[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was a top-notch pitchers' duel at Publix Park as Jon Hayes went up against the Yankees' Deivi Garcia. Garcia allowed only 1 run and 2 hits through 6 innings, with the run coming on Isaac DeLeon's 18th HR of the season, while Hayes had a 1-hitter going through 8 innings. With the score 1-0 going into the bottom of the 8th, the Rays finally broke it open with six runs, starting with Adley Rustchman's RBI single, and followed by 2-run singles from Joe Barker and Dane Ayers along with a DeLeon RBI single. So all eyes turned to Hayes in the 9th to see if he could complete the shutout, and although he gave up two hits to put men on 2nd and 3rd and hit Miguel Sano to load the bases, he got a popup from Anthony Siegler to earn his first MLB shutout, a 3-hitter as he ended 9 3 0 0 2 11. Hayes is now 17-6, 3.49 with a 44/218 BB/K ratio in 193.1 innings.

Game 2: Another low-scoring, low-hit game between these teams as the Rays and Jack Leiter eked out a 3-2 win over the Yankees which saw each team muster only four hits. Leiter was excellent, going 6 3 1 1 2 7 and improving to 16-8, 3.22. Numbers like that might have a pitcher thinking Cy Young but here he's our fifth (or fourth, if you want to place him ahead of Marc Wagner) starter. Brad Ballmann came on and struck out three batters in his inning of work around a Caleb Picciotti error, Andy Aparicio was touched for a Joe Allen homer in the 8th, and JDLC looked like the JDLC of yore by striking out the side in the 9th for save #17. More impressive was that all three batters he faced were lefties, normally a Jose Alvarado situation but Alvarado was tired tonight. It was his 9th straight scoreless outing and 15th in his last 16 as he's finally brought his ERA under 3 (2.92) after it had ballooned to 7.59 on May 23. He hasn't blown a save since July 3 either. As mentioned with only four hits there wasn't a lot of offense, but they did churn out three runs on Gabriel Moreno's sac fly in the 2nd and the game's big hit, a 2-run double from D'Andre Hodges in the 5th which made it 3-0. They were aided by 7 walks and a hit batter, though.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls lost a tough Game 5 to Gwinnett to end their season with the Stripers coming out on top 3-2. As in Game 4 the Bulls took an early 2-0 lead, tonight on RBI doubles from Melvin Gutierrez and Jaiden Hardaway. But Gwinnett crept back in the middle innings, with Anthony Rendon taking Malachi Benford deep again after doing so in Game 1 to get them on the board and a triple in the 6th knocked in a run and scored for the go-ahead run. The Bulls had a shot in the 9th to tie it when Danny Rivera singled Mike Harms to 3rd with two out, but Osmy Gregorio lined out to left to end the game and the season. There's little doubt Durham could have won this series had we not taken Caleb Picciotti and Mike Lammers away from them and Alex Buitrago not gotten hurt. Here's hoping Durham's fate doesn't become the Rays' fate with their missing stars this MLB postseason.

Game 3: Another fine outing from a starter and some timely hitting led to a 6-2 win over the Yankees and a sweep of the series. Marc Wagner went 6 4 2 2 3 10 with his obligatory homer allowed (today to Vlad Jr), to go to 10-5, 3.27 as a Ray and 14-7, 3.18 overall. He now has 279 whiffs and has moved one ahead of Wil Diaz for the MLB lead. Jordan Diaz, Evan Godwin (3 whiffs) and Corbin Martin each had a scoreless inning in relief. The star at the plate was Nate Clark, who went 4-4, singling in a run in the 1st and adding RBI doubles in the 5th and the 7th. The other big blow was Joe Barker's 3-run HR in the 1st which followed Clark's single, #30 of the year for the first baseman.

Team record: 113-39. Next up: An off-day then the White Sox come to town for the weekend. Chicago is in a dogfight for a wild card spot with Cleveland and Oakland. At the moment they're tied with Cleveland and a game and a half up on the A's.