[Art Deco]

Game 1: This was a weird one which included something I think I can safely say I've never seen (and maybe has never happened for all I know or I can Google). The Rays scored their first 7 runs on 7 solo homers on their way to a 9-6 win over Boston that never should have been that close. It all started when Isaac DeLeon led off the game with #5 and Gavin Lux immediately followed suit with the first of two he'd hit. Nate Clark hit the first of his two in the 3rd, Keibert Ruiz led off the 4th with his 5th, and then Lux (#15), Clark (#16) and Yordan Alvarez (#12) went back-to-back-to-back to make it 7-1. Clark (who ended up 4-4) and Alvarez added RBI singles in the 5th and 7th to increase the lead to 9-1. Meanwhile Blake Money was flat-out dealing in winning his 8th straight start since joining the rotation, going 6 5 1 1 1 10 and moving to 9-0, 2.16. The pen had its problems, though. Jack Filby pitched a scoreless 7th, but Evan Godwin couldn't get anyone out and gave up 3 runs in the 8th and Daniel Espino had to clean up his mess with a pair of whiffs. And Jose Alvarado followed in Godwin's footsteps, struggling to get one out while allowing two more runs, so Jasseel De La Cruz had to get the final 2 outs of the 9th and pick up save #10. The net result was that we had to use 5 pitchers to protect a 9-1 lead going into the 7th, not exactly optimal.

Game 2: Mac is back. Shane McClanahan pitched like the reigning AL Cy Young winner he is, going 7 5 0 0 0 5 to lead the Rays to a 3-1 win over Boston. He goes to 6-2 and gets his ERA back under 4 at 3.88 as he was never in serious trouble tonight. He needed to pitch as well as he did because the offense was apparently still tired from circling the bases yesterday and only squeezed out 5 hits. A couple of them came in a key 4th inning rally which saw them score twice. After loading the bases off Boston starter Johan Oviedo with 1 out, Judson Fabian hit a shallow fly ball that couldn't get the runner home. But Oviedo then decided to walk Jhon Diaz and Jasson Dominguez, forcing in a pair of runs. After Daniel Espino pitched a 1-2-3 8th, Nate Clark's RBI double in the bottom gave the Rays some more breathing room. This made Jasseel De La Cruz's adventures in the 9th less stressful, as he walked Ryan Mountcastle with one out, wild-pitched him to 2nd, saw him advance to 3rd on a groundout, and then wild-pitched him home. But he struck out Lewis Brinson to end the game and grab save #11. Since starting the season a mediocre 11-13, the Rays have gone 32-6 since and with the Yankees losing tonight, now lead the AL East by a whopping 11 games.

Game 3: While Mac (McClanahan) was back yesterday, Mack (Anglin) is not. Coming into today, he had two disastrous starts since returning from the IL and added a third today. By the time the 2nd inning was over Boston had 5 runs and 7 hits on their way to an 8-4 win. The only positive to be gleaned from his outing is that he pitched very well over the next 4 innings, allowing only 1 hit and was through 6 on only 86 pitches. But of course I brought him out for the 7th and he gave up a leadoff homer so he ended the day 6 9 6 6 0 6. Still there was enough encouragement there that he'll take his next turn despite the fact we're going with 6 starters and have a bunch of off-days, as an 11-game division lead affords me that luxury. Aaron Ashby gave up 2 runs after relieving Anglin while Christian Chamberlain threw a scoreless 9th. Despite scoring 4 runs, the offense was pretty quiet as all 4 came on homers and we had only 3 non-longball hits. Judson Fabian hit a 2-run shot (#8) in the bottom of the 1st to briefly give the Rays a 2-1 lead, Yordan Alvarez hit a solo shot (#13) in the 4th, and Jasson Dominguez hit one with 2 out in the 9th (#8/#16). Bobby Witt Jr continues to disappoint - he was 0-4 with 2 whiffs today and is 215/278/388 for the year. I know there's positive regression coming but it's still concerning to see someone to whom we made a massive financial commitment still struggling in June. Also Nate Clark had to leave with a bruised elbow after getting hit by a pitch. The injury is minimal for one week, so we'll give him a rest here and there but not completely shut him down.

Game 4: Christian Little has pitched a lot of great games for the Rays the last couple of years, but this one was truly one of his best. In fact if not for Josh Naylor he'd have no-hit the Red Sox over 7 innings. As it was he went 7 2 0 0 1 14 on 102 pitches in a 3-0 Rays win with a couple of Naylor hits all Boston had to show against him. Little is now 5-3, 2.41 and has a 21/121 BB/K ratio in 74.2 innings. Daniel Espino followed with a 7-pitch, 1-2-3 8th with a K and Jose Alvarado, with lefties due and JDLC showing tired, gave up 2 hits to lead off the 9th to make it interesting but struck out the next 3 Red Sox to close it out and grab save #5. Leading off the game, Ricky Widmar supplied all the offense the Rays would need today with HR #5 just inside the LF foul pole off one-time Ray Chris Paddack. Widmar figured in the scoring again in the 3rd when he singled and was doubled to 3rd by Gavin Lux before Yordan Alvarez doubled them both in. Widmar ended up 3-4 with the HR and his AL-leading 23rd steal of the year.

Team record: 44-20. Next up: 3 games in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.