculous of comebacks yet still fall short as Isaac DeLeon's 2nd HR of the day in bottom of the 9th gave the Rays a 9-8 walk-off win. I mentioned the most miraculous of comebacks because the Rays led 8-5 going into the 9th and Jasseel De La Cruz came in. JDLC struck out the first two Jays then gave up a single to Skyler Messinger, his fourth hit of the day including a 2-run HR in the 1st off Jack Leiter. JDLC then gave up a homer to Matt Olson to make it 8-7 and the next batter Nestor Ramirez went deep as well as a stunned sellout crowd watched in horror. But this set the stage for DeLeon to drive a Jonathan Pence pitch over the LCF wall to give the Rays the win after all. The Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first against Leiter after Bobby Witt Jr's two-out error opened the door. But the Rays came back on a 2-run Jhon Diaz HR and a 3-run 3rd inning which feature DeAndre Hodges' first MLB hit, a double, and a 2-run single from Joe Barker and an RBI single from DeLeon, who later hit his first homer in the 6th to make it 6-4 Rays. Dane Ayers delivered a 2-run single in the 7th to make it 8-4 before Luis Garcia homered off Mike Mooney to cut it to 8-5 before the real drama began. JDLC picked up the most undeserved of wins, one that should have gone to Leiter despite a mixed bag line of 5.2 8 4 2 2 5. Team record: 3-1. Next up: 3 more at home against Texas. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-30-2021 at 01:52 PM.

01-30-2021, 03:54 PM	#623
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 5-7, 2029: vs Texas (3) Game 1: Gabriel Moreno had his first big day as a Ray, and the heroic relief work of Andy Aparicio helped Tampa Bay to a 7-5 win over Texas today at Publix Park. After Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first off Blake Money, Moreno's 2-run single in the 2nd broke a 1-1 tie after Connor Kirkley had driven in a run. And after Texas tied it again at 3 in the 5th, Moreno led off the bottom of the inning with his first Rays homer, giving them a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Money had an up-and-down outing, going 5 4 3 3 5 6 and with JDLC and Aparicio showing tired and only one rested righty in the pen it was going to be a tough 4 innings against Texas's almost exclusive right-handed lineup. Mike Mooney got them through the 6th, and righty Jordan Diaz started the 7th but had to come out with one on and one out with a sore elbow. So I turned to lefty Daniel Morfin to see if he could get through the inning but he allowed 3 straight hits which brought Texas within 6-5 and with two men on. So the call was made to Aparicio who was only "slightly tired" and he came in and got a big strikeout and ended up getting 5 outs in a gutty effort. Jasson Dominguez added HR #3 for some insurance and Jose Alvarado made it through the 9th for his first save with Money getting the win. Bobby Witt Jr added his first HR of the year, a solo shot in the 6th, and Dayle Jenkins had a sac fly as the Rays improve to 4-1. Elsewhere, the Yankees were shut out by Toronto today as they've started 0-4 and scored only 4 runs total in those games. April 6: Placed P Jordan Diaz on the 15-day IL with a sore elbow, recalled P Malachi Benford from AAA Durham. Our lefty-heavy bullpen imbalance becomes even more pronounced with the loss of Diaz, even though we're replacing him with a righty in Benford. I will be re-intensifying my efforts to flip Daniel Morfin for a righty reliever. ....and done: Corbin Martin's been a good starting pitcher over the last decade, even winning 21 games back in 2022. He's kind of become a middle-of-the-road 2 WAR starter over the last few years but the Phillies have been using him in relief this year. And that's what I intend to do as he plays well there with 65 stuff, 55 movement and 55 control. He's not going to be Daniel Espino 2.0 (I tried seeing if I could pry him from the Pirates but their asking price was too high) but he should be an improvement. And he can always start down the line if we need him to. So Morfin goes back to his old team as we make yet another deal with Philly, which is paying all but $4M of Martin's $16M salary (he's a free agent at year's end). Game 2: It was over barely after it started as the Rays scored 7 in the first inning on their way to a 15-3 drubbing of the Rangers. In fact they scored all 15 runs in the first 4 innings and ended the game with 20 hits. Speaking of hits, Wander Franco went 5 for 5 in a losing effort and drove in all 3 Texas runs. The 7 runs in the first all came with two out, kicked off by Joe Barker's 2-run homer off Tyler Mahle, Bobby Witt Jr and Jhon Diaz added RBI singles, and Gabriel Moreno capped it with a 3-run homer, his 2nd of the season. Barker hit a 2nd HR to give him 3 and added a triple, Nate Clark hit his first, a 3-run shot, Dayle Jenkins and Connor Kirkley each had 3 hits, etc etc. Christian Little said "thank you" for all the run support and was a solid 6 5 2 2 1 7 to pick up his second win in as many starts. Malachi Benford made his season debut with 2 innings, allowing 1 run, and David Saldana pitched a scoreless 9th. Game 3: The Rays fell behind early 3-0 but chipped away at the reigning AL Cy Young winner Wil Diaz and broke all the way through to another high-scoring win at Publix Park, 10-6. Keston Hiura's bases-clearing double off Alec Sachais with 2 out in the first gave the Rangers the lead, but Dayle Jenkins (#1) and Joe Barker (#4) homered in the bottom of the 1st to make it 3-2. After an Adrian Ramos homer made it 4-2 Texas, Jhon Diaz's solo HR (#2) made it 4-3 in the 5th and then the Rays took the lead for good in the 6th. Diaz hit Diaz for an RBI single to tie it and Nate Clark belted a 3-run HR (#2) to give the Rays a 7-4 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Sac flies from Dane Ayers and Diaz around a Carlos Perez RBI single added 3 more runs in the 7th. Sachais got the start and settled down nicely after the 1st, only allowing the Ramos homer and finishing 6 6 4 4 1 8 to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Corbin Martin made his Rays debut in the 7th and nearly gave the lead back, allowing a run and getting out of a 1-out, bases-loaded jam after he walked three. He allowed another run in the 8th thanks to Ricky Widmar's error and was relieved by Jose Alvarado, who got the final five outs to grab his 2nd save of the young season. The Rays ended up with 17 homers in the 7-game inaugural homestand at Publix Park, and one thing is for sure: it ain't the Trop. Team record: 6-1. Next up: We hit the road starting tomorrow with 3 in Kansas City. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-30-2021 at 11:15 PM.

01-31-2021, 09:29 AM	#624
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 8-10, 2030: at Kansas City (3) Game 1: Jon Hayes, who was supposed to be an upgrade to the rotation, turned in his second poor-to-mediocre start in as many outings and Kansas City dealt Tampa Bay a 5-4 loss. It was 3-0 Royals after the first inning and although two of the runs were unearned due to a Bobby Witt Jr error, Hayes did all the rest of the work, walking the leadoff man and allowing two hits including a Triston Casas RBI double. The Rays fought back to tie it by the 3rd on Witt's sac fly, a Dayle Jenkins RBI groundout and Nate Clark's 3rd HR of the season, but Hayes gave it right back in the bottom of the 3rd when he let Casas take him deep. And after the Rays once again equalized in the 4th on Jasson Dominguez's 4th HR, you guessed it: the Royals scored off Hayes again on 3 hits. Although Hayes did strike out the side in his final inning, he still ended with a mediocre 5 7 5 3 1 5 line. Three Royals relievers shut down the offense the rest of the way, while on the Rays' side, Andy Aparicio threw 2 perfect innings and Evan Godwin got through the 8th. Game 2: The Rays bounced back from last night's loss to take a 7-3 win over Kansas City behind a solid outing from Jack Leiter and 3 more homers. The first of those homers came from the red-hot Joe Barker, who blasted a 2-run shot (#5) in the first inning. After KC got a run back the game stood 2-1 through 5 innings before the Rays started breaking it open. Bobby Witt Jr, who had a 3-hit night, doubled in a run in the 6th and Jhon Diaz brought him home with a triple to make it 4-1, and in the 7th Ricky Widmar (#1) and Dayle Jenkins (#2) went back-to-back before Witt added a run with an RBI single. Leiter meanwhile wasn't his absolute sharpest, going 6 4 1 1 4 4 with a hit batter but it was more than good enough to get him his first win of the season. Malachi Benford came on and walked two with two out in the 7th, so David Saldana came in. Saldana got him out of the inning, had a rough 8th with 2 runs allowed on 3 hits, but stayed on for the 9th and struck out the side in a 1-2-3 inning. It seems like the bullpen might be an adventure this year. Game 3: Former Ray Triston Casas had another huge day against his old team and Blake Money was worthless today in a 10-5 loss as the Rays dropped their first series of the season. Money was hit for 6 runs in the first 3 innings and although he pulled a Jon Hayes and struck out the side in his final inning of work he still finished an atrocious 4 7 6 6 3 6, putting the Rays in a hole out of which they were never going to climb. Casas did most of the damage, with a 2-run HR in the 1st, an RBI double in the 2nd and a 2-run double in the 6th, giving him a 5-RBI day and continuing his ludicrous start to the season which sees him with 5 HR and 16 RBI in 35 AB over 8 games. The other guy acquired in that Bobby Witt Jr deal, Hunter Bishop, also drove in 3 runs with a pair of doubles. Malachi Benford came in and got the Royals 1-2-3 in his first inning, but got torched for 4 runs in his 2nd, while Evan Godwin and Mike Mooney at least acquitted themselves well with a scoreless inning apiece. The bulk of the offense came from Carlos Perez, who hit a pair of homers and drove in three against yet another former Ray, Daniel Lynch. Ricky Widmar and Dayle Jenkins had RBI singles in the 8th. Team record: 7-3. Next up: An off-day then we travel to Cincinnati for 3. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-31-2021 at 12:54 PM.

