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Art Deco · 12-14-2020, 04:23 PM

Game 1: There was a lot of buzz in the baseball world about tonight's matchup of Cy Young winners as Mike Soroka faced Shane McClanahan in the opener of this interleague series, but as so often is the case the projected pitchers' duel fizzled out, although one of the pitchers hung in there and ended up doing OK. That pitcher turned out to be Mac, as the Rays ended up bombing Atlanta 14-3 and chased Soroka in the 3rd inning. At first though it looked like McClanahan would be the one taking an early shower as the Braves jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning on a 2-run Johan Cruz homer. But the Rays struck back against Soroka in the bottom of the inning with 4 runs, capped by a 3-run blast from Keibert Ruiz (#6). And when Nate Clark hit the first of his 2 longballs against Soroka in the 4th, he was pulled. That didn't stop the bleeding for Atlanta, though, as the Rays scored 7 times over the next three innings, including another HR from Clark with a man on (#19), a Bobby Witt Jr RBI double, an RBI single from Ruiz, etc, etc. Jasson Dominguez added HR #17 (9 as a Ray) later in the game as the Rays scored in every inning but the 6th. Clark and Ruiz each ended with 4-RBI nights, and everyone in the lineup had a hit (in fact aside from Witt and Yordan Alvarez, everyone had at least 2 hits). Mac (now 7-2) meanwhile settled down from his rough start and ended up striking out 11 over 7 innings for the win, even though he allowed 9 hits and the 3 runs. Jack Filby pitched the final 2 innings. The Yankees lost in Houston so the lead has now grown to an absurd 12 1/2 games.

Game 2: There was a weird feeling around the team after the game. They.....lost? Yes, the way things have been going lately a loss almost seems shocking, but some shaky work from the bullpen and a relatively quiet day at the plate added up to a 5-3 Atlanta win over the Rays. But there was a silver lining in the defeat as Mack Anglin finally appeared to be back in form after looking terrible in his 3 post-injury starts (20 ER in 16.1 innings). Anglin went 6 4 2 1 1 6 on 87 pitches, with his only problems being with Ronald Acuna Jr, who is a problem for most pitchers. Acuna's 3rd inning RBI double scored Michael Berglund, who reached when Nate Clark (in a rare start in the field) dropped a fly ball (now you know why they're rare) to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead, and in the 6th Acuna took Anglin deep to LCF to tie the game at 2. Otherwise Mack was in command, a great sign. The Rays were up 2-1 for awhile thanks to back-to-back homers from Jasson Dominguez and Keibert Ruiz (#7 and his 2nd in as many days). After Anglin left with the game tied at 2, Evan Godwin coughed up a run in the 7th to put the Braves ahead, but Dominguez got that run right back in the bottom of the frame on an inside-the-park HR, giving him a 2-HR game and 19 overall for the season. So with a tie game in the 8th Daniel Espino came in, normally lockdown time as he came in with an 0.67 ERA and 41 whiffs in 26 innings. But after striking out Acuna to start the inning, he gave up a single to Willy Adames and then a long and loud HR to Ozzie Albies and that proved to be the game-winner for Atlanta. Outside of Dominguez (and Ruiz who also had 2 hits), the offense only managed 2 other hits the whole night as they faced a rare lefty in Kantaro Yokoyama, who has bedeviled the Rays in the past (most notably 6 years ago with Cleveland when he stopped their 25-game win streak). Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux and Jhon Diaz, lefty hitters all, got the day off today in favor of Connor Kirkley, Joe Barker and Isaac DeLeon, none of whom did much. Yokoyoma was just the 19th lefty they've faced in 69 games this season and only the second they've seen this month.

Game 3: Normal service resumed at the Trop as the Rays had a dominant team pitching performance today in a 4-0 win over Atlanta. Christian Little got the start and was his usual self, but it took him 98 pitches to get through 5 innings so the bullpen had to get it done the rest of the way and they emphatically did. Little went 5 4 0 0 2 10 to go to 6-3, 2.26, while Jack Filby (2 perfect innings with 2 Ks), Jose Alvarado (1-2-3 with 2Ks) and Jasseel De La Cruz (also 1-2-3 with 2Ks) meant the staff had a combined 9 4 0 0 2 16 line today. With that kind of pitching it didn't take much offense to win and it wasn't until the 5th that the big hit of the game came, a 2-run HR to the rays tank by Gavin Lux (#16). They tacked on 2 more runs in the 6th on a Jhon Diaz RBI single and Jasson Dominguez's RBI fielder's choice.

Team record: 49-21. Next up: An off-day, then interleague play continues as the Mets come to town for a pair.

