Game 1: The Rays continue to have (relative) trouble with the 105-loss Yankees as they blow an early 6-0 lead and lose 7-6 with the regulars (except Marsh) back in the lineup. Keibert Ruiz was 3-5 with 3 RBI, Triston Casas and Nick Gonzales had RBI singles and Austin Meadows hit HR #23, but Shane McClanahan gave it all back and then Nick Anderson allowed a 7th inning longball to Giancarlo Stanton for the winning run. Mac couldn't stand prosperity and went 4.2 8 6 6 2 2 as he missed out on a golden chance get win #10. The bullpen pitched well with Mitch Keller and Aaron Ashby getting into the 7th but Anderson served up his longball to Stanton despite whiffing 3 of the other 4 he faced as he is now 3-3. Heston Kjerstad had a nice game filling in for Brandon Marsh, getting on base all 4 times up on 2 hits, a walk, and a HBP although he was caught stealing in the 8th. The Angels once again did us a favor though by losing to Oakland, so we're still 1 1/2 games up for the #1 seed. Aside from the benefit of playing a team with a lesser record in the ALDS, it also would give us home field throughout the AL playoffs, a big deal since the Rays have won about 2/3 of their home games but are only a couple of games over .500 on the road this season.
Another wave of retirements today, including the 2007 and 2008 #1 overall first round picks of the Rays David Price and Tim Beckham, one who lived up to the billing and the other who didn't.
Game 2: Ugh. This game probably couldn't have gone any worse. First of all, Christian Little got the start and looked good whiffing 2 of the first 4 batters, all of whom he retired, before having to leave with a sore elbow. It's a moderate 3-week DtD injury that pretty much rules him out of the playoffs which is unfortunate. Also unfortunate is this had to become a bullpen game and it ended up going 13 innings (!) so we had to end up using 9 pitchers today. Oh yeah, and we lost 8-7 after going up 7-5 in the top of the 13th only for Jasseel De La Cruz to give up a 2-run HR to Brandon Lowe (his 2nd of the game) and a solo shot to Mike Tauchman. Gerrit Cole started for the Yankees and he too had to leave early, in the 4th inning, after giving up Spencer Torkelson's 30th HR of the year, a 472-foot shot to dead center. It briefly put the Rays up but they fell behind 5-1 before fighting back to tie it. Hunter Bishop had an RBI single in the 6th, and then in the 7th Heston Kjerstad homered and three batters later Keston Hiura hit #21 with a man aboard to even up the score. And there we went until the 13th when Nick Gonzales hit a 2-out, 2-run single with the bases loaded to give the Rays an apparent win but Jasseel coughed it up. Little will go on the DL and Dustin May will come up to help out the beleaguered bullpen, and I may call up another arm as we'll need some length from Matt Manning tomorrow night in his final start of the regular season. Thankfully the Angels keep losing so the #1 seed is still in play.
ALL HAIL TORK!
October 1: Placed P Christian Little on the 15-day IL with elbow soreness; optioned P DL Hall to AAA Durham, recalled Ps Daniel Lynch and Dustin May from AAA Durham.
Game 3: Well, congratulations to the Rays for managing to lose a 19-game season series to a 105-loss team. That's what they did by being swept tonight to end the year 9-10 against the Yankees thanks to a 5-0 loss. Matt Manning does not exactly go into the postseason with momentum and he's disturbingly walked 4 more men tonight as his control seems to have deserted him some. Tonight he was an ugly 5 8 4 4 4 6 as he ends the season 17-8, 3.62 after allowing 22 runs in 32 innings in his final 6 starts to see his ERA rise by about half a run in that span. Meanwhile the offense couldn't do anything against 19-game loser Trevor Bauer (who apparently has avoided losing 20) as he went 7.1 4 0 0 3 8. Only Triston Casas (2-3 with a walk) can hold his head up. The good news is that the bullpen got a rest after yesterday's marathon with callup Dustin May pitching the final 3 innings and allowing a run and that the Angels seem addicted to losing as the Rays are, being swept by Oakland so we're still 1 1/2 up for the top seed.
Team record: 93-65. Next up: We close out the regular season with 4 games at home vs Houston.