01-31-2021, 01:28 PM	#625
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	Minor League Opening Day It was opening day for the Rays AAA, AA, A+ and A affiliates today. AAA Durham: An incredible game and incredible comeback as the Bulls overcame a 7-0 deficit to win 9-7 in the most dramatic fashion as Mike Lammers hit his 3rd homer of the game (yes, 3 homers), a 3-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 9th. Lammers had 4 hits in total and drove in 7 of the 9 runs with the other 2 coming on a Caleb Picciotti double. The news wasn't all good, though: Gil Wayne, one of our top pitching prospects, pitched 2 scoreless innings in his AAA debut but on his last pitch tore his triceps and will miss most of the rest of the season (late August return date). Our top prospect, 2B Jaiden Hardaway, had a nice game in his AAA debut as he was on base 4 times in 5 trips with 2 walks and 2 singles. AA Montgomery: The Biscuits' game against Chattanooga featured a number of premium prospects. Chris Martin, the #1 overall pick in the 2029 draft and the #1-rated prospect by BNN got the start for the Lookouts and lived up to billing with a 6.2 5 1 1 0 5 performance in a 3-1 loss for Montgomery. #8 and #13 prospects Bo Angeac and Omar Rodriguez started to the Biscuits, Angeac going 0-4 and Omar 1-4 with a double off Martin. A+ Port Charlotte: The Stone Crabs fell 4-0 to Palm Beach. Nothing of note to report except starter Mike Kester left after two batters with a herniated disc and will miss 5 weeks. A Bowling Green: The Hot Rods fell 8-2 to Fort Wayne. #68 overall prospect Jon Jimenez had a double for Bowling Green. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-31-2021 at 01:52 PM.

01-31-2021, 02:54 PM	#626
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 12-14, 2030: at Cincinnati (3) Game 1: It was bad news all around as not only did the Rays lose to Cincinnati 3-2 on a 9th-inning walk-off for the Reds, but they lost Joe Barker for a month and a half with a broken hand. Barker, who was off to a red-hot start and had singled in his first at-bat, was hit by a Hugo Beltran pitch on his right hand in the 3rd and suffered the break. It will now be time for Rodolfo Rivas, the #45 prospect in baseball, to show his stuff. The rookie shares Barker's 40-HR power but not Barker's speed as he's a slow-as-molasses 20 runner, something we haven't had for a long, long time. As for the game the Rays wasted another great start from Christian Little. He allowed a base hit to lead off the game and then the #2 batter Robert Hassell III took him deep to center, but he gave up nothing after that and went 7 5 2 2 0 10. Little even had a double, but unfortunately he ended up out-hitting most of his teammates tonight as the Rays had both their runs in the 1st on a Ricky Widmar triple and Jasson Dominguez ground out, and then later a sac fly from Bobby Witt Jr. Jose Alvarado got the Reds in the 8th and stayed on in the 9th, gave up a 2-out single to Ryan Noda, who stole second, and with a righty due up and Alvarado on 25 pitches, JDLC came in. The Reds countered with a lefty pinch-hitter, and instead of putting him on with 1st base empty I pitched to the hitter who of course doubled in the winning run. So bad on me and JDLC. April 13: Placed 1B Joe Barker on the 10-day IL with a fractured hand, optioned P Malachi Benford to AAA Durham. Recalled 1B Rodolfo Rivas and P Tim Siqueiros from AAA Durham. Benford just can't seem to find any consistency in the bigs, mainly due to wildness, so we'll replace him with the power arm (80 stuff in relief) of Siqueiros, who isn't exactly known for his control either. Game 2: Unbelievable. For the second straight night, Emmanuel Guiterrez walked it off for the Reds, as the Rays bullpen continues to be a time bomb this year. The final was 5-2 as Guiterrez drilled a 2-out, 3-run homer off Mike Mooney to give Cincinnati the win and for the second straight day they wasted a brilliant outing from a starter. Today it was Alec Sachais who had nothing to show for a 7 3 1 1 1 10 outing. The Rays led 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, and Evan Godwin had pitched a fine 8th with 2 Ks. JDLC, who's been basically unreliable since mid-season last year, walked the first two batters, gave up a single to the third batter to tie it up, and with a lefty due was pulled for Mooney, who got a double play to put a man on 3rd with 2 out. With a righty due up and 1st base open, I wasn't going to make the mistake I made yesterday and intentionally walked him so the lefty Mooney could face the lefty Gutierrez. And we know what happened from there. Of course all of this could have been moot had the offense scored its customary # of runs but they were held to 2 runs and 6 hits with both scores coming in the 5th when Ricky Widmar tripled in a run and scored on Jasson Dominguez's sac fly. Rodolfo Rivas made his MLB debut and went 0-4, but he twice reached on errors. The loss is now the team's 3rd straight and 4th in 5 games, and as a result Toronto with a win today has climbed into a first-place tie with them at 7-5. Game 3: Jon Hayes pitched like the ace he was in Minnesota, the Rays got just enough hitting, and for once they survived the 9th-inning drama in a 4-2 win over the Reds to salvage the final game of the series. Hayes was brilliant, except for a brief sequence in the 5th when he allowed two walks and a single for a Cincinnati run, finishing 7.2 5 1 1 2 6. Andy Aparicio got him out of the 8th, but ran into trouble in the 9th after Jasson Dominguez dropped a fly ball and he gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases. And who should Cincinnati send up than Emmanuel Gutierrez, who delivered walk-off hits the last two nights? Jose Alvarado was summoned this time and he got Gutierrez on a fly ball which brought home a run, but after a walk re-loaded the bases Alvarado got the final 2 outs to nail down the save, his 3rd of the year as he's probably our closer now until and unless JDLC figures things out. Hayes picked up his first win. The offense came primarily from two guys: Dominguez singled in the Rays' first run in the 1st inning and then broke the 1-1 tie in the 6th with an RBI double. And Connor Kirkley supplied the big blow of the game, a 2-run HR in that 6th inning, his 1st of the year. This at least gave the Rays some margin for error unlike the previous two nights. Rodolfo Rivas got his first big league hit, a single to center in the 8th. Team record: 8-5. Next up: The road trip continues with two in Baltimore which are sandwiched around an off-day. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-31-2021 at 09:29 PM.

01-31-2021, 11:37 PM	#627
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 15-17, 2030: at Baltimore (2) Game 1: Another come-from-ahead loss in which the offense was pedestrian by Rays standards as they fell to Baltimore 5-3. The Rays had taken a 3-0 lead on an RBI single from Nate Clark in the 1st and a 2-run HR by Clark (#4) in the 3rd. Jack Leiter was rolling, two-hitting the Orioles through 4 2/3 innings. Then he suddenly lost it, giving up a hit, and homer and another homer before getting the final out of the 5th and it was 3-3. And in the 6th he went walk-single-single for a run to start off the inning and departed 5 8 4 4 1 5. Corbin Martin came on and got him out of the inning without further damage, but then gave up a double with one out in the 7th which Evan Godwin allowed to score. And meanwhile the offense completely dried up after Clark's homer in the 3rd as Kevin Abel held them to 8 6 3 3 2 3 with a couple of double play balls to kill budding rallies. They've only scored 11 runs in their last 4 games and are now on a run where they've lost 5 out of 7. Losing Joe Barker hurts (Rodolfo Rivas is now 1-11) but he isn't keeping his teammates from hitting. Game 2: Last time out I called Blake Money "worthless" after a bad outing and that was a play on his name, not a nasty reaction. Well today the dollar was strong as he turned out his best outing of the young season, going 7 3 0 0 1 7 in a 7-0 Rays win. Don't let the scoreline fool you, though. Until the 9th inning this was more of the same recent Rays' inability to hit as it was 2-0 before a couple of homers broke it open, making Money's performance all the more valuable. They grabbed a second-inning lead when Bobby Witt Jr walked, stole second, went to third on Adley Rustchman's bad throw and then scored on a Griffin Canning wild pitch. Gabriel Moreno, whom the Orioles couldn't get out tonight (2-2 with 2 walks) homered to double the lead in the 5th but it was primarily on the back of Money, pitching in a hitter-friendly park. Andy Aparicio came on for the 8th and got a 1-2-3 2K inning, and then the bats finally awoke in the 9th after only managing 4 hits through 8. First, after a Jasson Dominguez infield single, Witt delivered a 2-run shot (#2) to double the lead again. Then after a couple of more Rays reached, Ricky Widmar hit his 2nd to make it 7-0. With the large lead, we saved Aparicio for another day and gave some work to Tim Siqueiros. And it was the full Tim Siqueiros experience as he walked two but struck out the side to end the game. Team record: 9-6. Next up: Back home to Publix Park for four games against the Yankees. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-01-2021 at 09:51 AM.

