April 4: P Josh Fleming cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA Durham.
Game 1: The Yankees came into their home opener 0-4 after being swept north of the border by the Blue Jays, and 0-8 when you add in last year's ALCS sweep by the White Sox. So it was into the lion's den to face a wounded lion. But the Rays dug in their claws in the first when with two out Meadows singled, stole second and scored on a double by the scorching hot Ji-Man Choi. The Rays tacked on two more in the second on a Kiermaier RBI single and a Wander sac fly. Yonny Chirinos meanwhile got the start and was rolling through 4, striking out 5 and only allowing a Stanton HR. A Kepler sac fly and a Toro RBI double in the 5th made it 5-1 before Yonny got into trouble in the bottom of the frame, allowing a 2-run HR to Gio Urshela and solo shot to Luke Voit which cut the lead to 5-4. He got through the 6th, Austin Adams got through the 7th, and then Toro launched a solo blast to make it 6-4 in the 8th. Like yesterday the Rays needed to cash in that insurance policy as Nick Anderson struggled in the 8th. After getting two out, he walked Stanton and Judge and gave up an RBI single to Miguel Andujar. Jacob Nix got him out of the inning and then the Rays loaded the bases with nobody out against Aroldis Chapman but hit into two forces at the plate and Toro flew out, which reminds me of this run expectancy chart Jason Collette would post on Twitter when the Rays had this situation in the past:
With Hand unavailable, Nix started the 9th but gave up a leadoff single to Robinson Chirinos, Jose Alvarado came on to face the lefty Kolten Wong, walked him, but got a strikeout, force out and fly ball to strand the runners and to hang on for another close win. It helped that the final batter was Tyler Wade and not Stanton, as the Yankees had pinch ran for him in the 8th. Yonny gets the win with a 6 7 4 4 0 6 line and Toro was "man of the match" going 3-5 with that HR and 2 RBI as the Yankees are now looking up out of an 0-5 hole. Day off tomorrow which will give the pen a much-needed rest before Snell tries to wash away the sour taste of his opening start and will face Gerrit Cole.
April 6: Claimed P Ryne Stanek on waivers, designated P Tony Gonsolin for assignment, optioned P Conner Menez to AAA Durham.
Welcome back Ryne Stanek. He's a definite upgrade for the pen (sub-3 ERAs and a K per inning the last 2 years) and really had no business being on waivers (he got a save for the Cubs on opening day but they claimed Trevor Gott from the Mets and Adam Kolarek from the Dodgers so they needed room). Gonsolin was the easy choice to go from the 40-man, and Menez hadn't pitched yet for the Rays as McClanahan usurped his role as the lefty long man.
Game 2: Things looked bleak early when Blake Snell was off his game again, walking the bases loaded with 2 out in the first and surrendering a grand slam to Miguel Andujar. This came after Keibert Ruiz homered in the first off Gerrit Cole but falling behind 4-1 early against him is not a great plan for success. But then again we're forgetting about the offensive juggernaut which is the 2022 Tampa Bay Rays. Merrifield had an RBI single in the 2nd to make it 4-2 and Ruiz homered again off Cole in the 5th to make it 4-3. Snell settled down admirably after the bad first inning but still let Thairo Estrada hit one into the short RF porch to make it 5-3. But the Rays went to work in the 6th. Alec Bohm (filling in at DH) singled in a run, another Merrifield RBI single tied the game, and Kiermaier stroked a 2-run double to put the Rays up 7-5. Snell made it into the 7th, where he allowed a leadoff single to Andujar and was replaced by Ryne Stanek who finished off the inning with a couple of strikeouts. And then Wander went to work, ripping a 2-run shot into the RF stands to make it 9-5, and Austin Adams and Dany Jimenez blanked the Yanks the rest of the way, and we're 5-1 now, averaging just under 8 runs per game. Snell ended up with a 6 3 5 5 3 7 line which was actually very good once you got past the first (5 2 1 1 0 6) and evened his record at 1-1. The encouraging thing about this offensive start is that it's almost completely come without anything from Meadows or Kepler, a combined 1-10 today and hitting .130 and .136 respectively with 0 HR and 5 RBI between them. It's on for another set with Boston as hopefully we treat the Sox home opener as we treated the Yankees'.
Team record: 5-1, 1/2 game behind Toronto's 6-1 as the Jays finally lost today.