12-14-2020, 04:23 PM	#477
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,751	June 16-18, 2028: vs Atlanta (3) Game 1: There was a lot of buzz in the baseball world about tonight's matchup of Cy Young winners as Mike Soroka faced Shane McClanahan in the opener of this interleague series, but as so often is the case the projected pitchers' duel fizzled out, although one of the pitchers hung in there and ended up doing OK. That pitcher turned out to be Mac, as the Rays ended up bombing Atlanta 14-3 and chased Soroka in the 3rd inning. At first though it looked like McClanahan would be the one taking an early shower as the Braves jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning on a 2-run Johan Cruz homer. But the Rays struck back against Soroka in the bottom of the inning with 4 runs, capped by a 3-run blast from Keibert Ruiz (#6). And when Nate Clark hit the first of his 2 longballs against Soroka in the 4th, he was pulled. That didn't stop the bleeding for Atlanta, though, as the Rays scored 7 times over the next three innings, including another HR from Clark with a man on (#19), a Bobby Witt Jr RBI double, an RBI single from Ruiz, etc, etc. Jasson Dominguez added HR #17 (9 as a Ray) later in the game as the Rays scored in every inning but the 6th. Clark and Ruiz each ended with 4-RBI nights, and everyone in the lineup had a hit (in fact aside from Witt and Yordan Alvarez, everyone had at least 2 hits). Mac (now 7-2) meanwhile settled down from his rough start and ended up striking out 11 over 7 innings for the win, even though he allowed 9 hits and the 3 runs. Jack Filby pitched the final 2 innings. The Yankees lost in Houston so the lead has now grown to an absurd 12 1/2 games. Game 2: There was a weird feeling around the team after the game. They.....lost? Yes, the way things have been going lately a loss almost seems shocking, but some shaky work from the bullpen and a relatively quiet day at the plate added up to a 5-3 Atlanta win over the Rays. But there was a silver lining in the defeat as Mack Anglin finally appeared to be back in form after looking terrible in his 3 post-injury starts (20 ER in 16.1 innings). Anglin went 6 4 2 1 1 6 on 87 pitches, with his only problems being with Ronald Acuna Jr, who is a problem for most pitchers. Acuna's 3rd inning RBI double scored Michael Berglund, who reached when Nate Clark (in a rare start in the field) dropped a fly ball (now you know why they're rare) to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead, and in the 6th Acuna took Anglin deep to LCF to tie the game at 2. Otherwise Mack was in command, a great sign. The Rays were up 2-1 for awhile thanks to back-to-back homers from Jasson Dominguez and Keibert Ruiz (#7 and his 2nd in as many days). After Anglin left with the game tied at 2, Evan Godwin coughed up a run in the 7th to put the Braves ahead, but Dominguez got that run right back in the bottom of the frame on an inside-the-park HR, giving him a 2-HR game and 19 overall for the season. So with a tie game in the 8th Daniel Espino came in, normally lockdown time as he came in with an 0.67 ERA and 41 whiffs in 26 innings. But after striking out Acuna to start the inning, he gave up a single to Willy Adames and then a long and loud HR to Ozzie Albies and that proved to be the game-winner for Atlanta. Outside of Dominguez (and Ruiz who also had 2 hits), the offense only managed 2 other hits the whole night as they faced a rare lefty in Kantaro Yokoyama, who has bedeviled the Rays in the past (most notably 6 years ago with Cleveland when he stopped their 25-game win streak). Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux and Jhon Diaz, lefty hitters all, got the day off today in favor of Connor Kirkley, Joe Barker and Isaac DeLeon, none of whom did much. Yokoyoma was just the 19th lefty they've faced in 69 games this season and only the second they've seen this month. Game 3: Normal service resumed at the Trop as the Rays had a dominant team pitching performance today in a 4-0 win over Atlanta. Christian Little got the start and was his usual self, but it took him 98 pitches to get through 5 innings so the bullpen had to get it done the rest of the way and they emphatically did. Little went 5 4 0 0 2 10 to go to 6-3, 2.26, while Jack Filby (2 perfect innings with 2 Ks), Jose Alvarado (1-2-3 with 2Ks) and Jasseel De La Cruz (also 1-2-3 with 2Ks) meant the staff had a combined 9 4 0 0 2 16 line today. With that kind of pitching it didn't take much offense to win and it wasn't until the 5th that the big hit of the game came, a 2-run HR to the rays tank by Gavin Lux (#16). They tacked on 2 more runs in the 6th on a Jhon Diaz RBI single and Jasson Dominguez's RBI fielder's choice. Team record: 49-21. Next up: An off-day, then interleague play continues as the Mets come to town for a pair. Last edited by Art Deco; 12-14-2020 at 07:42 PM.