02-01-2021, 10:43 AM	#628
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 18-21, 2030: vs NY Yankees (4) Game 1: This game did not get off to a very good start for the Rays as Derek Crum took Christian Little deep to lead off the game and Little gave up another run in the 2nd on 3 hits. Meanwhile, Yankee phenom pitcher Eric Peterson 2-hit the Rays through the first 5 innings. But in the 6th the Rays strung together 4 straight hits to score two runs and tie it after Little had settled down, and in the 7th they got a leadoff solo HR from Jhon Diaz (#3) and a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#5) to take a 6-2 win over New York. After the early struggles Little turned in a vintage Christian Little performance, going 7 5 2 2 1 10. Evan Godwin got 2 outs in the 8th before giving up a triple with Vlad Jr due, so Corbin Martin came in and looked like the electric reliever we thought he'd be by striking out Vlad and getting two more whiffs in a perfect 9th to finish the game off. Gabriel Moreno continued to wield a hot bat with 2 more hits today to up his average to .375 with 3 HR and 8 RBI as we say "Keibert who?", but on the other side of the ledger Rodolfo Rivas was 0-4 again and is off to a brutal 1-19 start in the majors. He did lose a shot at his first RBI when Clark was thrown out at the plate on his fly ball in the 6th. Game 2: For a change the bullpen picked up the starter today, and Rodolfo Rivas picked a fine time to hit his first major league homer as the Rays made it 2 straight over the Yankees with a 4-2 win. Alec Sachais got the start but was far from his sharpest, and although he left ahead 3-0 in the 6th he left with men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Evan Godwin came in to face the lefty Joe Allen and gave up a double to score the runners, but whiffed 4 of the next 5 men faced, Andy Aparicio got 4 up, 4 down to get through the 8th, and we held our breath and turned to Jasseel De La Cruz to pitch the 9th. There was definitely a feeling of "here we go again" when he allowed a leadoff single to Miguel Sano but he got the next 3 batters for his first save since opening day. Sachais went to 3-0 despite a pedestrian 5 5 2 2 3 2 line. Offensively it was another subpar performance but it was enough. They picked up 2 runs in the 1st on RBI singles from Jasson Dominguez and Bobby Witt Jr with help from a Yankee error, Jhon Diaz singled in a run in the 3rd, and then right after the Yankees pulled within 3-2 Rivas went deep the opposite way down the RF line and put one in the Publix Park seats to give the team some much-needed insurance. Game 3: After some early hiccups Jon Hayes was excellent again and the Rays clawed out a 3-2 win over the Yankees to make it three straight in the series and four in a row overall. Hayes had a rough first inning which included two triples allowed and saw the Yankees score both their runs, but was locked in after that and was only in trouble at the very end in the 7th when he gave up a Jo Adell double with 2 out and then a single on which Adell tried to score but was thrown out at the plate by Jhon Diaz. Hayes ended 7 8 2 2 0 9 to win his second straight start. Once again it was a struggle on offense and once again they did just enough. Connor Kirkley led off the 3rd with his 2nd HR of the year and three singles later in the inning, with the last one coming from Rodolfo Rivas (who had a 2-hit game), tied the game at 2. And in the 6th Bobby Witt Jr led off with a double and came around to score on a D'Andre Hodges sac fly as the rookie got a rare start. Jose Alvarado was dominant in the 8th, whiffing 2 around a single, and for the second straight day JDLC came in to close things out and he had a 1-2-3 9th for save #3 as he may be over his early-season yips. April 21: Activated P Jordan Diaz from the 15-day IL, optioned P Tim Siqueiros to AAA Durham. Game 4: Despite the best efforts of the bullpen to blow the game, the Rays came away with a 7-6 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th to sweep the 4-game series and extend their winning streak to 5. With the game tied at 6, Ricky Widmar led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, went to third on Dayle Jenkins' double and Nate Clark singled off Yankee closer Mike Tudor to bring home Widmar with the winning run. This was after Andy Aparicio, who can hit 102 on the gun, gave up a 3-run homer to (relative) banjo hitter Cade Horton in the 8th, who had all of 7 last season to allow the Yankees to tie it up. Before that the Rays had built a 6-3 lead on four homers: Ricky Widmar's 3rd to lead off the game, a 2-run shot from Isaac DeLeon (#3) in the 3rd, Dane Ayers' 1st of the year with a man on in the 4th, and Rodolfo Rivas' 2nd in 3 days in the 6th. This backed the 13-strikeout effort of Jack Leiter, who allowed 3 runs on 2 Yankee HRs among the five hits and one walk he had in 6 innings as the ball was flying out of Publix Park like it did in the first week of the season. Corbin Martin got two outs in the 7th but walked a pair before Mike Mooney got him out of that, and Mooney put a man on with two out in the 8th. Enter Aparicio, and after he walked a man to bring the tying run to the plate he served his gopher ball to Horton. Jose Alvarado took over with one out in the 9th and put two men on of his own, but got out of it and ended up with his 1st win of the season after the walk-off rally. Rivas is finally coming around - including the homer he was 3-3 today with a walk. Team record: 13-6 (10-1 at Publix Park). Next up: An off-day then Minnesota comes to town for 3. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-01-2021 at 05:41 PM.

02-01-2021, 10:13 PM	#629
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 23-25, 2030: vs Minnesota (3) Game 1: The Rays battled back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-4 win over the Twins, the team's 6th straight victory. Blake Money started, and although he pitched decently he gave up back-to-back homers in the 4th to none other than Chris Sharp (his first of the season as he came in struggling at .208) and Julio Rodriguez. He stuck around long enough for win #3 with a 6 4 3 2 3 5 performance. Jordan Diaz pitched for the first time since opening week with a perfect inning and Andy Aparicio followed likewise in the 8th. With the score 5-3, we turned once again to JDLC to close it out, and hoo boy it was an adventure again. He gave up a leadoff homer and two more hits, but managed to get out of it for save #4. Offensively the comeback began as soon as Minnesota went up 3-0 with a Rodolfo Rivas sac fly and Isaac DeLeon RBI single cutting the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the 4th. A Jasson Dominguez sac fly tied it in the 5th and Ricky Widmar went deep off Zac Gallen leading off the 6th with #4 to give the Rays the lead, and a Gallen wild pitch gave them another run later in the inning, a run which would prove to be decisive. Game 2: The Rays keep on rolling as they downed the Twins 7-4 to make it 7 straight wins and improve their record to 12-1 at Publix Park. Nate Clark was the star today, driving in the Rays' first four runs on a pair of homers (#6 and #7) and a sac fly, with his second homer breaking a 3-3 tie in the 6th. The Rays tacked on 3 more in the 8th on a 2-run Jhon Diaz single and an RBI single from Connor Kirkley. Christian Little started and went to 4-0, 2.81 with a 6 3 3 3 2 10 outing that saw him yield a pair of homers and twice lose the lead before Clark got him the win after he left. Evan Godwin was great for 1 1/3 and Jordan Diaz got 2 outs in the 8th. With the lead expanded to 7-3, David Saldana came in and got some work but gave up a homer and put another man on with two out so Andy Aparicio was summoned to face righty Royce Lewis, whom he whiffed to end the game and get save #1. Haven't mentioned the standings much so far, but for a frame of reference the Rays are 3 up on Toronto with the Red Sox, Yankees and Orioles all 4 games under .500 or worse. Game 3: Alec Sachais was masterful and Dane Ayers had a career day as the Rays beat the Twins 4-1 to sweep the series (and the homestand) and extend their winning streak to 8. Sachais went 7 7 1 1 1 11 with the lone run coming on a Chris Sharp homer in the 1st inning (the normally homer-prone Sachais has only allowed 2 in 31 innings so far), and went to 4-0, 2.61 and is now 32-7 in his MLB career. He left with two on and nobody out in the 8th after an Isaac DeLeon error and a walk, but Corbin Martin came in and got the next three batters to preserve a 3-1 lead at the time. After it went to 4-1 Martin stayed in about got the side 1-2-3 in the 9th to pick up only the 2nd save in his 10-year career. Ayers, meanwhile, led the offense with a 4-4 day driving in a pair of runs including the tiebreaker in the 4th on a double and the insurance run in the 8th. In his limited playing time (19 AB), he's now hitting .526. Bobby Witt Jr had an RBI single in the 1st to tie the game and extend his hitting streak to 13, and Carlos Perez had an RBI single to drive in Ayers in the 4th as several regulars got a rest today yet the bench came through. Team record: 16-6. Next up: The Rays hit the road, where they'll look to do better than the 3-5 on their first road trip of the season. The action starts in Chicago where they play the White Sox in a 4-game weekend wrap-around series. Despite losing 10-0 today Chicago is off to an impressive 15-8 start so it will be a challenge. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-02-2021 at 09:22 AM.

