First, this:
Game 1: Asa Lacy turned in what might have been his most dominant performance of the season and the Rays clubbed 3 homers in a 4-1 win over Boston. Lacy was perfect through the first 3 1/3, and outside of a stretch in that 4th inning where he gave up 3 hits, a walk and a run, he only allowed one other baserunner in a 7 4 1 1 1 7 outing. Lacy goes to 9-2, 3.22, numbers most teams would want from their ace and here he's the 5th starter. Vidal Brujan was the star on offense tonight, finishing a double shy of the cycle. He led off the game with HR #8, singled and stole second ahead of Wander's 30th HR of the year in the 3rd, with Hunter Bishop hitting #23 later in the inning to cap the scoring. Brujan now leads the AL in batting average at .346. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched around a 2-out single to nail down save #24 as with a Baltimore win the magic # drops to 31.
August 25: Traded minor-league 3B Tanner Witt to the Chicago Cubs for 1B Anthony Rizzo. Optioned OF Bramdon Perez to AAA Durham.
Our 1B search continues with our second waiver trade of the month. Rizzo is a free agent at year's end, having signed a 1-year deal to return to the Cubs this year after spending 4 with the Angels. His numbers weren't overwhelming (235/341/411) but the OBP is better than Casas and Bohm and he's hit well over the last month. Even if he can go 260/350/450 it'll be an improvement. Bramdon will be back when the rosters expand in a week, as Casas needs to stay up as the only other guy who can play 3B and I still want to use Bohm against lefties. We'll see how the next month or so goes to figure out which one of those 4 gets left off the playoff roster. As recently as a year ago, I envisioned Witt as a possible 3B of the future, but he's regressed this year and he's been 6 years in the minors now meaning he's a MiLB free agent at year's end and I didn't see him having much of a chance of getting a spot on the 40-man. Also the AI started using him as a pitcher in the low minors, as sure a sign as any that the bat isn't coming around.
And the deal was certainly a hit in the clubhouse (plus the fan interest increased "significantly" as if 3 straight WS trips left it such room):
Game 2: Matt Manning had one of his best outings of the season and the offense made the 4 hits they managed tonight count in a 3-1 win. Manning was dealing, going 7.2 4 0 0 1 10 and was never really in trouble, only coming out after giving up a 2-run single in the 8th with lefties due up and his pitch count over 100. Jose Alvarado got him out of the 8th and stayed on to face those lefties, giving up a 2-out solo HR to the same-handed David Dahl (who has owned the Rays this year) to lose the team shutout but still got save #6. Offensively it was a struggle, but Spencer Torkelson hit HR #38 and became the first Ray with 100 RBI this season with a solo blast in the 2nd, Brandon Marsh walked, went to third on Vidal Brujan's single and scored on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly in the 6th, and then Keston Hiura launched HR #20, a solo shot in the 7th. Hiura became the 5th Ray with 20 HR or more this year, joining Tork, Wander Franco, Hunter Bishop and Judson Fabian. Manning is now 10-6, 4.28 but has 181 whiffs in 155.2 innings this year to temporarily take over the league lead in Ks (he's been in a 4-way fight with teammates Tyler Glasnow and Shane McClanahan and Baltimore's Bryar Johnson). And who said Dustin May was done helping the team? He helped the Nationals beat Baltimore 6-2 tonight to up the lead to 9 1/2 and lower the magic # to 29. May has been great for Washington, going 8-3, 3.64 for them as they fight for a wild card in the NL.
Game 3: The bullpen coughed up its first game in a while, allowing Boston to tie in the 9th and win in the 10th 5-4. The Rays took a 4-3 lead into the 9th and Ben Bowden, having pitched the 8th, stayed on to face the first lefty batter and whiffed him. The Red Sox pinch-hit Raudy Read for lefty Didi Gregorius so Jasseel De La Cruz came in and Read greeted him with a HR just inside the LF foul pole to tie the game. And in the 10th, Jasseel gave up a leadoff single to Gabriel Arias and with one out David Dahl (who else? he had hit a 2-run HR in the first as well) singled to send Arias to 3rd. With De La Cruz at 30 pitches, Steven Casey came in to face Ryan Mountcastle and whiffed him, but walked Abraham Toro to load the bases and then walked Josh Naylor to force in the go-ahead run. The loss spoiled the Rays debut of Anthony Rizzo, who was 1-4 with a single and a run scored. The Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead off Mack Anglin in the first 3 innings, but like his last start Anglin settled down and finished with a fine 7 6 3 3 0 8 line. The Rays got a pair back quickly in the bottom of the 3rd on a 2-run Keibert Ruiz single, and Wander Franco's sac fly in the 5th tied it up. It looked like they'd win again when Hunter Bishop doubled home Judson Fabian in the bottom of the 8th but it was not to be. Baltimore beat Washington so no reduction of the magic # tonight.
Game 4: Shane McClanahan was brilliant today and the offense did just enough for the Rays to win 4-0, but the win came at a price. Mac was dealing, going 7 5 0 0 2 7 to improve to 13-5, 3.85 and re-took the AL strikeout lead with 184 from Matt Manning and Bryar Johnson who were tied on 181. Aaron Ashby and Liam Hendriks finished off the team shutout with an inning apiece. After Anthony Rizzo singled in the 2nd, Triston Casas, playing 3B today, hit HR #7 into the RF stands to make it 2-0, and then in the 3rd Judson Fabian launched #28 with a man on to make it 4-0, and that was our scoring. But the Rays did suffer a key injury in top of the 3rd inning. Going all-out to make a diving catch, Hunter Bishop strained his hamstring and will be out 6 weeks, ending his regular season and costing him the ALDS as well. It was a breakout season for Bishop, going 309/373/638 with 23 HR and 69 RBI, impressive numbers considering he only played 90 games as he missed quite a bit of time early in the season as well. The sending down of Bramdon Perez the other day left me thin in the OF, and very thin when our 4th OF is Spencer Torkelson and he's in the lineup at DH. So the Trop crowd was treated to the sight of Keston Hiura making his MLB debut in LF. Fortunately he only had to catch a couple of easy fly balls and didn't face any tough plays. Going forward Tork will take over in LF and we'll have a rotating cast at DH including Perez who will come back up, Nick Gonzales, Alec Bohm, etc. Baltimore won so the magic # drops to 28.
Team record: 87-39. Next up: 3 games in Houston, then we play 26 consecutive games against AL East teams including 2 series vs Baltimore (one home, one away) before we close with a 6-game road trip against the White Sox and Rangers.