02-02-2021, 10:03 AM	#630
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 26-29, 2030: at Chicago White Sox (4) Game 1: A scoreless game into the 6th inning turned into an 8-2 Rays win after White Sox starter Mike Daniel lost the plate and the Rays ended up scoring 7 times to extend the winning streak to 9. Until the 6th Daniel was baffling Rays hitters, holding them to 2 hits and one walk. But Gabriel Moreno led the inning off with a single, Daniel walked the next two, and Nate Clark's sac fly made it 1-0. Daniel whiffed Jasson Dominguez but gave up an RBI single to Bobby Witt Jr (extending his hitting streak to 14) then issued two more walks with Isaac DeLeon's forcing in a run, Connor Kirkley singled in a run, and then Daniel walked Moreno to force in another run. He got the long-overdue hook, but then Ricky Widmar singled in two more to make it 7-0. Rodolfo Rivas added an RBI double in the 7th. Jon Hayes started and won his third straight start after two clunkers to start his Rays career, going 6 6 1 1 1 4. David Saldana pitched the final 3, allowing a run on 4 hits to grab his first career MLB save. Dude, your timing is terrible: Game 2: The Rays had their 9-game winning streak snapped in a tough loss at Guaranteed Rate Field 4-3. They had plenty of baserunners couldn't manage to get them home in large part due to an uncharacteristic 15 strikeouts from Rays batters today. Trailing by a run, they had a pair of men on in both the 8th and 9th with 0 or 1 out but couldn't get them home, and a Connor Kirkley error in the 5th opened the door for a pair of RBI singles off Jack Leiter that put the White Sox ahead to stay. Things got off to a good start when Ricky Widmar led off the game with HR #5 and Nate Clark followed with #8 to give them a quick 2-0 lead, but they had 2 more on in the inning and couldn't drive them in, which was an omen for the rest of the game. The one hit they did get with RISP was in the 4th when Widmar singled in a run to put them up 3-1. Leiter was battling runners all game long but pitched OK, going 6.2 8 4 2 3 6 and Evan Godwin was brilliant in relief striking out 3 of the 4 hitters he faced. But the lack of the big hit doomed them. Bobby Witt Jr did get an 8th-inning single to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Game 3: It was a strange game which saw the Rays not even get a baserunner until the 5th inning and only manage 2 hits through 7 innings yet one they won 9-4. They were befuddled by White Sox starter Danny Knight until Bobby Witt Jr. led off the 5th with a triple, extending his hitting streak to 16 games. Jasson Dominguez's sac fly scored Witt to tie the game at 1 and in the 6th Knight walked two men in front of Rodolfo Rivas, who hit an opposite-field homer just inside the RF foul pole to make it 4-1 Rays. But Blake Money, who had been pitching well through 5, got into trouble, allowing a run and leaving two on with nobody out. Corbin Martin came in and was great, striking out 3 in the inning but the third one came on a wild pitch and the White Sox got another run to make it 4-3. And Evan Godwin, normally homer-prone but yet to allow one this season, regressed to the mean by allowing Collin Montez's 2nd of the game to tie the score in the 7th (there was no way we were getting through a White Sox series without Montez homering against us). But in the 8th Ricky Widmar extended his own hitting streak to 11 with a single, stole second, and then scored on a Dayle Jenkins homer, the 3rd of the year for the second-year man who had gotten off to a quiet start. Rivas then followed two batters later with his second dinger of the game to make it 7-4, doubling his total for the year coming in, and the rally continued with a 2-run single from Dominguez. Jordan Diaz took over in the 8th and loaded the bases for lefty slugger AJ Austin, so Jose Alvarado came in and whiffed him. To save Alvarado with a 5-run lead in the 9th, Mike Mooney came on and struck out the side to end the game. Game 4: Don't think anybody had Christian Little giving up 8 runs on 3 HRs in 4 1/3 innings on their bingo card, but that's what happened in an 8-5 loss to the White Sox, making the Rays a mediocre 5-7 on the road this season. Little gave up a 3-run HR to Collin Montez in the first inning (of course) after walking a man and hitting another, and then served up a grand slam to Arturo Jimenez in the 2nd before yielding another one to Jimenez in the 5th. David Saldana and Corbin Martin combined to mop up the final 3 2/3 but after coming back in the middle innings the bats ran out of gas in the final 3. Both Ricky Widmar (who took a 9th-inning walk in his last chance) and Bobby Witt Jr failed to keep their hitting streaks alive. Most of the offense came from Nate Clark, who provided a 2-run double and a sac fly. Isaac DeLeon had an RBI double but foolishly got himself thrown out at 3rd when it was 7-0, and Jasson Dominguez hit his first HR in a while (#5) in the 6th to give us the final scoreline. Team record: 18-8. Next up: The road trip continues with 3 in Boston. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-02-2021 at 03:51 PM.

02-02-2021, 05:22 PM	#631
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	April 30-May 2, 2030: at Boston (3) Game 1: The Rays visited Fenway to face the only AL East team they've yet to play this season and came away with a 15-4 blowout win. It was a 3-3 game after 4 with a pair of Eric Knatz homers off Alec Sachais offsetting a 2-run Dayle Jenkins double and a run off a wild pitch. But in the 5th the Rays exploded for 8 runs off Alex Santos and Bobby Carman, first on a 3-run HR from Bobby Witt Jr (#3) and then on a grand slam from Gabriel Moreno (#4) that went over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street. They tacked on four more in the 7th which included a 2-run shot from Jasson Dominguez (#6). Jenkins ended up with a 4-hit, 3-RBI with a pair of doubles, Rodolfo Rivas was 3-4, and Moreno had 3 hits including the slam. Sachais was quite good after the two early homers, leaving a man on in the 7th who scored after he left the game as he improved to 5-0, 3.11 with a 6.2 7 4 4 0 9 line. Mike Mooney went the final 2 1/3 to wrap things up. After a rough 1-19 start to his MLB career, Rivas has been on fire going 17-39 with 4 HR and 9 RBI in his last 11 games. Game 2: Two nights in Boston, two 11-run wins as the Rays blasted Boston again 11-0. Jon Hayes was so masterful tonight (7 3 0 0 2 8) that he didn't allow a runner past first base the entire night. He's now 4-2 and his ERA dips to 2.75. And Jasseel De La Cruz got some work in, pitching the final two innings in perfect fashion with a pair of whiffs so the Red Sox did not manage a single runner in scoring position. Meanwhile the Rays were in scoring position when they entered the batter's box tonight and it started in the 1st with a 2-run HR by Nate Clark (#9), giving him 27 RBI and putting him among the league leaders. The game was broken open with a 5-run 2nd which saw RBI singles from Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins and Bobby Witt Jr and capped off with a 2-run double from Rodolfo Rivas. Connor Kirkley had a sac fly and Widmar another RBI single in the 7th, and the red-hot Rivas completed a perfect night at the plate with a 2-run HR (#5) for the final 2 runs. Rivas ended up 3-3 with the HR, 4 RBI, a walk and a hit-by-pitch, now making him 20-42 with 5 HR and 13 RBI in his last 12. Joe Barker isn't going to be Wally Pipped in 3-4 weeks but I could see a scenario where he DHs, Clark moves to LF and Jenkins moves over to RF taking ABs away from Jhon Diaz, who's 212/297/362 in the early going. Trade time: Baker, our supplemental 1st rounder in 2026, is a polished lefty starter in his 2nd year at Durham who should be pitching in the majors now, but as usual there's no room at the inn. Hopefully Cincinnati will put him on the MLB roster. Flores has a decent arm, but is a bit homer-prone so it didn't break my heart to give him up. That's because the return is Medina, the 14th-ranked prospect by BNN and the #4 overall pick in 2028. For some reason the Reds put him on the MLB roster at one point which is probably why they were willing to part with him. He's been used in relief at AA but I'm going to put him back in the rotation at Montgomery. This is what he looks like under the hood and what Metzler has to say about him: Game 3: The tables were turned tonight as the Red Sox jumped out to a big early lead and went on beat the Rays 6-2. Jack Leiter had the roughest of starts, giving up a double to lead off the game which scored, and then after giving up another leadoff double in the 2nd put another man and gave up a 3-run HR before still another run scored after Carlos Perez's throwing error. And the bats didn't respond to being in a 5-0 hole early, with only a couple of RBI hits from Perez getting runs in. Leiter settled down after those rocky first 2 innings to go 5 6 5 4 2 6, David Saldana pitched 2 innings and allowed a run and Corbin Martin had a scoreless inning. Ricky Widmar's 17-game streak of scoring a run came to an end, as did the hot hitting of Rodolfo Rivas who was 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. Team record: 20-9. Next up: The road trip continues a little farther south and west in New York to play the Yankees for a 3-game weekend set. The Bombers are off to a brutal 9-18 start which wasn't helped by us sweeping 4 from them in Publix Park a couple of weeks back. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-02-2021 at 09:17 PM.

02-03-2021, 08:27 AM	#632
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 3-5, 2030: at NY Yankees (3) Game 1: The Rays wasted Blake Money's best start of the year and were shut out by Deivi Garcia and the Yankees 4-0 to drop to 7-9 on the road this season. In his second tour of duty with the Yankees, Garcia had his best start of the year as well, holding the Rays to 7 4 0 0 3 9. Money was 6 3 1 1 2 7, allowing only a Tyree Reed homer in the 2nd but it was for naught as naught is what the bats did. Jasson Dominguez and Rodolfo Rivas were particularly bad at the plate today, each going 0-4 with 3 whiffs. The bullpen was terrible as well, with Jordan Diaz allowing a run in the 7th and Andy Aparicio two more in the 8th. The Rays' division lead is now down to 1 1/2 over Toronto. Game 2: The Rays were one out away from another dispiriting loss, trailing 3-2 in large part due to an Ivan Vega inside-the-park homer for the Yankees. But down to their last at-bat DeAndre Hodges picked the most opportune time to hit his first MLB homer off Yankee closer Mike Tudor and tie the game and thanks to solid work from the pen and massive wildness from Yankee reliever Darwinzon Hernandez, they took an 8-3 win in 12 innings. Christian Little, coming off one of the worst starts of his career, got off to another bad start, walking a man and then allowing Vega to circle the bases after hitting one into the RF corner that eluded Jhon Diaz and rolled around the outfield wall. That seemed to anger Little, who then went on a tear, striking out Yankees left and right and not allowing another hit through the 5th. Meanwhile the Rays had picked up solo homers from Dayle Jenkins (#4) and Connor Kirkley (#3) to tie the game. But Vega struck again as Little was running out of gas in the 6th and his RBI double put the Yankees back ahead as Little finished 6 4 3 3 1 10. After Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 7th, the Rays had a golden chance in the 8th to tie it up or take the lead but Nate Clark hit into a 6-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to end that threat. Corbin Martin had a 1-2-3 8th and that set the stage for Hodges' dramatic homer. But there was still work to do, and Jordan Diaz got through the 9th OK but ran into trouble in the 10th, putting two on with two out. Evan Godwin came in and got the final out, pitched a 1-2-3 11th and in the 12th the Rays finally broke through. Hernandez actually got the first two batters out but he proceeded to walk the next 5 Rays, including Isaac DeLeon and pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno with the bases loaded. And then Diaz hit a 2-run single, breaking out of his slump with his 3rd hit of the day, and Kirkley singled in another as well. With a low pitch count through his 1 1/3, Godwin stayed on and got the Yankees in the 12th, picking up his 2nd win with 2 1/3 scoreless on only 19 pitches. The Blue Jays won again (off to an impressive 19-11 start) to stay 1 1/2 back. Game 3: No late-inning heroics needed today as the Rays pounded the Yankees 11-1 behind the strong pitching of Alec Sachais and a strong offense. Sachais was in control with a healthy lead for most of the game, going 7.1 4 1 0 2 3 and improving to 6-0, 2.60. Mike Mooney went the final 1 2/3 to wrap it up. The offense came fairly early today with the big blow a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#10) in the 3rd inning, and they added 4 more in the 5th to really open it up on RBI outs from Clark and Bobby Witt Jr and a 2-run HR from Rodolfo Rivas (#6). The lead later grew with RBI hits from Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins, Dane Ayers and Rivas. The win now gets them to .500 on the road at 9-9, and with Toronto being shut out in Pittsburgh the lead is up to 2 1/2. Team record: 22-10. Next up: An off-day then finally back to Publix Park to take on the Orioles in a 3-game series to start a homestand. And for his troubles, Dayle Jenkins gets AL Player of the Week: Last edited by Art Deco; 02-03-2021 at 02:34 PM.

02-03-2021, 03:49 PM	#633
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 7-9, 2030: vs Baltimore (3) Game 1: The Rays continue to rack up the wins at their new home field as they came from behind to beat Baltimore 4-3 to improve to 14-1 at Publix Park. Jhon Diaz's 2-out RBI single in the 8th scored Jasson Dominguez with what proved to be the winning run, and Andy Aparicio, who came on in the 8th to get Jose Alvarado out of a bases-loaded jam, had to get out of his own jam after putting two on with two out for Adley Rustchman. But AA whiffed the superstar catcher to end the game and pick up his first win of the season. Jon Hayes got the start and wasn't very good at the outset, allowing runs in each of the first 3 innings (including HRs to Rutschman and ex-Ray Yusniel Diaz) but settled in to go 7 6 3 3 1 5. The Rays answered the two Oriole homers with a pair of their own from Rodolfo Rivas (#7) and Jasson Dominguez (#7) to get within 3-2, and then Dominguez hit his 2nd of the game and 8th of the year in the 6th to even it up, before reaching on an error in the 8th and scoring on the Diaz single. Toronto split yesterday and today in Philadelphia so the lead grows to 3. MLB Note: Seattle's Kannon Handy threw a 1-hit shutout against Oakland, and the remarkable thing was that he did it on 78 pitches (!). He walked none and only struck out 3. Game 2: No need to come from behind today as the Rays walloped the Orioles 13-4. Rodolfo Rivas was the man again, hitting a pair of homers and driving in 3, and also walking twice as he's up to 345/417/714 with 9 HR in 84 AB. Nate Clark had an RBI double and a 2-run HR to give him 11 HR and 34 RBI already, Gabriel Moreno drove in 3, and Dayle Jenkins drove in a pair to pace the offense. Jack Leiter pitched very well early although he tired in the 6th, allowing 3 hits and ending with a 5.1 9 2 2 0 6 line to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Corbin Martin pitched the final 3 2/3 for save #2 and although he allowed a 2-run HR he walked 0 and whiffed 7 giving him 22 Ks in 14 2/3 innings since joining the team. The Rays gained further ground on Toronto thanks to a pair of old friends with the Phillies. Judson Fabian was 3-4 with a HR and 4 RBI and Mack Anglin pitched 7 strong innings in a 10-2 Philadelphia win over the Jays. As predicted, Anglin is flourishing with Philly and is now 4-1, 1.93. Perhaps the most bizarre linescore I've seen happened today: Game 3: The Rays tried valiantly to come back but fell short, losing 6-5 to the Orioles and for only the second time in 17 games at Publix Park. Blake Money was awful tonight, putting them in a 6-2 hole after the Rays took an early 2-0 lead. He gave up HRs to Yusniel Diaz (of course) and Ryder Green and went 3.2 8 6 6 0 5. David Saldana, Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney did great work going a combined 5 1/3 scoreless and it was almost enough to get the Rays back into it. They grabbed a 2-0 lead off Baltimore ace Kevin Abel (now 7-0) on RBI singles from Connor Kirkley and Ricky Widmar, and then they added an RBI triple by Jhon Diaz in the 5th to cut the lead to 6-3 but couldn't get Diaz home. Abel wasn't great (5 8 3 3 3 7), but Roaldo Carajval was as he no-hit them for 2 2/3. The Rays rallied against closer Benvenuto Patitucci in the 9th as Dayle Jenkins walked and Nate Clark tripled him home, but Jasson Dominguez and Bobby Witt Jr struck out before Rodolfo Rivas doubled in Clark to make it 6-5. But Diaz whiffed as well and that was the game. The Blue Jays won so the lead is back down to 3. Team record: 24-11. Next up: The homestand continues with Cleveland coming to town for 3 over the weekend. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-03-2021 at 11:14 PM.

02-04-2021, 08:59 AM	#634
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 10-12, 2030: vs Cleveland (3) Game 1: Judging by the score, it looked like a pitchers' duel between Christian Little and Luis Castillo as the Rays edged Cleveland 2-1. But it was more of a LOB duel as both pitchers put a number of runners on but the teams couldn't capitalize on them. Fortunately for the Rays, Nate Clark capitalized twice on RBI singles in the 3rd and 5th as part of a 3-hit day. Little was better than his previous few outings, which had seen his ERA balloon in the neighborhood of 4.50, going 6 7 1 1 1 7 and improving to 5-1. The Rays had 10 baserunners off Castillo in his 6 innings but outside of Clark couldn't do much. The bullpen was solid, especially Evan Godwin. After Andy Aparicio put two on with two out in the 7th, Godwin got Cleveland's lefty slugger Austin Hendrick to line out to center to end that threat and was great through the 8th, striking out a pair as he continues to have one of his best season starts. Jose Alvarado came on for the 9th and struck out the leadoff man who reached on a wild pitch, but then had to leave with back spasms giving him a bizarre 0 0 0 0 0 1 line. Jasseel De La Cruz relieved him and whaddya know, he got Cleveland 1-2-3 with a whiff for save #5. Alvarado's injury was minor and he won't miss any time. Toronto won so they remain 3 behind. Game 2: The Rays hung on for another one-run win at home, topping Cleveland 6-5 behind another big game from Nate Clark. Clark broke a 3-3 tie with a 2-run HR in the 2nd and then added what turned out to be the margin of victory with a solo shot in the 5th to give him 13 HR, tying him for the AL lead with former Ray Triston Casas. Alec Sachais got off to the roughest of starts, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in the first inning but ended up giving Cleveland very little after that and is now 7-0 after going 7 8 3 3 1 9. The bullpen made it an adventure though as Evan Godwin, whom I praised yesterday, didn't have it today and left with a run in and 2 on in the 8th, only for Jose Alvarado to give up an RBI double to cut it to 6-5 and put men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. But Alvarado got a whiff and got out of it and followed that up with a 1-2-3 9th to get his 4th save. After Sachais gave up the 3 runs in the top of the 1st the Rays answered right back in the bottom of the frame to score 3 of their own on RBI singles by Jasson Dominguez and Isaac DeLeon and a bases-loaded walk to Jhon Diaz. DeLeon had just been put into the game when Bobby Witt Jr injured his shoulder on a throw. Witt's going to be DtD for a week and with DeLeon a more-than-capable replacement Witt will probably just sit for the week. We were also treated to the sight of a Rodolfo Rivas triple. Yes, you read that right, he tripled when he went the opposite way into the RF corner and Cleveland had him shaded to pull. Even the play-by-play noted the incongruity of a 20 runner like Rivas getting a triple by saying "believe it or not". The Blue Jays lost so the lead grows to 4. Game 3: Another one-run thriller, another one-run Rays win at Publix Park. Like in Game 1 the Rays came out on top 2-1 but this time it really was a pitchers' duel especially on the part of Jon Hayes who was dominant today. Hayes went 7.2 4 1 1 1 12 with the only damage a homer in the 7th from former Rays farmhand Jordan Evangelista (part of the Daniel Espino deal a few years back). He's now 5-2, 2.66 after two rough starts to begin his Rays career and is pitching like the ace he was advertised to be. Andy Aparicio came on in the 8th with a man on, gave up a single, but got a big whiff of Cleveland slugger Austin Hendrick and stayed on through the 9th despite allowing a 2-out double to pick up save #2. The bats only managed 4 hits but squeaked out the two runs on a Ricky Widmar RBI double (another old friend, Julio Cedillo, threw Connor Kirkley out at home on the play), and a wild pitch in the 6th. Another Blue Jay loss has expanded the division lead to 5. Team record: 27-11. Next up: We hop on the plane to take a west coast road trip starting with 3 in Seattle. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-04-2021 at 02:14 PM.

02-04-2021, 04:56 PM	#635
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 13-15, 2030: at Seattle (3) Game 1: The Rays used three solo homers and a strong outing from Jack Leiter to defeat the Mariners 4-2 at T-Mobile Park. After Evan White's longball off Leiter put the M's up 1-0 in the 4th, Connor Kirkley equalized with #4 of the season in the 5th. The game stayed at 1-1 until the 7th when the Rays caught a break as Kirkley's grounder, which should have been a double play ball to end the inning, was thrown away allowing the go-ahead run to score. Leiter meanwhile made it through 7, going 7 6 1 1 1 5 on 104 pitches and evening his record at 3-3. Jasson Dominguez's 9th HR of the season made it 3-1 in the top of the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz came on in the bottom. He got the first 2 out but gave up White's second HR of the game to cut it to 3-2, making it 4 homers allowed in only 8 1/3 innings for JDLC. Jose Alvarado relieved him at that point, getting the final out of the 8th to go with a 1-2-3 9th to nail down save #5 as he's become the preferred 9th inning option unless key lefties are due up earlier. Isaac DeLeon's 4th HR in the 9th gave Alvarado a little more breathing room. Toronto won so the lead stays at 5. Game 2: I'm not sure how long this is sustainable but the Rays keep winning tight, low-scoring games and today was no exception in a 2-1 win. Blake Money was outstanding today against his old team, except for a homer allowed to Carlos Correa, his one bugaboo (he's allowed a whopping 10 dingers in 42 2/3 innings this year). Money went 6 4 1 1 2 7 to improve to 4-3, and in relief Evan Godwin was outstanding again, getting 5 outs. Jordan Diaz got the final out of the 8th, and Andy Aparicio was given the ball in the 9th and made it an adventure, allowing 2 hits to put men on 1st and 3rd with one out, but got a shallow fly ball and a grounder to end the game and get save #3. The less said about the offense the better, as they only managed 4 hits but did push across a pair of runs. Ricky Widmar singled to lead off the game, stole second and scored on a Jasson Dominguez single, and in the 6th the deadlock was broken when Nate Clark led off the inning with a triple and was brought home via Rodolfo Rivas's sac fly. The Blue Jays lost so the lead continues to grow, now at 6. Game 3: We just had Groundhog Day IRL and it seems to have infected this save as the Rays take yet another low-scoring, one-run game from Seattle, this time by the score of 3-2. Christian Little got the start and he looked pretty rough in the early going, like Blake Money he's had a problem with the longball this year and he gave up his 9th in 55 innings and for the second straight day it was Carlos Correa who homered for Seattle. But he shut it down after that and ended with a 7 5 2 2 0 10 night, looking like the Christian Little we've become accustomed to. He's now 6-1 and gets his ERA back below 4 at 3.90. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 2K 8th and has his ERA down to 0.63 (the man is ageless), and with Andy Aparicio unavailable I went back to JDLC for the save and he had a perfect inning with a whiff to get #6. So about the offense. It looked great through the first three innings, with Nate Clark singling in Dayle Jenkins who had doubled in the 1st, and they scored twice more in the 3rd on a Clark sac fly and an RBI single from Rodolfo Rivas. And they then stopped scoring. And stopped hitting. And stopped reaching base, as Seattle pitchers retired the final 19 Rays batters in order. Fortunately the pitching was strong enough to hold on, but man is this team is in an offensive funk except maybe for Clark. The good news is both that the hitting will come around and that Toronto lost again, so the lead is 7. Team record: 30-11. Next up: 4 games at The Big A in Anaheim. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-04-2021 at 09:50 PM.

02-05-2021, 12:03 AM	#636
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 16-19, 2030: at LA Angels (4) Game 1: The pitching staff continued on its roll and tonight the hitters held up their end (well at least a couple of 'em) as the Rays ended up shellacking the Angels 8-1 to make it 7 straight wins. Alec Sachais keeps on keepin' on, going to 8-0 with a 7 8 1 1 0 5 performance and lowering his ERA to 2.59. Corbin Martin shook off the rust to close the game out with two scoreless innings. On the offensive side of things, Gabriel Moreno snapped out of a recent slump with a huge night, hitting a 2-run double in the 3rd to get them on the board and a solo homer in the 7th (#5) as part of a 3-3, 4-run, 3-RBI game. Ricky Widmar drove in 4 runs with an RBI groundout, RBI single and 2-RBI double. All of this despite the Rasy going down in order in the first 2 innings to extend their streak to 25 straight batters retired before breaking out in the 3rd. Elsewhere, Toronto continues to circle the drain with another loss so the lead is now 8 games. It's still early, but we might not have a race again this season. May 17: Placed Bobby Witt Jr on the 10-day IL with a sore shoulder, retroactive to May 11, recalled 3B Mike Lammers from AAA Durham. Witt had already been out 5 days, but he just had a setback which will keep him out 5 more, hence the move and barring another setback he can be activated as soon as he's healthy. Lammers you may recall contributed nicely down the stretch and in the playoffs in 2028 when Witt was hurt back then. He spent all of 2029 at Durham and wasn't happy, hitting barely over .200 with moderate power but has snapped back this year and was 308/343/562 with 8 HR and 23 RBI, including that 3 HR, 7 RBI game on Opening Day. We'll give him a start or two. Game 2: After yesterday's 8-run interlude, we're back to our recent pattern of tight low-scoring games in which the Rays come out on top and today's 3-2 win over the Angels was another example. Jon Hayes continued his blistering-hot run going 7 5 2 2 1 9 with LA's two runs scoring on a bloop single and an infield single. He's 6-2, 2.65 having won six straight. Jordan Diaz had a scoreless 8th for a hold and Jose Alvarado grabbed save #6 with a 10-pitch 1-2-3 9th. The 3 runs they got off Shohei Ohtani were enough to win with Nate Clark singling with two out in the 1st, stealing second and scoring on Jasson Dominguez's RBI single. Then a lineup hunch paid off. I decided to give Dayle Jenkins a day off and give D'Andre Hodges a start and he came through with a 2-run HR in the 6th which turned out to be the game-winner. It was the 2nd HR of the year for the seldom-used OF after his first tied a game with the Yankees with 2 out in the 9th which the Rays went on to win in extras. While we've won 8 straight now, Toronto has lost its fourth in a row and the lead is 9 as they disappear further back in our rear-view mirror. Game 3: The bats came back to life, slugging 4 homers in an 8-4 win over the Angels that wasn't really that close and which extended the win streak to 9. Three guys who drove in early runs later homered to extend the lead: Dane Ayers' RBI single in the 2nd put them on the board and he later hit HR #2, Gabriel Moreno's sac fly that same inning made it 2-0, and he came through in the 4th with HR #6, and Rodolfo Rivas' 3rd inning RBI single was followed by a 2-run HR in the 7th (#10). Ricky Widmar also homered (#6), going back-to-back with Moreno in the 4th. Jack Leiter pitched a solid game (7 7 1 1 0 4) to go to 4-3, 3.35, Mike Mooney got some work in with a scoreless 8th and then there was David Saldana in the 9th. It looked like he'd follow Mooney with a scoreless inning after getting the first two Angels, but then he allowed 5 straight to reach on 4 hits and a walk with 3 runs in and Mike Trout due. It fell to JDLC to come in and he whiffed Trout to end the game and get a fairly easy save #7. Game 4: It looked like the win streak was over as the Rays trailed the Angels 4-1 after 7 and were being 4-hit by Keider Montero. But they're too good to be counted out and a 4-run rally in the 8th led the way to a 7-4 win as the winning streak reaches 10 (not the longest current streak in MLB though, St. Louis won its 15th straight today). In the 8th Carlos Perez doubled in Connor Kirkley, who had walked to lead off the inning, before scoring after 2 wild pitches to get within 4-3, and then with a man on Nate Clark went deep off Montero (whom the AI should have relieved) for #14 to give the Rays a 5-4 lead. And in the 9th Mike Lammers hit his first MLB HR of the season and then Kirkley went back-to-back with him for #5 to give the Rays some insurance. Before all that their only run was a first inning HR from D'Andre Hodges (#3). Blake Money started and wasn't very good, going 5 7 3 3 2 4 and fortunate not to have allowed more runs. Mike Mooney had a scoreless 6th but Corbin Martin got into 7th inning trouble by allowing 4 hits for a run after retiring the first two batters. He got the third out and ended up with his first Rays win as a result of the rally. Andy Aparicio had a 1-2-3 8th but gave up a leadoff 9th inning single to Mike Trout so Jose Alvarado came in with lefties due up and struck out a pair for save #7. Team record: 34-11. Next up: An off-day then back home for 3 vs Oakland (you'll have to ask the schedule maker why we didn't just stay out west and play them there). Last edited by Art Deco; 02-05-2021 at 02:35 PM.

02-05-2021, 03:40 PM	#637
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 21-23, 2030: vs Oakland (3) Game 1: OK, this was going to be the game they'd finally lose. They were down 7-2 to Oakland going to the bottom of the 8th. Even though they were putting runners on base all day and failing to bring them home (12 LOB in total), this was too big a hole to climb out of. Right? Wrong. The Rays scored 7 times in the bottom of the 8th to beat Oakland 9-7 and extend the winning streak to 11 games. The decisive blow was a grand slam HR from Connor Kirkley (#6) with 2 out in the inning after RBI singles from Nate Clark, Rodolfo Rivas and Isaac DeLeon. Before that, all they had to show for 15 baserunners through 7 innings were a couple of runs on sac flies from Dane Ayers and Gabriel Moreno. The primary reason they were in the hole, though, was another bad start from Christian Little who has been wildly inconsistent this year. He walked the first two batters of the game and then gave up a 3-run HR to former Rays property Billy Benedetto, and then in the 3rd allowed another homer to Benedetto with a man on. To cap it off he gave up a 3rd homer to Chris Robles and it was 6-2. Little finished 5 7 6 6 3 8 as his ERA jumps back up to 4.48 with 12 HR allowed in 60 IP this year (ouch). Corbin Martin got 4 outs in relief, and then David Saldana pitched through the 8th, allowing another run but like Martin the other day got his first win as a Ray when the big late rally came. Jordan Diaz got the first two outs of the 9th but put a man on, so Evan Godwin got his first save retiring the lefty Robles to end the game. MLB Notes: Bryce Harper hit his 600th career HR, and the Cardinals won again to make it 16 straight. May 22: Activated 3B Bobby Witt Jr from the 10-day IL, optioned 3B Mike Lammers to AAA Durham. Game 2: Another starting pitcher put them in an early hole, and once again they climbed out of it to make it 12 straight with a 7-4 win. Alec Sachais had a rough first two innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, but he hung in there to go 6 9 4 4 1 6 while the offense kept chipping away via the home run - five times to be precise. First Jasson Dominguez hit #10 in the 2nd and they added a run to cut the Oakland lead in half on a Nate Clark sac fly. Rodolfo Rivas (#11) and Bobby Witt Jr (#5, in his first came back off the IL) went back-to-back in the 4th to tie it up, and Clark hit #15, a 2-run shot to put the Rays ahead to stay. Clark now has 48 RBI and leads MLB. Isaac DeLeon added #5 in the 8th inning to give us the final tally. After Sachais left, Evan Godwin got two outs in the 7th before giving way to Andy Aparicio, who went the final 2 1/3 with three whiffs for save #4. Sachais is now an MLB-best 9-0 as his ERA ticked up to 2.91. Speaking of winning streaks, St. Louis continued theirs and are now at 17. Game 3: The streak is over, but not without another valiant comeback before they came up short in extras as Oakland took a 6-4 decision in 10 innings. Through 5 it was a 1-0 Rays lead on Nate Clark's 16th HR of the year and Jon Hayes was cruising. But with one out in the 6th inning, he walked a pair and gave up a 2-run double to Mark Vientos with Billy Benedetto following with a double of his own to make it 3-1 Oakland. Hayes made it through the 6th and ended 6 4 3 3 2 9. Jordan Diaz got through the 7th but Corbin Martin was greeted in the 8th by a Vientos homer which made it 4-1 and had to leave a couple batters later with back spasms. David Saldana got the final out of the 8th, and the Rays came to the plate with only 3 hits to show for the game. But Ricky Widmar doubled and Clark walked, bringing up Jasson Dominguez who blasted one to left center (#11) to tie the game. Jasseel De La Cruz took over and got a 1-2-3 9th but it turned out to be a mistake to bring him out for the 10th as he loaded the bases with nobody out on a walk, single and HBP. Jose Alvarado came in to face Benedetto but the Oakland LF managed a sac fly to give the A's the lead and Alvarado later gave up an RBI single. Although a 2-out Bobby Witt Jr single brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning, Jhon Diaz whiffed to end the game and end the 12-game win streak. Not ending their win streak was St. Louis, though, as they're now up to 18 after an 8-3 win over Arizona. Team record: 36-12. Next up: The Red Sox visit Publix Park for the first time to play 3 this weekend. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-05-2021 at 10:08 PM.

02-06-2021, 08:55 AM	#638
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 24-26, 2030: vs Boston (3) Time for a trade: Givens is someone I've had my eye on for a while now, at the moment he has 60 stuff and 60 movement with the potential for 70/65. Control at 45 is an issue but he's more of a power lefty than Saldana as you can see from their numbers above. Also Saldana being out of options kind of held me hostage to keeping him on the roster, while Givens has options so I have more flexibility. Villareal, acquired in the Bobby Witt Jr deal a couple of years ago, was expendable as he's not developed as I'd hoped so far and my scouting reports now talk about "a bench role". May 24: Sent 1B Joe Barker on a rehab assignment to AAA Durham. I get to kick the can of the Barker situation down the road a few days at least. Rivas is 3rd in AL in OPS so it would be kind of absurd to send him down. Therefore it'll probably be Hodges who goes to Durham. Game 1: I've had the Rays hit 7 HR in a game in this save, but I'm not sure I've ever had 7 different players hit HR in a game but that's what happened today in a 12-3 rout of the Red Sox. Bobby Witt Jr and Gabriel Moreno were the only starters who didn't homer. It was a 1-1 game in the 4th with Dayle Jenkins hitting #5 before the Rays broke it open. Rodolfo Rivas (#12) and Jhon Diaz (#4) each hit 2-run homers to make it 5-1 Rays in the bottom of the 4th and the dingers kept coming from there. Nate Clark (#17) in the 5th, Connor Kirkley (#7) with a 2-run shot in the 6th, Ricky Widmar (#7) in the 6th, and Jasson Dominguez (#12) in the 6th all went deep as Publix Park definitely continues to play homer-friendly. On the other side of the ball Rays pitching didn't allow any homers. Jack Leiter won his fourth straight start to go to 5-3 with a 6 7 2 2 1 5 performance which saw those 7 hits come in two bunches that each led to a Boston run, and Mike Mooney went the final 3 innings to get his first save and become the 7th Rays pitcher this year to pick up one. Elsewhere in MLB, St. Louis is now up to 19 straight wins. May 25: Sent OF Victor de Jesus on a rehab assignment to AAA Durham. Tried optioning de Jesus to Durham but discovered he's out of options, so he's going to have to make the team once his rehab is up. This is definitely going to create a roster crunch when Barker comes back as well, so I'm exploring the possibility of trading Jhon Diaz. de Jesus is that good, expected by the editor to have an OPS of 1.008 with 40-HR power and 114-walk ability. As good as Diaz is (not counting this season), de Jesus is even better. Game 2: Walk-off drama at Publix Park as Ricky Widmar's 9th-inning blast (#8) gave the Rays a 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Red Sox, their 18th in their last 20 games. The blow was Widmar's second big hit of the day, as his 5th-inning triple scored two to help the Rays out of a 3-0 hole with Dayle Jenkins singling him home to tie the game. After Jordan Diaz gave up 2 runs in the 7th to put the Rays behind again, another triple figured into the comeback with Nate Clark's 3-bagger in the 8th scoring Jenkins before he came home on Rodolfo Rivas's single to tie the game. Jose Alvarado got the Sox in the 9th and grabbed his 2nd win of the year thanks to Widmar's homer, also lowering his ERA to 0.49 in the process. Blake Money got the start and was his usual mixed bag, going 6 6 3 3 3 6. After Diaz's rough 7th, Steve Givens made his Rays debut and it was the type of outing that led Earl Weaver to call Don Stanhouse "full pack" back in the '70s. Givens loaded the bases with one out on two walks and a hit but then proceeded to strike out the next two batters to get out of it, which took him 33 pitches in all. Gabriel Moreno had a tough game, whiffing all 4 times up, but he wasn't even the biggest breeze-maker as Boston's Ryan Mountcastle struck out all 5 times he was up which the play-by-play commemorated with "BAD DAY!". Also the Cardinals' 19-game winning streak was snapped by the Reds today 4-3. Game 3: It was HR derby again for the Rays as they belted five more in another 12-3 shellacking of Boston. But it was almost all overshadowed by Christian Little having to leave the game in the 5th inning and rubbing at his elbow. It turns out that it's just a sore elbow and should only sideline him about a week. We'll likely err on the side of caution and IL him. He had started the game by giving up a leadoff homer to Luisangel Acuna, his 13th in 65 innings, but he was in control from there before leaving 4 2/3 innings in, allowing only one more hit, walking none and whiffing 10. Corbin Martin relieved him and picked up win #2, going 2 1/3, allowing 2 runs and striking out 4. Evan Godwin and Jasseel De La Cruz each pitched an inning to finish the game. But the day belonged to Isaac DeLeon, who blasted a pair of homers. The first came in the 1st inning with a man on and broke a 1-1 tie after Bobby Witt Jr's RBI single, and the second (#7) came as part of a 5-run 6th inning that saw the Rays break open a 3-1 game. Dayle Jenkins had the big blow in that 6th, a 3-run HR (#6). D'Andre Hodges (#4) and Carlos Perez (#3) also homered in the 7th as the Rays put up 12 runs & 17 hits with the likes of Nate Clark, Jasson Dominguez, Connor Kirkley and Gabriel Moreno all rested. Also Boston's Ryan Mountcastle continued his lost weekend by striking out in all four plate appearances today, on top of yesterday's five. Going to back to Friday night's game log I see he whiffed his final time up so that now gives him 10 straight PAs with a strikeout. This might be an MLB record as some poking around Google seems to indicate Mark Reynolds was the most recent to tie the position-player record with 9. If you count pitchers, Sandy Koufax as a batter struck out 12 straight times. Team record: 39-12 (including 23-3 at Publix Park). Next up: We head north of the border for 3 games in Toronto. Further research shows this would be the MLB record for a position player, here's a blurb from a Baseball-Reference biography of Reynolds circa April 2020 which goes into detail on it: Of course it's possible a streak of this length or greater has happened sometime else during the 10 1/2 seasons of this save as I only noticed this one because it came in games I was managing the Rays. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-06-2021 at 02:05 PM.

02-06-2021, 03:46 PM	#639
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 27-29, 2030: at Toronto (3) May 27: Placed P Christian Little on the 15-day IL with a sore elbow, recalled P Tim Siqueiros from AAA Durham. Andy Aparicio goes into the rotation in Little's place and starts today, giving the other four starters an extra day's rest. Siqueiros will pitch long relief/mop-up. Game 1: The Rays spent Memorial Day in a foreign country playing their closest pursuers (although at 12 games behind coming in, not much of a pursuit) the Blue Jays, and a 6-run first inning did in their hosts in a 7-2 win. And all that 1st-inning offense came after the first two batters were retired. Singles by Nate Clark and Jasson Dominguez put men on 1st and 3rd, and Clark scored on a passed ball. Rodolfo Rivas then singled in Dominguez, and after Bobby Witt Jr walked, Jhon Diaz hit a 2-run triple to make it 4-0. Then the next batter, Connor Kirkley, blasted HR #8 into the second deck at Rogers Centre and suddenly it was 6-0. This was more than enough for Andy Aparicio in his first start of the season, as he went 6.1 6 2 2 0 6 for win #2, only dinged for a couple of solo homers. Steve Givens went an inning and Jordan Diaz the final 1 2/3 to finish up. Dominguez later added an RBI double for the 7th Rays run. Also in our record watch, Boston's Ryan Mountcastle ended his strikeout streak of 10 plate appearances by grounding out in his first at-bat against Atlanta's Mike Soroka. In fact he was so encouraged by making contact that he went on to get hits in his next four at-bats. Alas, the Red Sox lost. Game 2: The Rays followed up yesterday's 7-2 win with an 8-2 victory, although they only scored once in the 1st tonight instead of six times. Jasson Dominguez, who had a 3-hit night, singled in 2 runs in the third to make it 3-0 and scored on Bobby Witt Jr's single. Dominguez later had an RBI triple and Witt (#5) and Connor Kirkley (#9) added solo homers to pace the Rays. Alec Sachais went 6 3 2 2 2 5 to go to 10-0 as he seems to be going after Blake Money's 21-1 record in 2028. The only damage against Sachais was the first Blue Jay homer for an old friend, Seth Beer, who took him deep with a man on in the 5th. Mike Mooney had a pair of scoreless innings and Tim Siqueiros one as the Rays' new winning streak reaches 5 and they've now won 21 of their last 23. Game 3: Remember when the Rays were 7-9 on the road this season? Well they're now 19-9 meaning they've won 12 straight away from home after today's 4-0 win over the Blue Jays, also their 6th straight overall. Jon Hayes was the story, dominating Toronto to the tune of 7 6 0 0 0 9 although he was aided by a Jasson Dominguez baserunner kill at home. Hayes is now 7-2, 2.55 and enjoying life as a Ray. Jasseel De La Cruz pitched the 8th and Jordan Diaz the 9th to complete the team shutout. Connor Kirkley was the star on offense today, as his RBI single in the 4th made it 2-0 and his 2-run HR in the 9th, his 10th of the season and his third in three days, turned a nail-biter into something more comfortable. The first run came in the first inning on a Jasson Dominguez sac fly. Tampa Bay now holds an imposing 15-game lead on Toronto so it's entirely likely the next four months are a warmup to the postseason. Perhaps the 2028 record of 122 wins will be something to play for. Team record: 42-12. Next up: An off-day then a weekend at Fenway Park. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-06-2021 at 10:06 PM.

02-07-2021, 09:11 AM	#640
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,373	May 30-June 2, 2030: at Boston (3) May 30: Activated 1B Joe Barker from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned OF D'Andre Hodges to AAA Durham. We welcome back Barker, who's been out since mid-April with a broken hand and bid adieu to Hodges, who played well in limited action but whose window for playing on the active roster is probably now closed with Victor de Jesus healthy and the emergence of Rodolfo Rivas. Game 1: The bats were relentless tonight as the Rays outlasted Boston 10-6 to make it 7 straight wins, scoring in every inning but the first and third and overcoming a lousy start from Jack Leiter. Joe Barker returned to the lineup tonight and it was like he was never gone as he singled in his first trip up and stole second and later tripled and drove in a run. Nate Clark had the big hit of the night, his 18th HR of the year in the 6th which broke a 6-6 tie. Bobby Witt Jr also homered to tie the game (#6) and had a sac fly while Connor Kirkley also drove in a pair with a double. Everyone but Jasson Dominguez had an RBI and everyone except Ricky Widmar (in an 0-20 slump) had a hit. They kept giving Leiter the lead and he kept giving it up, culminating in a pair of homers allowed in the 5th which put Boston up 6-5. He was hit hard with a 5.1 9 6 6 1 4 line. Corbin Martin relieved him in the 6th and was in the right place at the right time to get win #3, Evan Godwin pitched the 7th, and Tim Siqueiros was tabbed to pitch the 8th and stayed in when the lead grew to 4 which enabled him to get his first save (and become the 8th Rays pitcher to get one this year) with two scoreless innings. From the league office: And our never-ending pipeline of first basemen continues, with honors for the guy who was the key acquisition in the Mack Anglin deal: Game 2: The Rays were dealt a rare loss by Boston today 7-6, as Blake Money was terrible again. Twice the Rays staked Money to leads and twice he gave them back, capped by a 3-run Bob Kelly homer off him in the 5th that turned out to be the final scoring of the game. He went 4 8 7 7 3 2, his ERA is now 5.46 and depending on how Andy Aparicio continues to look as a starter, he might be out of the rotation when Christian Little comes back. His ineffectiveness wasted a big day from Nate Clark, who was 3-4 with a homer (#19), double and 3 RBI. Joe Barker also hit his first homer since coming off the IL (#6 in only 48 AB), a 2-run shot in the 3rd which gave them an early 4-2 lead. Ricky Widmar broke out of his mini-slump with a hit, two walks, and two steals. Steve Givens had a wild day in relief, and I mean that literally as he somehow managed to walk 4 and allow 3 hits in 2 innings but didn't allow a run. A pair of double plays, including one where Jasson Dominguez threw a man out at the plate on a fly ball, along with Mike Mooney getting him out of the trouble in the 7th were the reasons why. The loss snapped their 13-game road winning streak and the current 7-game overall streak they had. Game 3: Baseball is a team game, but today it was more of a two-man game for the Rays as Isaac DeLeon and Andy Aparicio were probably about 90% responsible for today's 5-2 win over Boston. DeLeon drove in all 5 Rays runs with a pair of homers, including a 3-run shot in the 6th that put them in front to stay. He later added an RBI single in the 8th for some insurance and now has 9 homers. And on the mound Aparicio got past some early struggles to go 7 4 2 2 2 7 to make it two-for-two in winning starts. Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 8th and Jose Alvarado nabbed save #8 with a scoreless 9th. Nate Clark stayed hot in June with two hits including a triple. Team record: 44-13. Next up: 2 games in Columbus to play our "natural rival", the Lightning. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-07-2021 at 01:26 PM.